[rhelv6-list] rhel6.4 kernel breaks server hardware vendor mgmt tools

[Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (Santiago) discussion mailing-list]

"Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (Santiago) discussion mailing-list"
<rhelv6-list at redhat.com> writes:

>> The decision to statically link the IPMI kernel modules in rhel6.4
>> breaks various vendor hardware management tools. So far I've confirmed
>> that Dell Openmanage Server Administrator (OMSA) and HP Proliant
>> support pack depend on those modules being standalone like before.
>> These tools don't work with the 6.4 kernel.
>> 
>> It's probably just the init scripts for the services that need to be
>> fixed in order to work with statically linked IPMI modules, but out of
>> the box these services are broken.
>> 
>> Just a heads-up for anyone planning to upgrade their physical servers
>> to rhel6.4.
>
> FWIW, I've had no problem using Dell's CLI update_firmware after
> updating to RHEL 6.4, and that's part of OMSA. I did notice that
> the ipmi_si and ipmi_msghandler modules were no longer there (since I
> typically try to manually load them), but bootstrap_firmware,
> inventory_firwmare and update_firmware all worked fine.
>
> This was a PE2950 on which I updated the main BIOS, the PERC6/i, the
> Broadcom NICs and the Seagate SAS disks.
>
> Maybe you were referring to some other parts of OMSA, in which case I'd
> be interested in knowing which.

Yes, I would expect some parts of OMSA to continue working, and
update_firmware seems to not be affected. I'm referring to the parts of
OMSA that communicates with the hardware for management and monitoring
purposes. E.g. on a rhel6.3 server the following commands work as
expected:

  # omreport chassis
  Health
  
  Main System Chassis
  
  SEVERITY : COMPONENT
  Ok       : Fans
  Ok       : Intrusion
  Ok       : Memory
  Ok       : Power Supplies
  Ok       : Power Management
  Ok       : Processors
  Ok       : Temperatures
  Ok       : Voltages
  Ok       : Hardware Log
  Ok       : Batteries

  # omreport storage controller
   Controller  PERC H700 Integrated (Embedded)
  
  Controllers
  ID                                            : 0
  Status                                        : Ok
  [...etc...]

While on rhel6.4:

  # omreport chassis
  Health

  # omreport storage controller
  No controllers found

If you try restarting the srvadmin services, you'll see that the IPMI
stuff fails to start:

  # srvadmin-services.sh restart
  Shutting down DSM SA Shared Services:                      [  OK  ]
  Shutting down DSM SA Connection Service:                   [  OK  ]
  Stopping Systems Management Data Engine:
  Stopping dsm_sa_snmpd: Not started                         [FAILED]
  Stopping dsm_sa_eventmgrd: Not started                     [FAILED]
  Stopping dsm_sa_datamgrd: Not started                      [FAILED]
  Stopping Systems Management Device Drivers:
  Stopping dell_rbu:                                         [  OK  ]
  Starting Systems Management Device Drivers:
  Starting dell_rbu:                                         [  OK  ]
  Starting ipmi driver:                                      [FAILED]
  Starting Systems Management Device Drivers:
  Starting dell_rbu: Already started                         [  OK  ]
  Starting ipmi driver:                                      [FAILED]
  Starting DSM SA Shared Services:                           [  OK  ]
  Starting DSM SA Connection Service:                        [  OK  ]

Regards,
-- 
Trond H. Amundsen <t.h.amundsen at usit.uio.no>
Center for Information Technology Services, University of Oslo