IBM Automatic Server Restart (ASR) Driver for Linux 2.6 kernel Version 1.00 CONTENTS -------- 1.0 Overview 2.0 Change History 3.0 ASR Device Driver Installation Instructions for SLES 9 4.0 ASR User Space Monitor (/sbin/asrtask) 5.0 Web Sites and Support Phone Number 6.0 Trademarks and Notices 7.0 Disclaimer 1.0 Overview ------------- This README.TXT file is associated with the following 2 RPM files: - ibmasr-x.xx-y.i586.rpm - ibmasr-x.xx-y.src.rpm where x.xx is the version and y is the build of the rpm that you are installing. These RPM files will build and install Linux device drivers and/or support software for the following IBM hardware: - Automatic Server Restart (ASR) which is built onto the planar board some models of xSeries servers. See the IBM Support Web Site listed in Section 5 to determine which models are supported. Only the "boxed set" versions of Linux are supported. See Section 3 for details. 2.0 Change History ------------------- 2.1 Driver version 1.00 Initial Release. 3.0 System Management Device Driver Installation Instructions for SUSE ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.1 Supported operating system versions: 1) SUSE Linux Enterprize Server, version 9.0 - Specific kernel versions tested 2.6.5-7.5-SMP 3.2 Installing on distributions without precompiled ASM kernel modules or when uprading to a newer RPM: The kernel source needs to be configured. If you see errors such as "Kernel version mismatch" or "unresolved symbol errors" then configure the kernel sources. The system that the source rpm file is to be run on must have Linux development/build capability with the Linux kernel source installed and be properly configured for your hardware. Specifically, the kernel-source and gcc packages must be installed. After installing the kernel-source RPM, configure the kernel sources by executing the following commands: cd /usr/src/linux make clean make mrproper make cloneconfig make prepare-all The binary rpm file (ibmasr-x.xx-y.i586.rpm) contains open source code for the IBM Automatic Server Restart device driver for Linux. The file is designed for installation using the Red Hat RPM "build" system. Executing the RPM utility against ibmasr-x.xx-y.i586.rpm will build and install a Linux driver that is customized for the Linux kernel version of the machine running the RPM utility. This process also generates a binary rpm file that can be installed on any machine running the same Linux kernel and having the same hardware configuration. The following steps must be executed in order to build and install the Linux ASR driver. NOTE: If this is an upgrade from an existing IBM Automatic Server Restart driver, then the previously installed ASR driver packages must first be removed. Depending upon your system's configuration, you may see messages about missing files when running the "rpm -e" commands. You may safely ignore those messages. Type the following command at a shell prompt to remove the old driver source and binaries: rpm -e ibmasr To install the source rpm for SUSE, execute the following command: rpm -ivh ibmasr-x.xx-y.i586.rpm where x.xx is the version of the RPM that you are installing. 3.3 Un-installing the ibmasr RPM. To uninstall the binary rpm, execute the following command: rpm -e ibmasr RPM will unload the driver, and remove all ibmasr-related files from your system. It is recommended that you uninstall the driver with -e before installing a new version, rather than upgrading with RPM's upgrade (-U) switch. 3.4 Utility Programs. There are two useful utility programs installed by the RPM. ibmspup is a small script that loads ibmasr.o (the ASR device driver). The ibmspup script creates /dev/ibmasr which is the device file for the Automatic Server Restart hardware. NOTE: This module will not load if your system does not have the supported hardware. ibmspdown unloads the modules. You must have root privileges to run these utilities. 4.0 ASR User Space Monitor (/sbin/asrtask) --------------------------------------- 4.1 When the ibmasr rpm is installed, a user space application is also installed in the /sbin directory and executed (asrtask). This task is a keep alive task between the kernel driver (ibmasr) and user space. We have found that on some combination/configurations of distributions, server models and kernel versions that some panics generated from user space will not cause the ASR device driver to reboot the system even though user space is hung. Therfore we added this user space application to watch for this particular scenario. This application can be terminated via normal Linux termination methods however user space will no longer be monitored. Also if the asrtask is terminated in an unconventional manner such that asrtask cannot clean up on exit the system may be rebooted. If this is the case the device driver will log a message in /var/log/messages leaving a history of the cause of the reboot. 5.0 WEB Sites and Support Phone Number --------------------------------------- 5.1 IBM Support Web Site: http://www.pc.ibm.com/support 5.2 IBM Marketing eServer xSeries Web Site: http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/eserver/xseries 5.3 If you have any questions about this update, or problems applying the update go to the following Help Center World Telephone Numbers URL: http://www.pc.ibm.com/qtechinfo/YAST-3P2QYL.html 6.0 Trademarks and Notices --------------------------- The following terms are trademarks of SUSE, Inc. in the United States and SUSE AG in Germany or other countries: SUSE The following terms are trademarks of Linus Torvalds in the United States or other countries or both: Linux 7.0 Disclaimer --------------- 7.1 THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. IBM DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND MERCHANTABILITY WITH RESPECT TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT. BY FURNISHING THIS DOCUMENT, IBM GRANTS NO LICENSES TO ANY PATENTS OR COPYRIGHTS. 7.2 Note to Government Users Documentation related to restricted rights -- Use, duplication or disclosure is subject to restrictions set forth in GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corporation.