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Re: Debian 6 iSCSI root boot problem



On 9/14/2011 10:39 AM, Andrés Durán wrote:
Hello to all, and sorry for may bad english, i'm Spanish.

	I'm trying to install Debian 6 on one server without internal disks, I have a Workstation running Debian 6 too that run as an iSCSI Target. This work station is configured as iSCSI target with the package iscsitarget, it is running without problems. The logical drive is exported perfectly.

	On the other hand (the initiator), the server is an HP DL380 G6, it  have an network controller with boot from iSCSI support, we like use it to start Debian 6 without PXE, BOOTP, usb or something else.
	I'm using this post "http://www.david-web.co.uk/blog/?p=188"; to install Debian in the Target drive using iSCSI protocol (Debian is installed correctly in the remote drive using this method), but when I finish the installation and the server restart it is unable to boot. The grub is installed on the remote drive, and the Network firmware is well configured and it is connected to the remote drive at the moment of boot, but when the Grub of the remote drive try to start it show an error that says: "Grub Read Error" and the boot process is stopped at this time. At this time no grub rescue mode is available and no interactive methods is possible to debug the boot process.

Here is the details of the server and his network controller (Chipset Broadcom BCM5709C): "http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13234_div/13234_div.HTML";

	Because I'm using the iSCSI firmware provided by the network card, I'm not doing nothing in the last process of the post "http://www.david-web.co.uk/blog/?p=188"; where the post says: "DON’T allow the system to reboot – the installed system can’t boot yet. I decided that I wanted to boot using BOOTP and TFTP".

	Please, ¿could someone help me?

You're using an iSCSI HBA that provides the entire iSCSI solution in firmware, but you've followed instructions on installing Debian to boot using a software iSCSI initiator. That combo won't work.

Read this:
http://bizsupport2.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01555874/c01555874.pdf

HP has geared this doc toward Windows users, but it has all the settings information you need to get this working.

Do not use the software initiator.

Make sure you set "Windows HBA mode" to "enable" in the option ROM settings menu of the DL380 BIOS, and that the iSCSI config parameters are correct in the HBA firmware setup. Then, boot the Debian installer CD/DVD in the DL380 G6. If the correct driver module for the BCM5709C in full firmware iSCSI mode isn't automatically loaded, manually load it yourself. One driver may handle both modes. I've not used this HP HBA so I can't say for sure.

When you get to the partitioning menu you should see the disk device, just as if this were an SAS drive on a PCIe SAS card. Partition and format it as you normally would, complete the installation, and reboot. Unless the wrong driver module gets loaded, or you don't have all the BIOS/HBA firmware settings correct, it should work fine. And without having to use the slower, less reliable, software iSCSI initiator.

--
Stan


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