SGI(R) Foundation Software 2 - Release Notes ============================================ Copyright (c) 2010 SGI. All rights reserved. Contents -------- 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Before You Start / System Requirements 1.2 Major Highlights 1.3 SGI Software Product Life Cycle Management 1.4 Additional Information Online 2.0 Getting Started 2.1 Related Documentation 2.2 Installation 2.3 Software Updates 2.4 Additional Details about Changes 2.5 Upgrading from SGI Foundation Software 1 2.6 Upgrading from SGI ProPack 2, 3, 4 or 5 3.0 Known Problems, Workarounds and System Configuration Adjustments 4.0 Additional Installation Methods 4.1 For Systems running SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 5.0 Reader Comments and Feedback 6.0 Appendix ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 1.0 Introduction ----------------- SGI Foundation Software 2 SP1 is the first service pack for the SGI Foundation Software 2 release. It consists consists of drivers and technical support tools and utilities designed to make SGI platforms using SUSE(R) Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1 (SLES11 SP1) run more reliably and easier to administer. It provides base functionality required by other SGI software products, support tools to assist in system maintenance and drivers not yet provided by the base operating systems. By consolidating our support tools, utilities and drivers, SGI Foundation Software 2 improves product interoperability and simplifies product dependency management. SGI Foundation Software 2 SP1 is required on any system running SGI ProPack 7 SP1, SGI Tempo 2.1 or SGI InfiniteStorage Software Platform (ISSP) 2.1. This document contains the latest release information for SGI Foundation Software 2 SP1, known problems at the time of release and pointers to related documentation. For late breaking caveats and other information not included in these release notes, visit the SGI Foundation Software 2 product pages on Supportfolio: https://support.sgi.com/content_request/194480/index.html Also available on Supportfolio is the SGI Software Support Policy. This document contains important information about major and minor releases, describes the different support modes, standard bugfix guidelines and the support policy overview for SGI software. 1.1 Before You Start / System Requirements ------------------------------------------- Please read the following important notices regarding the use of SGI Foundation Software 2: - requires SLES11 SP1 - SGI requires PROM v5.04 (shub1) / v1.54 (shub2) for use with SGI Altix ia64 systems Refer to section "6.1 PROM Considerations for IA64 Systems" for details on determining the current PROM version. Do not attempt to upgrade an SGI Altix system to SLES11 if you are not sure that system is running with a PROM that supports the SLES11 operating system. 1.2 Major Highlights --------------------- Some of the major highlights in the SGI Foundation Software 2 release include the following: - supports SLES11 SP1 - added support for the SGI Altix UV 100/1000 platforms - added new topology API - updated pcp to version 3.1.1 - updated esp to version 4.0 - added new sgi_irqbalance package for SGI Altix UV 100/1000 systems - added new cme_migrate kernel module - removed kernel modules for debug kernel variant - other bugfixes and improvements (see CHANGELOGS.txt for details) For more information about some of these changes, please see section "2.4 Additional Details about Changes" located in this document. As noted in the introduction above, SGI Foundation Software supports SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1 (SLES11 SP1) for both the ia64 and x86_64 architectures. Not all software features are supported across all architectures. The following table highlights the differences: ============================================== Software Feature sles11 sles11 Description ia64 x86_64 ============================================== cm agnostic utilities - xe+ice ---------------------------------------------- embedded support partner o o ---------------------------------------------- external interrupts driver o xe+uv ---------------------------------------------- fabric management utilities - xe+ice ---------------------------------------------- lk license management tools o o ---------------------------------------------- lsi host adapter utility o o ---------------------------------------------- memory logging facility o o ---------------------------------------------- performance co-pilot (open) o o ---------------------------------------------- scsi disk support tools o o ---------------------------------------------- system config scripts o xe+uv ---------------------------------------------- sgi snmp agent o xe ---------------------------------------------- sgi support tools o o ---------------------------------------------- sgi topology o o ---------------------------------------------- SGI Foundation Software 2 contains a mixture of open source and proprietary licensed software. For a complete list of the packages, their licenses and where they are located on the SGI Foundation Software 2 media, see the RPMS.txt file. For a list changes in SGI Foundation Software 2 SP1, see the CHANGELOGS.txt file. RPMS.txt, CHANGELOGS.txt and these release notes (README.txt) are located in the /docs directory on the product media. 1.3 SGI Software Product Life Cycle Management ----------------------------------------------- In accordance with the SGI software product life cycle management strategy, SGI will announce support mode changes for existing software products. The following page on Supportfolio describes the SGI Software Life Cycle Definitions and Support Modes: https://support.sgi.com/content_request/779611/index.html The support mode status for SGI software is detailed on the following page: https://support.sgi.com/content_request/779612/index.html For any bundled and unbundled software products that are not released in Active Support Mode, SGI will specify the support mode status in the release documentation. SGI Foundation Software 2 is currently in Active Support mode. Please note that in general, updates are provided for the latest SGI Foundation Software 2 release or service pack. 1.4 Additional Information Online ---------------------------------- Online caveats, release note updates, package indexes and other useful information is available on the SGI Foundation Software 2 pages on Supportfolio Online at the following location: https://support.sgi.com/content_request/194480/index.html Note that you must be logged into Supportfolio to access these pages. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 2.0 Getting Started -------------------- This section provides pointers to related documentation and installation resources as well as additional information about getting software updates and tips for sites migrating from earlier versions of the SGI ProPack or SGI Foundation Software products. Novell Product Registration: If you have not yet registered your SLES software with Novell, please do so now by visiting the following site: http://www.novell.com/reg If you have not already created a Novell account, you will need to create an account before you can register your software purchase with Novell. Follow the onscreen instructions at that site using the subscription number printed on the registration card that came with your software. Only registered users are entitled to the resources that Novell make available online. SGI Supportfolio Account: If you have not already created an SGI Supportfolio login account, please do so now by visiting the following site: https://support.sgi.com/register_request You will need to have a Supportfolio account in order to access valuable online information as well as to get online updates to the SGI Foundation Software product. It is important that you register your system(s) so that SGI can ensure that you can access online updates using your Supportfolio login id and password. 2.1 Related Documentation -------------------------- One of the first documents you should look at is the SGI Foundation Software Start Here ( 007-5641-001) guide. The Start Here can be found in the /docs directory on SGI Foundation Software 2 media and at the Techpubs Library (http://docs.sgi.com) online. Documentation created or updated for this release includes: - SGI Foundation Software 2 SP1 Release Notes (this document) - SGI Foundation Software 2 SP1 RPM Packages - SGI Foundation Software 2 SP1 Changelogs - SGI Foundation Software 2 SP1 Start Here (007-5641-002) Documentation for the SLES releases is available on the Novell website: http://www.novell.com/documentation/ Documentation for SGI software products is available on the SGI Technical Publications website: http://docs.sgi.com/ 2.2 Installation ----------------- SGI Foundation Software 2 can be installed on SLES11 SP1. In general, SGI strongly recommends that you refer to Novell documentation when you need to install or update to SLES11 SP1. For more general information about the SLES11 SP1 install, refer to the manuals and guides from Novell. SLES11 SP1 supports upgrades from SLES10 via the bootable DVD media. Refer to SLES11 SP1 release notes for more information about updating/upgrading existing SLES installations. Chapter 1 of the SGI Foundation Software 2 SP1 Start Here guide provides general information about installing the product. See section "4.0 Additional Installation Methods" in these release notes for alternative, text-based installation methods. 2.3 Software Updates --------------------- SGI recommends that customers use the online update tools provided in the SLES11 operating system to keep the software installed on systems up to date with the latest maintenance fixes. Update procedures for clustered systems may differ, so refer to your cluster management software documentation for details. For updates to SLES11 SP1, see the appropriate sections in the README file in the root of the SLES11 SP1 media. Software updates for SLES are provided by Novell. In order to configure your system to enable online updates, you must register with Novell. For more help with this, you can use the "Novell Customer Center Configuration" tool available in the Software section of the YaST Control Center. Customers that received SGI Foundation Software pre-installed on their new SGI platform may run the following command to add the proper update source for SGI Foundation Software 2: $ /usr/sbin/sgi-foundation-update-source This script will prompt you for your Supportfolio login and then add the proper SGI update source for the given architecture. To view the contents of the update server, simply point your browser at the following directory: https://update.sgi.com/sfs/2/sp1/sles11/{ia64,x86_64}/ You will need to provide your Supportfolio login and password to access the directory. For additional information on how to configure YaST Online Update and YUM to download updates for SGI Foundation Software, login to Supportfolio and then point your browser to the SGI Foundation Software 2 product pages: https://support.sgi.com/content_request/194480/index.html 2.4 Additional Details about Changes ------------------------------------- This section provides additional details about certain changes in the SGI Foundation Software 2 release. - New Topology API The SGI topology application programming interface (API) allows workload management systems (WMS), such as PBSPro or Moab, to easily obtain topology information about SGI systems. For more information, refer to the sgitopo and topology man pages. - New sgi_irqbalance Package The sgi_irqbalance package is required only on the SGI Altix UV 100/1000 platforms. It should not be used on other SGI platforms. - SGI Support Tools Gather Dump A new script called sgi_collect_dump has been added to the sgi-support-tools package that will make it easier to prepare and transfer dumps, generated in event of a system crash, to SGI for analysis and triage of customer issues. - Removed Kernel Modules for Debug Kernel Variant As of SLES11 SP1, Novell no longer ships the debug kernel variant; it has been replaced with the "trace" kernel variant. SGI plans to release SGI Foundation Software 2 SP1 kernel modules for the new trace kernel variant as a patch to the release at a future date. 2.5 Upgrading from SGI Foundation Software 1 --------------------------------------------- To upgrade from the previous SGI Foundation Software 1 release on a system that is already running SLES11, either install SGI Foundation Software 2 as a new add-on product in YaST or as a new software repository in YaST and use the software management module to install all newer SGI Foundation Software 2 packages. To upgrade on a system that is running SGI Foundation Software 1 on a SLES10 release, follow the Novell instructions for upgrading from SLES10 to SLES11 and then install SGI Foundation Software 2 using the Add-On Product module in YaST. 2.6 Upgrading from SGI ProPack 2, 3, 4 or 5 -------------------------------------------- If you are running SGI ProPack 3, any one of the SGI ProPack 3 Service Packs or an earlier version of SGI ProPack 2, note that upgrades are not supported. In order to run SLES11 and SGI Foundation Software 2, you will need to do a fresh installation. If you are running an SGI ProPack 4 or 5 release on your system today and are interested in only the features noted in section "1.2 Major Highlights" above, it is possible to update to just the SGI Foundation Software product and not to both the SGI Foundation Software 2 and SGI ProPack 7 products. In order to update from previous SGI ProPack versions running on SLES10 to SGI Foundation Software 2, SGI recommends that you first uninstall the older SGI ProPack version, then update your system to SLES11. As a final step, install the SGI Foundation Software product on your system. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 3.0 Known Problems, Workarounds and System Configuration Changes ----------------------------------------------------------------- The following two sections outline the problems and workarounds for issues that SGI identified during testing on SLES11 SP1. Changes in SGI Foundation Software 2 SP1 - The CHANGELOGS.txt file contains a comprehensive list of the changes since the last release. The file is located in the /docs directory on the SGI Foundation Software media or in /usr/share/doc/packages/sgi-foundation-2/ on systems running SGI Foundation Software 2. Online Caveats - Late breaking caveats can be found on the SGI Foundation Software 2 project pages on Supportfolio Online. For more information, refer to section "1.4 Additional Information Online" in these notes. Virtualization - Xen support for ia64 is incomplete at this time, so SGI Foundation Software does not provide any kernel modules for xen-enabled kernels on the ia64 architecture. Furthermore, SGI Foundation Software is not supported in guest operating system environments. SGI Foundation Software is supported on the host operating system on the x86_64 architecture, but not in the virtual environments. Installation Issues - YaST will report a failure during the installation of SGI Foundation Software when attempting to add the update source. YaST will present you with an opportunity to provide your Supportfolio login and password. If you do not add the update source during the initial installation, you may add the installation source at a later time. Go into YaST Control Center and select "Software" and then "Installation Source". Select "Add" and then use the following information to add the update source: Protocol = HTTPS Server Name = update.sgi.com Directory on Server = sfs/2/sp1/sles11/{ia64,x86_64} User Name = [your Supportfolio user name] Password = [your Supportfolio password] If you have received a new SGI platform with SGI Foundation Software pre- installed, you may also run the following command to setup the update source for SGI Foundation Software: $ /usr/sbin/sgi-foundation-update-source - When installing the SGI Foundation Software product, you may see an error like the following: The following packages are not supported by their vendor: followed by a list of the SGI Foundation Software packages. SGI supports the SGI Foundation Software product and the packages it contains. kdump/kexec on SGI Altix UV 100/1000 - At release time, kdump/kexec are not supported on the SGI Altix UV 100/1000 platforms. SGI is working to enable this functionality as quickly as possible. kdb support is available, which means that the 'archkdb' commands will work and provide useful information after a system crash or hang. NMIs also work and should allow users to get the system into kdb. System Configuration Adjustments - SGI Foundation Software makes several configuration adjustments to help make SGI systems run more efficiently. These adjustments are made via the sgi-propack-configuration RPM, which is installed as part of SGI Foundation Software. Adjustments include: # kdb=on in elilo This change sets the kdb=on boot parameter to elilo.conf and then runs /sbin/elilo to pick up the changes. To turn off editing of elilo, just change the UPDATE_ELILO value from "yes" to "no" in the file /etc/sysconfig/sgi-propack-configuration. This change is specific to the ia64 architecture. # chkconfig boot.sysctl on This makes it so that our sysctl changes get read at boot time. It is off by default. # chkconfig sysstat on This writes info about system startup to the sysstat log and enables the sysstat cron entry. This makes it so the sar tool has data to work with. sar can be used to report on system activity and is useful in performance analysis. # chkconfig irq_balancer off The irqbalance utility breaks the optimum CPU assignment for interrupt handling already in place on SGI Altix systems. This utility distributes device interrupts across all the CPUs on a multiprocessor system with the purpose of spreading the load. On a distributed shared memory (DSM) multiprocessor computer system, such as SGI Altix, the distance (that is, the latency) to a given CPU from a given device, varies quite substantially as you add router hops. Because of this, the PROM on SGI Altix systems, does not pick a random CPU to process the interrupts of a device; it picks the optimum CPU to handle the interrupts. This irqbalance utility breaks this optimum CPU assignment. Therefore, it is configured off. # chkconfig kdump on SGI enables kdump on ia64 and x86_64 systems running SLES11. On ia64 systems, SGI also configures elilo.conf with crash kernel parameter. # KDUMP_DUMPLEVEL set to 31 SGI changes the KDUMP_DUMPLEVEL in /etc/sysconfig/kdump to the maximum dump level 31. This value causes makedumpfile to strip the maximum number of pages that that may not be necessary for analyzing and produces the smallest dump files. Kernel Tuning -- /etc/sysctl.conf - SGI makes kernel tuning adjustments to help SGI Altix systems run more efficiently. To return to defaults, you can remove the referenced entries from /etc/sysctl.conf. However, the entries maybe restored to the SGI recommended values when you install future versions of SGI Foundation Software. If, instead of removing the lines, you comment them out, SGI Foundation Software upgrades will not update the commented out variables. # kernel.sysrq SGI sets kernel.sysrq to a value of 1 in order to enable all functions of sysrq. This needs to be set if you plan to initiate crash dumps from the console. # kernel.kdb We suggest enabling kdb by default. kdb is a kernel debugger and can be used in the event of a system crash to provide important information to SGI support staff. This change is specific to the ia64 architecture. # net.core.* adjustments We make sysctl adjustments for these net.core variables: rmem_default set to 262144 rmem_max 2097152 wmem_default 262144 wmem_max 2097152 The meaning of these variables are defined in the kernel Documentation directory in this file: /usr/src/linux/Documentation/filesystems/proc.txt SGI increased the default values to allow for better network performance when using gigabit ethernet. Adjustments to Kernel Modules Loaded at Boot (ia64 only) - SGI adds the following kernel modules, which are part of the base SLES11 release, to MODULES_LOADED_ON_BOOT to ensure proper functionality with SGI Foundation Software: # mmtimer This kernel module provides userspace access to the SGI Altix real-time clock. Some SGI ProPack packages require this kernel module to be loaded in order to function properly. # uv_mmtimer This kernel module provides userspace accesss to the SGI Altix UV system timer. This is only loaded on x86_64 systems. # mca_recovery This kernel module provides additional facilities for recovering from memory errors in user land. # kdbm_pg, kdbm_sched, kdbm_task and kdbm_vm These are the kdb kernel modules that allow for kernel debugging. This change is specific to the ia64 architecture. # mspec This kernel module is required to support the memory special operations driver on ia64. Other packages in SGI Foundation Software may add additional kernel modules to the MODULES_LOADED_ON_BOOT line. Perfmon Notes - SLES11 does not load the perfmon module by default. SGI does install, as part of the SGI Foundation Software product, a script (/etc/init.d/perfmon) that system administrator's may run to load the perfmon module. Please note that in order to use the script, the appropriate perfmon-kmp package for the kernel variant in use must be installed. System Boot Issues - On systems with a lot of disks, discovery may continue for many minutes after the login prompt is presented. The default wait time in boot.udev is set to 3 minutes, but that is configurable. To change the default wait time, edit the following line in the /etc/init.d/boot.udev file: udev_timeout=180 - SGI Altix systems (ia64) may panic on boot when the 'mem=' kernel boot parameter is set. There is no workaround for this issue. SGI suggests that the 'mem' kernel boot parameter not be used on SGI Altix (ia64) systems. XFS Write Barrier Support - By default in SLES 11, XFS will use write barriers if supported on the target device. Write barriers are used to ensure that the journaled log is physically written to the disk and not kept in the disk's cache, which risks filesystem corruption if power is suddenly lost. Most modern SCSI and SATA disks will support write barriers. This can be confirmed by checking dmesg(8) output for the disk driver, such as "SCSI device sda: drive cache: write back" or by running the command: $ sginfo -c /dev/sda | grep -i 'write cache' However, at this time XVM does not support write barriers and XFS will fall back to the old behavior when the write barrier request fails. Write barriers should not be enabled on storage that has battery backed and mirrored write caching, such as SGI TP9300, SGI TP9700 and InfiniteStorage 4000 RAID. These RAIDs are designed to write all cached data to disk before battery power runs out and write barriers will unnecessarily impact write performance. Write barriers can be disabled with the nobarrier mount option. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 4.0 Additional Installation Methods ------------------------------------ New systems ordered with SGI Foundation with leave the SGI factory with the SGI Foundation Software pre-installed on the system. In addition, SGI lists the base operating system and SGI Foundation Software as YaST installation sources (sles) in order to help you meet any package dependencies that other 3rd party software may have. The following sub-sections provide some additional notes on installing the products and re-creating the local YaST installation sources and YUM repositories that SGI provides on systems configured in the factory. The additional installation instructions provided below can be completed using the physical product media or the ISO image, but are written based on use of the ISO images. 4.1 For Systems running SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 -------------------------------------------------------- 4.1.1 Add SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 as Installation Source ----------------------------------------------------------------- The following instructions assume that the system is already running SLES11. Adding SLES11 as an installation source will allow YaST to find any SLES11 packages required to meet any RPM dependencies during installation. # mkdir -p /opt/sgi/Factory-Install # mkdir /var/sles11-dvd1 # mount -ro loop SLES-11-DVD-ia64-GM-DVD1.iso /var/sles11-dvd1 (use SLES-11-DVD-x86_64-GM-DVD1.iso for x86_64 architecture) # cp -rp /var/sles11-dvd1 /opt/sgi/Factory-Install/ # umount /var/sles11-dvd1 # rmdir /var/sles11-dvd1 # zypper addrepo --type yast2 dir:///opt/sgi/Factory-Install/sles11-dvd1 "sles11-dvd1" # zypper refresh To verify that the product is now available, run the following command and review the output: # zypper lr The SLES11 release contains three (3) DVDs; the first contains binary packages, the second contains source packages and the third contains debug packages. If you want to make the source and debug packages available as well, repeat the steps above for each of the DVDs and replace "dvd1" with "dvd2" or "dvd3". 4.1.2 Add SGI Foundation Software as an Installation Source and Install ------------------------------------------------------------------------ * Remember to replace the ISO file name in the following examples with the actual ISO name. For example, use foundation-2SP1-cd1-media-sles11-ia64.iso, if adding the SGI Foundation Software 2 SP1 release. # mkdir /var/sfs2 # mount -ro loop foundation-2-cd1-media-sles11-ia64.iso /var/sfs2 (use foundation-2-cd1-media-sles11-x86_64.iso for x86_64 architecture) # cp -rp /var/sfs2 /opt/sgi/Factory-Install/ # umount /var/sfs2 # rmdir /var/sfs2 # zypper addrepo --type yast2 dir:///opt/sgi/Factory-Install/sfs2 "sfs2" # zypper refresh To verify that the product is now available, run the following command and review the output: # zypper lr To see the available patterns in the SGI Foundation product, type the following command: # zypper patterns sfs2 If asked about trusting the SGI key, select "trust always". Install a single pattern, such as SGI-Foundation, with the following command: # zypper in --type pattern SGI-Foundation To install multiple patterns, list them on the same line separated by spaces as follows: # zypper in --type pattern SGI-Foundation SGI-Foundation-debug-Modules ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 5.0 Reader Comments & Feedback ------------------------------- If you have comments about the technical accuracy, content, or organization of this document, please tell us. Be sure to include the title of this document, "SGI Foundation Software 2 Service Pack 1 - Release Notes ". You can contact us in one of following three ways: - Send e-mail to techpubs@sgi.com - Use the Feedback option on the Technical Publications Library page: http://techpubs.sgi.com - Contact your local support representative and ask that an incident be filed in the SGI incident tracking system We value your comments. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 6.0 Appendix ------------- 6.1 PROM Considerations for IA64 Systems ----------------------------------------- The following section only applies to the SGI Altix (ia64) Itanium-based systems. PROM v5.04 (shub1) / v1.54 (shub2) supports the SLES11 operating system. If the PROM on your system is too old when you attempt to install SLES11, the kernel will display an error to that effect and YOUR SYSTEM WILL NOT BOOT. ****************************************************************************** ** Note that the PROM v1.37 (shub2) and later require L1 firmware revision ** ** 1.50.5 or above. L1 firmware revision 1.50.5 is available via the System ** ** Controller Software 1.17 (Patch 2) release, available from Supportfolio. ** ** If you are NOT certain that you are running L1 firmware level 1.50.5 or ** ** higher, DO NOT install the newer PROM until the L1 firmware has been ** ** updated. ** ****************************************************************************** To verify the PROM version running on your system, boot into the EFI shell and run the following command: fs0:\> flash -R To check the current PROM version running on a specific node while the system is running Linux, type the following command: $ cat /proc/sgi_prominfo/node0/version 5.04 SGI SAL Version 5.04 rel081111 IP41 built 07:25:21 AM Nov 11, 2008 To see the PROM version per node, use a command like the following: $ for node in /proc/sgi_prominfo/*; do echo $node `cat $node/version`; done /proc/sgi_prominfo/node0 5.04 SGI SAL Version 5.04 rel081111 IP41 built 07:25:21 AM Nov 11, 2008 /proc/sgi_prominfo/node1 5.04 SGI SAL Version 5.04 rel081111 IP41 built 07:25:21 AM Nov 11, 2008 /proc/sgi_prominfo/node2 5.04 SGI SAL Version 5.04 rel081111 IP41 built 07:25:21 AM Nov 11, 2008 /proc/sgi_prominfo/node3 5.04 SGI SAL Version 5.04 rel081111 IP41 built 07:25:21 AM Nov 11, 2008 The minimum PROM version for systems running SLES11 is PROM v5.04 (shub1) / v1.54 (shub2). PROM v5.04 (shub1) / v1.54 (shub2) are contained in the snprom RPM found on the SGI Foundation Software 2 media and is the minimum required PROM version for systems running SLES11. You only need to install the snprom package if your system is not already running PROM v5.04 (shub1) / v1.54 (shub2). Once you have installed the snprom RPM, follow the steps outlined in the PROM readme file (README.snprom) in the section that begins "To flash the PROM". ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Product/sp/patch: SGI Foundation 2 / SP1 / 0 Final edits made: Thu May 20 06:44:46 CDT 2010