[clue-tech] RH 7.3 on PowerEdge 6450

[Jack Parker]

Not done by a long shot, but I'll post status.  Spent yesterday morning on
this.  Might get another window Monday night.

If you've got an answer for anything here I'd love to hear it, otherwise I'm
just keeping a log so that others can google my mistakes.  I cannot claim to
be a linux sysadmin, just another twiddler.

Primary issue is that RH 7.3 does not see the internal scsi drives.  (I use
7.3 because it is the most seamless (imho) with Oracle 9, DB2 8 and Informix
7, 8 and 9 engines)

Googling about, the plan I've come up with is:
upgrade BIOS
Run Dell OpenManage Server Assistant to install - or - run vanilla RH
install and load SCSI drivers.  OpenManage is probably a more integrated
approach, have to borrow the cd monday - you can, of course, not download
it, although Dell will sell you a copy.

I am leery of doing the adaptec flash - it warns that flashing the
controller without a service tag in the setup is a bad thing, and of course
I don't have a service tag in the setup.

Rhetorical questions:
- do I need to upgrade the PERC firmware?  Dire warnings from that have put
me off jumping on it.
- do I need to flash the adaptec firmware?  If so how do I get the service
tag into the setup.  Perhaps that config tool I downloaded from Dell - have
to try that.

As I was putting it together, I carefully jumpered each SCSI drive to its
own address, only to discover that you aren't supposed to, the scsi
backplane does that for you in the poweredge.

Started by getting the service tag off the back and entering it into 'My
Systems' at dell, this allowed me to find out what was actually in the box
without taking it all apart and also provided the parameters so I could find
the correct downloads.  (From 'my systems' you can click on the resources
tab and go straight to downloads).

Downloaded lots of stuff, ran diagnostics (intrusion detection switch
appears dead - BFD), doesn't report on the internal SCSIs.  (wrong cables
for the powervault, so I don't even know if that will work yet).  (Dell
firmware updates are fairly painless - follow the instructions, you'll
need/want floppies).
Flashed the bios, rebooted - uh oh, the EMS, power controller and backplane
controller all now claim to be out of date and require updating.
Back to downloads - the EMS download provides firmware for all three
components.
Went through that, now the power light is flashing slowly orange - have to
look that up.
Still no joy on vanilla RH install with drivers - have to look more closely
into what drivers I actually need there, my stab in the dark was probably
off the mark.

cheers
j.