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sanboot:debian_lenny_iscsi [2009/11/23 17:00] garlopf |
sanboot:debian_lenny_iscsi [2009/11/23 17:13] garlopf |
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| While this simple distinction might seem innocent enough, it really isn't. In many cases it is impracticalt to create a new initrd or root image to change the iscsi parameters. Luckily, for most people there is a more elegant way to get the parameters. The latest lenny kernel (as of 4. November 2009) has an [[iBFT]] function compiled in that makes fetching the iSCSI parameters from [[iBFT]] really easy. From your initrd script, simply traverse the directory ''/sys/firmware/ibft'' The files in there contain all the ibft information you could ever want. | While this simple distinction might seem innocent enough, it really isn't. In many cases it is impracticalt to create a new initrd or root image to change the iscsi parameters. Luckily, for most people there is a more elegant way to get the parameters. The latest lenny kernel (as of 4. November 2009) has an [[iBFT]] function compiled in that makes fetching the iSCSI parameters from [[iBFT]] really easy. From your initrd script, simply traverse the directory ''/sys/firmware/ibft'' The files in there contain all the ibft information you could ever want. | ||
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| + | **FIXME I didn't follow this route, but if you do, please put the initramfs script you created here. You can get access to this wiki by asking in the #etherboot IRC channel at irc.freenode.org. Se below for the route I took, and consequently the script i made instead** | ||
| ==== Extras: XEN + iSCSI + Lenny + iBFT ==== | ==== Extras: XEN + iSCSI + Lenny + iBFT ==== | ||
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| ==== Solutions to XEN + iSCSI + Lenny + iBFT ==== | ==== Solutions to XEN + iSCSI + Lenny + iBFT ==== | ||
| There are 3 solutions to the problem of aquiering iSCSI data from the iBFT with a lenny XEN kernel in initrd: | There are 3 solutions to the problem of aquiering iSCSI data from the iBFT with a lenny XEN kernel in initrd: | ||
| - | * Patch the kernel or use an alternate kernel to fix the iBFT + XEN problem. This patch looks promising: http://patchwork.kernel.org/patch/50838/ . Documentation for how to proceed with that is available here: http://wiki.debian.org/DebianKernelCustomCompilation and you might also want to read this: http://packages.debian.org/lenny/kernel-package and this: http://www.debian.org/doc/FAQ/ch-kernel.en.html | + | * Fall back to the default behaviour in Lenny, namely to read the settings from configurations in ''/etc/'' and/or settings passed as kernel parameters. |
| - | * Use an utility that gets hold of the iBFT data without depending on the kernel sysfs directory ''/sys/firmware/ibft''. One way that has been tested and that works is to do that is to fetch an older version of the Open-iSCSI sourcecode from here: http://www.open-iscsi.org/bits/ and compiling the old fwparam_ibft tool that is mentioned in the etch howto. | + | * Patch the kernel or use an alternate kernle (newer than 2.6.32 or patched) to fix the iBFT + XEN problem. This patch looks promising: http://patchwork.kernel.org/patch/50838/ . Documentation for how to proceed with that is available here: http://wiki.debian.org/DebianKernelCustomCompilation and you might also want to read this: http://packages.debian.org/lenny/kernel-package and this: http://www.debian.org/doc/FAQ/ch-kernel.en.html |
| - | + | * My favourite: Use an utility that gets hold of the iBFT data without depending on the kernel sysfs directory ''/sys/firmware/ibft''. I did this by fetching an older version of the Open-iSCSI sourcecode from here: http://www.open-iscsi.org/bits/. I have confirmed that the version mentioned in the Etch howto works flawlessly: http://www.open-iscsi.org/bits/open-iscsi-2.0-865.13.tar.gz. I used the Etch howto as a reference when building. You only need to compile the tool called ''fwparam_ibft'' as the rest is allready installed in Lenny. This tool gets its iBFT data directly from memory without asking the kernel at all. After compiling the ''fwparam_ibft'' tool and copying it to ''/usr/sbin'', make sure to creating these two initramfs hook script which will be executed automatically to include the fwparam_ibft binary in the ramdisk image when initramfs is updated, and to put it to good use at boot time respectively. | |
| - | I have confirmed that the version mentioned in the Etch howto works flawlessly: http://www.open-iscsi.org/bits/open-iscsi-2.0-865.13.tar.gz. This tool gets its iBFT data directly from memory without asking the kernel at all. After compiling the fwparam_ibft tool, make sure its included in the initramfs by creating these hook script which will automatically be executed when you rebuild your initramfs, and at boot time respectively. | + | |
| === /etc/initramfs-tools/hooks/iscsi_tcp === | === /etc/initramfs-tools/hooks/iscsi_tcp === | ||
| <code bash> | <code bash> | ||
| Line 126: | Line 127: | ||
| </code> | </code> | ||
| **Important: remember to ''chmod +x'' both these scripts so that the are executable before updating your initrd** | **Important: remember to ''chmod +x'' both these scripts so that the are executable before updating your initrd** | ||
| - | * Fall back to the default behaviour in Lenny, namely to read the settings from configurations in ''/etc/'' and/or settings passed as kernel parameters. | ||
