I just bought POWER 8 ESERVER S812L from Ebay. There is no AIX on it.
I am trying to install RedHat on this box
But it does not recognize the hard drive and Ethernet card.
I am very newbie with IBM ... please help or hints me please ...
can't access to HMC ports, thought it's 169.254.2/3.147 for HMC1/HMC2. some posts mentioned about using F02 then 30 to find out the IP address if it got changed, but it seems there is nothing in front of panel to do that
What do I need to do for the server recognize the Hard drives and Ethernet card?
The server is booting up from RedHat 7 DVD, till the configuration parts.
Actually, the NICs are there
But when I select option 6 for installation disk then it fails
Probing storage... ion failed.
Install Destination
No disks detected. Please shut down the
d restart to complete installation.
Do I need to do anything for the server to recognize the disk?
This is as it should be. The "L" in S812L means the system is sold without a license for AIX and its microcode (that is firmware in IBM-speak) will deny running AIX. You can run anything you might get to run and have the necessary rights to do so: Linux is supported (hence the L), but if you would get, say, FreeBSD to run on your hardware (i doubt you could, but supposing you would) that would be equally OK.
Power systems from IBM are usually sold with a AIX license along. There is a "S812", which is identical to your system save for the limitation of not being allowed to run AIX. It costs a bit more than the S812L, though.
Sorry if this question seems condescending, it isn't: are you sure there are disks in the system? Background is, you could boot the system (at least under AIX - i do not have much experience with Linux on Power) completely from SAN so there are systems out there which have (and need) no disks at all.
bakunin: We do not run AIX on this server. We are trying to install RedHat Linux Enterprise server 7 on this server.
it has 2 disks on the server. Is there a way to check if the server recognize the disks at boot time or something? (sorry, no clue about IBM servers)
do I need to partition it first? If does, please hint me how?
Never done it before. Thanks.
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I am trying to use IBM Installation Toolkit, got the same error msg "No disks found on the current system"
IBM Installation Toolkit for PowerLinux
Installation settings for the target system [Show instructions]
[X] BRLIW1004E - No disks found on current system.
Settings
Linux distribution [Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (Update 6)]
Installation profile [Default ] [More info]
Disk partitioning [No disks]
Use driver disk [Yes]
Yes, there is. Use one of the ports labelled "HMC", they are called "Service processor ports". (A service processor is similar to a ILO board.) There you can connect to the systems ASMI (the closest thing to it on a hardware you probably know is the BIOS on a PC). Here is a description how to get there. You will need a network cable and a computer (laptop/notebook/...) with a web browser and a configurable IP interface.
hmm, everything is menu-driven there. I do not know off the top of my head which menu to go for an inventory, so you will have to wait until Monday, when i get a chance to look at a real system, not my memory only.
Basically, as described in the link i provided, use "admin"/"admin" as user/pw and connect to the system, then follow the menus.
Try a different version of Redhat - 6.X level. From a faint discussion some time back, I recall RedHat 7.X requires a higher level of POWER firmware than some early systems came with.
As you said you got it from ebay - your's might be a system with early firmware.
And my experience with RedHat is that they are quite particular about the machine. As you are just getting started try a net-boot image (if you have direct access then the image to burn is quite small). If you need/want a full image of 'something' - again, a RH 6.X, or SLES, or Ubuntu.
I do not have access to POWER8 - so I can only suggest, not pre-test.
Michael: I try version 6.7 and it said "No usable disks have been found". support power8 starting release 7.1.
bakunin: I expand all the menus but don't see the one for hard drive (my eyes maybe have problem ...) Below are the menus
+ Power/Restart Control
+ System Service Aids
+ System Information
+ System Configuration
+ Network Services
+ Performance Setup
+ On Demand Utilities
+ Concurrent Maintenance
+ Login Profile
Fedora needs vnc, OpenSLES needs (for net boot) to install from http - I would skip for now, debian and ubuntu install easily with a console connection - and also support vnc if I recall. (VNC install might be easier, but you still need a bit of contact with the console).
My "favorite" free Linux is debian - this is how I setup my VIOS to support an install.
$ mkrep -sp rootvg -size 10G
$ lsmap -vadapter vhost2
$ mkvdev -fbo -vadapter vhost2 -dev vtopt64
# # wgets on a different server that I can read via NFS when using mkvopt
# wget http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/powerpc/iso-cd/debian-7.6.0-powerpc-netinst.iso
# wget http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/powerpc/iso-dvd/debian-7.6.0-powerpc-DVD-1.iso
# wget http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/powerpc/iso-dvd/debian-update-7.6.0-powerpc-DVD-1.iso
$ mkvopt -name deb_760_netinst -file /data/prj/linux/debian/debian-7.6.0-powerpc-netinst.iso -ro
$ mkvopt -name deb_760_DVD1 -file /data/prj/linux/debian/debian-7.6.0-powerpc-DVD-1.iso -ro
$ mkvopt -name deb_760_update -file /data/prj/linux/debian/debian-update-7.6.0-powerpc-DVD-1.iso -ro
Page 78 lists the minimum O/S levels supported, at the time of its writing. My interpretation is only Ubuntu is supported as "bare metal"..... but I have no first hand experience with this..... so take it with a grain of salt.
If your S812L is capable of running a VIO Server (i.e. IVM now provides the virtualization functions for you) then you have a wealth of other options for Red Hat / SUSE.
If you log into your ASMI, expand all menus, find VET Capability Settings, and post all the settings maybe we can tell if your m/c is VIO Server capable. And I get it, if you come back saying the VIO Server route represents a learning curve that isn't on your radar right now.
Going to the redpaper listed earlier - I saw also:
As the first thing that needs verification - are the disks visible to anything, or perhaps broken (so also using the diagnostics DVD is recommended).
If you can access the Web-based ASMI interface (either directly, or HMC as proxy) - also try a factory-reset of everything, and assuming physical access try installs without using the HMC.
At this point, a "simple" HW failure may be the cause, e.g., loose cable during transport.
Looks like VIO Server is off the table for now. As installed, your m/c doesn't support it. The next 3 items would be "True" if your m/c was ordered with Feature Code # EC22 & entitled to VIOS support.
AFAIK, the S812L comes in 3 orderable flavors:
(f/c #EC16) - Open Power Abstraction Layer (OPAL) - aka a basic m/c
(f/c #EC20) - Power KVM
(f/c #EC22) - IBM PowerVM for IBM PowerLinux
I dunno but I guess your machine was ordered with Feature code #EC16 - a basic machine...... leaving you with the bare metal options previously pointed out.
What to do now ? Some options I can think of:
get out your wallet & buy Feature Code EC22 for your m/c if you're looking for a virtualized solution. Talk to an IBM Business Partner in your area to get a price, etc. I imagine this option isn't going to fly.
call IBM Support to help debug your problems..... as to why Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 LE doesn't see any disks. Your m/c did have a 3 yr warranty..... IBM Support will check your serial number & determine if you're entitled to free support within the warranty period.... or not.
From Diags screen, I only see the SAS RAID Adapter and Services Device. Do I suppose to see 2 SAS disks listed here. And Hit F7 to "commit" but it does not do anything
+ sissas0 0 P1-C14-T1 PCIe3 x8 SAS RAID Internal Adapter 6Gb
+ ses0 P2-Y1 - SAS Enclosure Services Device
+ cd0 1 P2-D15 1 SATA DVD-RAM Drive
I will try to find other hard drive to replace it. But do I need to create RAID or it can bypass the RAID?
From the Diag utility, I'd expect to see devices behind your SAS RAID controller that look something like:
pdisk0 & pdisk1 - for the 2 physical disks.... in 2 slot locations ranging from P2-D1 thru P2-D12
hdisk0, hdisk1, hdisk2, hdisk3, etc. - for any logical disks created by the SAS Disk Array Manager
OR
hdisk0 & hdisk1 - if the disks are configured as the default, regular JBOD
RAID isn't needed. If RAID is not configured, they are just a bunch of disks (JBOD). Look for the RAID Array Manager in your Diag screens.... it will show you if any RAID configuration is present (provided the drives are readable)...... or not.
I find it odd that you would have 2 faulty drives right out of the box.... unless your e-bay supplier knowingly sold it that way. But what do I know ?
I assume you've re-seated the drives & even tried another disk slot ?
