On Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 7:10 PM, Stan Hoeppner
<stan@hardwarefreak.com> wrote:
RR put forth on 2/16/2011 1:14 PM:
> All through this though I'm assuming that since the kernel modules seem to
> be loaded already and if I'm planning to configure the HBAs via config files
> I don't need the driver that is available from Qlogic for the Redhat and
> Suse packages as I don't have to worry about accessing those adapters to
> configure them?
Now you're starting to understand. Everything you need to make that HBA work is
already part of the kernel/module driver system. You simply need to find
instructions/information allowing you to manually program the HBA using scripts
or conf files. And you'll need the exact/correct iSCSI target path name of the
LUN you want to mount. This is the part where the Qlogic GUI tool comes in
really handy--target discovery.
I hope it's "simply" just that and the HBA doesn't need any programming via its own utility that accesses the firmware through some low-level API via the driver etc that I have packages for for other OS/Distros
Regarding getting into the HBA BIOS from that SUN box, it will definitely be a
PITA compared to an x86 box if you're not familiar with the process, and
especially over an IP KVM 10,000 miles away.
Haha no kidding, although the console works very well and only slightly slower than most remote systems I've had to access locally within the US or even within NY. We have remote power boot and remote console into it so poweroff/poweron/remote boot etc is a breeze, the only hard thing is if any of these procedures need stuff like "hold power button while booting", turn key to unlock ALOM etc which obv I can't do without employing smarthands which don't come cheap at all
Hit the Debian SPARC mailing list, Debian Enterprise, Linux iSCSI, etc. You
can't be the first and only person to try this. Someone out there knows how to
do this. Hope you can find him or that he documented it.
I hope not! These are the things that you hope like hell you're not the first esp. when you're on a strict timeline :(
If you need that box up and running now, ditch Debian and go back to Solaris.
Haha mm yeah I have considered that however, the core software that I need to run on this box has little or very little Solaris support and I can survive without access to the SAN directly through the HBA (for a little while) but I can't without the core software platform having full support on that OS, and I'll have a better luck with that on Debian than on Solaris. Although this might quickly change with Solaris 11 etc. as that's becoming even more friendlier and easy to manage/maintain/upgrade etc than even Solaris 10 which is quite cool in itself.
I'm already on the Debian Sparc mailing list but will enrol in the Debian Enterprise and Linux iSCSI lists as well. Thanks for the suggestions Stan. You DO sound like a Hardware freak / geek and I mean that as a compliment, of course :)
Cheers,
\RR