EL 2.1 install via PXE Boot and NFS Kickstart

Tue Apr 20 00:58:25 UTC 2004

I appreciate the reply, however, I have already completed the steps you 
detailed and they all worked and created the desired results.  On 
current RedHat CDs (> Ver 6.2) there is an /image/pxeboot/ directory.  
Inside that directory is a vmlinuz kernel and a ram disk.  I'm trying to 
insert a module compiled with the method described by Mr. Stevens into 
the ram disk.  I feel that I am doing everything mostly right, but I 
must be missing something.  Here's what I've done:

1.  Gunzip'd the initrd.img and mounted the resulting file using a loop 
device.
2.  Copied out the modules/modules.cgz from the mounted initrd.
3.  Decompressed the modules.cgz using zcat and cpio
4.  Put my new module into the resulting directory structure.  
5.  Recreated the modules.cgz from the new data with my module.
6.  Copied the new modules.cgz into the initrd mount.
7.  Edited the pcitable and module-info in the module/ directory on the 
initrd mount.  
8.  I can boot from the kernel via PXE successfully but the module does 
not get inserted correctly.  Unfortunately, no error is produced.

I borrowed the above info from several web-documents that dealt with 
putting a third party driver onto a disk for booting.  I'm guessing that 
the two processes are slightly different.

Anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks,

A Cline

On Mon, Apr 19, 2004 at 04:04:15PM -0700, Rick Stevens wrote:
> Aaron Cline wrote:
> >Hi:
> >
> >I've been going round and round with a problem for the last few days and 
> >I'm hoping someone out here can help.  I have a bunch of new Compaq 
> >D530s with Broadcom NICs.  The Broadcom driver for these NICs is the 
> >bcm5700.  The bcm5700 driver in the 2.4.9.e34BOOT kernel does not work 
> >out of the box.  I have downloaded some GPL drivers from Broadcom's 
> >site.  I have been able to compile these for the 2.4.9.e34BOOT kernel 
> >and insmod them on a machine running this kernel.  They work like a 
> >charm.  I have also found other documentation about howto edit the 
> >RHCD1:/images/pxeboot/initrd.img file to add my new bcm5700 module to 
> >the boot image.
> >I then boot via PXE.  Everything works great.  I get a message saying 
> >bcm5700 found.  Then it says it inserts the module, no errors.  Then it 
> >says its going to try to get an address via DHCP, and chokes.  Basically 
> >the kernel tells me that there is no eth0 device.  I'm stumped.  I have 
> >been working on this for days.  Does anyone have any tid-bits of wisdom?
> 
> I've been doing that a LOT.  The proper driver to download from Broadcom
> is the bcm5700-7.1.22.zip (or whatever it's called).  To build the
> driver, as the root user:
> 
> 1.  Download the .zip file to a scratch directory
> 
> 2.  Make sure you're running the kernel you're targeting AND that you
> have downloaded and installed the kernel source RPM.
> 
> 3.  Do "cd /usr/src/linux-2.4"
> 
> 4.  Do "make mrproper"
> 
> 5.  Do "cp /boot/config-(kernelversion) .config"  Replace
> "(kernelversion)" with your kernel version, e.g.
> 
> 	cp /boot/config-2.4.21-9.0.1.ELsmp .config
> 
> (yes, that's "dot-config" in the "/usr/src/linux-2.4" directory)
> 
> 6.  Edit the Makefile in /usr/src/linux-2.4 and change the
> "EXTRAVERSION=" parameter to match the last bit you get from the "uname
> -r" command (get rid of the "custom" bit), e.g.:
> 
>     WAS:
> 	EXTRAVERSION = -9.0.1.ELcustom
> 
>     CHANGE TO:
> 	EXTRAVERSION = -9.0.1.ELsmp
> 
> 7.  Do "make oldconfig;make dep"
> 
> 8.  "cd" to the scratch directory where you downloaded the driver to.
> 
> 9.  Do "unzip bcm5700-7.1.22.zip"
> 
> 10. Do "cd linux"
> 
> 11. Do "tar xzf bcm5700-7.1.22.tar.gz"
> 
> 12. Do "cd bcm5700-7.1.22/src"
> 
> 13. Do "make" to build the driver.  Watch for errors.  If you get them,
> the odds are you didn't do the "make mrproper" in /usr/src/linux-2.4
> before you did the "make oldconfig;make dep".
> 
> 14. To test it, make sure you have done "ifconfig eth0 down" and
> unloaded the bcm5700 or tg3 driver that was loaded (use the "rmmod"
> command).  Then, "insmod bcm5700.o".
> 
> 15. If you get no errors, do a "lsmod" and verify that the bcm5700
> module is loaded.  If it is, try "ifconfig eth0 up" and verify you can
> ping your gateway.
> 
> 16. If that all checks out, do "make install", edit your
> /etc/modules.conf file to make sure you have "alias eth0 bcm5700".  Do a
> final "depmod -a" and you should be ready to reboot with the new driver.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> - Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
> - VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
> -                                                                    -
> -        "More hay, Trigger?" "No thanks, Roy, I'm stuffed!"         -
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 
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