Yet Another Beowulf Installation Howto

Beowulf Installation Boot Diskette

Small changes

# cp /mnt/cdrom/updates/images/boot.img .
     (or just cp /mnt/cdrom/images/boot.img)
# mkdir /mnt/boot
# mount -o loop -t msdos boot.img /mnt/boot

... change /mnt/boot/syslinux.cfg :
 line:
    default linux
 to:
    default ks
 line:
    timeout 600
 to:
    timeout 30

... also edit /mnt/boot/boot.msg :)

   # umount /mnt/boot/
   # mv boot.img boot-beo.img


                                      

Adding autodetection for new NIC

Here I explain what I've done to add automatic detection for SMC EtherPower II card.

The autodetection of PCI devices is part of one program called install. You have compiled version of this program in the boot diskette, and the source in directory misc/src/install/ of the RedHat CD. So, we have to change a bit one header file on this diskette, recompile the install and finally copy it to the diskette.

  # cd
  # mkdir install
  # cd install
  # cp -r /mnt/cdrom/misc/src/install/* .
  # cd pci-probing/
 
  # ./test-pciprobe

  
----------------------------------------------------
[root@lcpxdf pci-probing]# ./test-pciprobe
Probing for ETHERNET devices....
Card 0:    1 matches found in db
       Match 0:  |UNKNOWN| -> |UNKNOWN|

Probing for SCSI devices....
No PCI devices of type SCSI found.

Probing for VIDEO devices....
Card 0:    1 matches found in db
       Match 0:  |Mach64 GB| -> |Server:Mach64|
----------------------------------------------------
 
  # vi pci-ids.h

line 102, aftter the line with:
        {0x1050  , 0x0940  , ( "NE2000-PCI" ), ( "ne" )} ,
add the following line:
        {0x10b8  , 0x0005  , ( "9432 TX" ), ("epic100") },  /* added by Svet */
(add list of already supported adapters, add comment about how to
construct line like this, add link to README file in pci-probing directory)

  # make clean
  # make
  # ./test-pciprobe
----------------------------------------------------
Probing for ETHERNET devices....
Card 0:    1 matches found in db
       Match 0:  |9432 TX| -> |epic100|

Probing for SCSI devices....
Card 0:    1 matches found in db
       Match 0:  |AIC-7890/1| -> |aic7xxx|

Probing for VIDEO devices....
Card 0:    1 matches found in db
       Match 0:  |Trio64V2/DX or /GX| -> |Card:S3 Trio64V2 (generic)|
----------------------------------------------------

this is ok. Now:
   # cd ..
   # make
Now we have the new compiled 'install'. Strip it:
   # strip install

In order to put it in the boot diskette:

   # cd
   # mkdir diskette
   # cd diskette
   # cp /mnt/cdrom/updates/images/boot.img .
     (or just cp /mnt/cdrom/images/boot.img)
   # mkdir /mnt/boot
   # mount -o loop -t msdos boot.img /mnt/boot
   # cp /mnt/boot/initrd.img .
   # gzip -dc initrd.img >initrd.ext2
   # mkdir /mnt/initrd
   # mount -o loop initrd.ext2 /mnt/initrd
   # cp -f ../install/install /mnt/initrd/bin/install
   # umount /mnt/initrd/
   # gzip initrd.ext2
   # cp -f initrd.ext2.gz /mnt/boot/initrd.img
                                                 

--

   # umount /mnt/boot/
   # mv boot.img boot-beo.img

(add link to my image, also add link to KickStart HOWTO)

   # dd if=boot-beo.img of=/dev/fd0