Re: Configuring QLogic QLA4010c on Debian on Sparc
RR put forth on 2/9/2011 9:00 AM:
> On Wed, Feb 9, 2011 at 3:48 AM, Stan Hoeppner <stan@hardwarefreak.com>wrote:
>
>> No. What I'm saying is that Qlogic never shipped, and does not ship, a
>> SPARC/Linux binary of its utility package. And they don't ship the source.
>> If
>> that package is required to program that HBA, then you're hosed, screwed.
>>
>>
> Hi Stan,
>
> thanks for that. Just FYI and FWIW,
>
> They actually do ship packages for RH /SuSE Linux (32-bit and 64-bit) and
> Solaris for x86 and SPARC both.
Note very carefully what I stated above:
"...does not ship, a SPARC/Linux binary..."
This is the thorn in your side.
> But things are not as bad as you made
> them sound :)
Regarding getting the Qlogic tools installed and working on Linux/SPARC? Yes,
they are that bad. In this regard your ship is already sunk, as you won't be
able to obtain the tools in Linux/SPARC binary format. Qlogic won't give you
source to built your own, either, unfortunately.
> Yes, you read correctly that V240 has 4 GbE ports. Unfortunately, those are
> all taken wired up to different switches which are completely isolated from
> the SAN cloud and I live 10,000 miles from where these machines are. They
> were running Solaris 8, but then due to various reasons I remotely network
> installed Debian for Sparc on them, but now I'm stuck with trying to
> configure the HBA which is the _only_ physical connection to the SAN cloud
> for this poor machine.
You didn't look before leaping. ;)
> I will take your advice however and go pester the people in these other
> mailing lists you mentioned to see if someone's tinkered with the available
> driver and utility packages to reverse-engineer/rebuild/port them to Debian
The problem isn't "porting" to Debian. Debian is just another Linux distro. If
the machine was an Opteron or Xeon you could simply use alien to install the Red
Hat or SuSE RPM and you'd be done in 10 minutes or less. The problem is you're
running on SPARC processors. If you had a Red Hat/SPARC binary RPM available
from Qlogic you could simply use alien with that. But, again, there is no
Linux/SPARC binary. You can't get around this, and no one else has either.
As I see it you have two possible options:
1. Boot from a Solaris/SPARC live CD, program the HBA, an hope the settings
stick in EEPRON/FLASH/etc. This is probably a no-go since you haven't changed
the settings since installing Debian onto the box. This may actually be a good
thing as it means the OS kernel needs to program the HBA on each boot/hotplug.
2. Assuming the device is configured by the kernel as hot plug, you should be
able to find out where in sysfs the parameters for the HBA exist, and simply
echo the parameters you need into those files. Or, it could be as simple as
creating something in /etc. This is still a long shot, but someone on one of
these lists I mentioned (or others) may have this information you seek.
Don't waste time trying to get the Qlogic binary utils installed. Concentrate
your efforts on #2 above. If it's possible to hit pay dirt, you'll do so using
path #2.
Good luck.
--
Stan
P.S. It also couldn't hurt to call Qlogic tech support. Don't email them, call
them. It's harder for most human beings to say "no" over the phone than via
email, and harder still in person. Your gear is out of warranty, and you're
doing something they don't officially support. However, you're still a
customer. Most customers of SAN gear are _repeat_ customers, and they know
that. They'd rather keep you, and your employer, happy, if they can, than send
you to Brocade or Emulex for your next purchase of a dozen, or a hundred, HBAs.
SANs are big business, and no SAN hardware vendor wants an unhappy customer
spreading negative word of mouth advertising. :)
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