Issues and Known Problems

HP recommends backing up all data and performing a new installation of SLES, rather than upgrading from a prior version.
HP does not recommend using the HP Integrity Integrated Lights-Out (iLO 2) remote text console, or virtual KVM (vKVM) console, when installing Linux.
You may want to consider removing disk labels on your disks before attempting to install the operating system.
No support for uncertified RPM packages.
If you add uncertified RPMs to the operating system (that is. from an open source development repository), it will not be supported by Novell. Novell supports only RPMs bundled in supported Linux distributions for Integrity servers and official SLES Service Packs for those distributions. HP supports the Linux software it distributes.
No support for systems with a recompiled kernel.
Although you may recompile your kernel to change configuration parameters, HP does not support systems on which you have recompiled your kernel for any other reason, e.g. for kernel source code changes.
Supported customizations:
1. Modifying configuration options found in /usr/src/linux-version-versionnumber/configs to set values or make modules static or dynamically loadable.
2. Changing boot-time parameters found in /usr/src/linux/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt (with the kernel-source /rpm).
Before installing or booting SLES 9 on an nPartition on an rx7620, rx8620, or Integrity Superdome server, set the ACPI configuration value to acpiconfig single-pci-domain.
For rx7620, rx8620, or Integrity Superdome servers booting SLES 9:
1. At the EFI Shell prompt, type acpiconfig single-pci-domain and press Enter.
2. Type reset and press Enter.

System is unbootable after adding new disks.

When you add new disks, the system may fail with one of the following messages:

init=

VFS root not found

To fix the problem:

Remove any disks you've added since you last booted your system.
Invoke parted /dev/sdXwhere sdX is the disk where your root partition resides.
Use name command to assign forward slash (/) as a LABEL to the root file system. The help name from inside parted explains the syntax you should use, e.g. name 1 /

Manually verify root= "LABEL= /" is in each image section of the /boot/efi/SuSE/elilo.conf file.

==== sample elilo.conf for mounting root partition by label ====

prompt
timeout=50
default=linux

image=vmlinuz-2.4.18-e.25smp

      label=linux
      initrd=initrd-2.4.18-e.Nsmp.img
      read-only
      root="LABEL=/"
      append="console=ttyS0,115200n8 hdd=ide-scsi"

image=vmlinuz-2.4.18-e.25
      label=linux-up
      initrd=initrd-2.4.18-e.25.img
      read-only
      root="LABEL=/"
       append="console=ttyS0,115200n8 hdd=ide-scsi"
==== sample elilo.conf for mounting root partition by label ====

Manually verify LABEL"=/" entry is in the /etc/fstab.

===== sample fstab for mounting root device by label =====
LABEL=/        /           ext2       defaults,errors=remount-ro    1 1
/dev/hda1      /boot/efi   vfat       defaults                      0 0
none           /dev/pts    devpts     gid=5,mode=620                0 0
none           /proc       proc       defaults                      0 0
none           /dev/shm    tmpfs      defaults                      0 0
/dev/hda3      swap        swap       defaults                      0 0
/dev/hda5      /home       ext2       defaults,errors=remount-ro    0 2
/dev/cdrom     /mnt/cdrom  iso9660    noauto,owner,kudzu,ro         0 0
/dev/cdrom1    /mnt/cdrom1 iso9660    noauto,owner,kudzu,ro         0 0
===== sample fstab for mounting root device by label =====

If you want rx7620 or rx8620 server hardware to power off when the shutdown -h comand or poweroff command is issued, run the acpiconfig enable softpowerdown command from the EFI shell and reset the nPartition to make the ACPI configuration take effect.
The normal behavior on rx7620 and rx8620 servers is for an nPartition to be made inactive (all cells are in a boot-is-blocked state) when shutdown -h or poweroff is issued from the SLES command line. This behavior is established with the acpiconfig disable powerdown setting, which is the normal setting for the single-pci-domain ACPI configuration.
On HP Integrity Superdome servers, an nPartition is always made inactive when halted from the operating system (for example, after shutdown -h), and this behavior cannot be changed.
When softpowerdown is enabled on an rx7620 or rx8620 server, if one nPartition is defined in the server then halting the operating system powers off the server cabinet (including all cells and I/O chassis). On an rx7620 or rx8620 server with multiple nPartitions, halting the operating system from an nPartition with softpowerdown enabled causes only the resources on the local nPartition to be powered off.
You can run the acpiconfig command with no arguments to check the current setting and the softpowerdown setting; however, softpowerdown information is displayed only when different from normal behavior.
To power on hardware that has been powered off, use the PE command at the management processor command menu. To make an inactive nPartition active, use the management processor BO command to boot the nPartition past the boot-is-blocked state.
HP supports up to two I/O chassis per nPartition on rx7620, rx8620, and Integrity Superdome servers running SLES 9.
SCSI errors and resets cause system failures. SCSI errors and resets for any reason cause system failures. For example, if your disks have a problem such as a parity or disk error that causes a SCSI reset, the system will fail. Combining a Seagate drive with the ds2100 disk carrier causes electrical problems on the SCSI bus and subsequent reset attempts that also result in system failure. Do not use Seagate drives with this disk carrier.
This issue affects Linux running on the following systems: rx1600, rx1620, rx2600, rx4640, rx5670, rx7620, rx8620, and Superdome.
The Management Processor UART on these systems does not supply the Carrier Detect signal. This causes applications to hang when opening the UART device, waiting for Carrier Detect, unless they use the O_NDELAY or O_NONBLOCK flag.
For example, echo foo > /dev/ttyS0 hangs.
This is usually not a problem because /dev/ttyS0 is usually used as a console, the agetty process opens it with O_NONBLOCK, and processes spawned by agetty generally inherit the already-opened device.
Previously, a workaround was recommended for cases where the device had to be opened again, and applications observed the hang. The recommended workaround included the following steps:
1. Add the -L option to the agetty line in the /etc/inittab file as show below to resolve the problem:
  S0:1235:respawn:/sbin/agetty -L 9600 ttyS0
2. After editing the file, signal the init process to re-read the inittab file with the following command:
  kill -HUP 1
3. If you are logged in to the console, then exit and log in again to restart the agetty.
This inittab workaround is included in SLES9 SP3
When installing SP3 from CD, if you boot off SP3 CD1, the installer enters YaST, asking to enter CD1 into the drive. The installer expects you to enter the SLES9 CD1 at this dialog, not SP3 CD1.
A package will fail to install if the system clock is not set properly (as indicated in Bugzilla 56902). Ensure the system clock is set properly before attempting any installs.
If you have a Qlogic FibreChannel card, you can obtain the latest driver for it from HP as follows:
1. From the page at http://www.hp.com, click on the "Driver Downloads" link.
2. Click the radio button for Download drivers and software on the Software & Driver Downloads page, type the name of the FibreChannel card in the text box, and press Enter.
3. Click SUSE LINUX under the "select operating system" heading on the specify operating system page.
4. Scroll down the download drivers and software page for your specified card, and click the download button for the required driver.
If you have a Emulex FibreChannel card, you can obtain the latest driver for it from HP as follows:
1. From the page at http://www.hp.com, click on the "Driver Downloads" link.
2. Click the radio button for Download drivers and software on the Software & Driver Downloads page, type the name of the FibreChannel card in the text box, and press Enter.
3. Click SUSE LINUX under the "select operating system" heading on the specify operating system page.
4. Scroll down the download drivers and software page for your specified card, and click the download button for the required driver.
Customers running an rx2620 or rx4640 utilizing the Dual-Core Intel Itanium 2 processor may experience a hang during the boot of the operating system. To resolve the issue, HP recommends that customers upgrade the operating system kernel to at least version 2.6.5-7.286. This package is available from Novell, and can be retrieved using any of the methods documented in "Getting Updates from the SUSE Linux Maintenance Web".

Issues and Known Problems

Technical documentation

» Table of Contents