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RHEL 5.4 - Virtual Fibre Channel Install
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Added by Brian_King, last edited by Brian_King on Oct 01, 2009
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Installing RHEL 5.4 on Virtual Fibre Channel Devices

RHEL 5.4 adds support for Virtual Fibre Channel Devices on Power utilizing N-Port ID Virtualization technology. Support is provided by the ibmvfc driver. The ibmvfc driver is part of the RHEL 5.4 distribution, so it will be provided in all kernel updates from Red Hat, however, the driver is not available in the installer. In order to install to an NPIV LUN, a driver disk is required. This article describes this process.

Overview

For an overview of Virtual Fibre Channel on Power, refer to the following document in infocenter This document, and the other documents linked from this one, provide an overview of the technology and how to configure virtual fibre channel on Power. Additionally, the latest version of VIOS can be obtained here: http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/vios/home.html

Installation

There are two methods the driver disk can be used. It can be used via physical CD media or via the network. Both methods are described below. If you encounter problems with this driver disk, please use the Linux for Power forum on developerWorks.

  • Boot the LPAR to be installed to the SMS prompt, then select option 0 (hidden option) from the main menu, to go to the Open Firmware prompt. Select Y to go to the OF prompt.
  • If you plan to use physical CD media for the driver disk, run the following command from the OF prompt:
0 > printenv boot-file dd nostorage
  • If you plan to load the driver disk via the network, run the following command from the OF prompt, pointing to the driver disk ISO image:
0 > printenv boot-file dd=ftp://linuxpatch.ncsa.uiuc.edu/redhat/rhel-5.4/ppc64/ibmvfc.iso nostorage
  • Exit OF by running the following command:
0 > dev /packages/gui obe
  • Stop in SMS, select the install device, and boot the installer.
  • If using physical media for the driver disk, insert the driver disk when prompted.
  • During the install, you will be prompted to add devices. Select "Add Device", scroll down, and select "IBM Power Virtual Fibre Channel (ibmvfc)" to load.
  • Repeat for any other storage drivers that might be required for the install.
  • Select Done when ready to proceed with the install.
  • Install as normal.

 
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