Installation and first run of openSUSE 12.2 on HP Proliant DL385 G1

English Install/Boot/Login
1

Greetings,

Normally I can figure things out pretty easily setting up openSUSE on, well, anything but I seem to have hit a road block so I am looking at this as an outstanding opportunity to learn some new things.

HP ProLiant DL385 G1 with dual AMD Opteron Processor 285s that I got for free (favorite price) and I would like to set it up to do server type things (file share, backups, web server, print server, stuff like that). Well, after monkeying around with it for some time, I discovered that I needed to set the boot loader to the MBR and had to add: acpi=off and apic=off in the boot parameters to get the thing to boot after install. Unfortunately, the thing still stalls out in start up. Rather than copy the output by hand I took a picture: (if you know a good way of capturing this information I would like to know)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/106879229/openSUSE/HP_ProLiant_DL385G1/2013-02-18%2021.18.01-sm.jpg

I just don’t know what the next step is to fix this. Here are some thoughts: different kernel, instead of using the desktop kernel, use the defalut as I don’t see a specific “server” kernel; just use openSUSE 12.1 as that installed just fine on another ProLiant I have; remove systemd-sysvinit and install sysvinit-init; I’ve even considered using grub instead of grub2 but I don’t see that as the issue.

Any advice as to what to do next would be great. I’d like to get this unit going.

Thanks in advance,
-Nathan

2

A quick look finds that SLES is supported (HP Proliant DL385 G1 Quickspecs) but I think you need to look at all of the info there at HP to get proper support for this old and very specific server setup. There is no need to say you got it for free. You may be able to download SLES for free just to test its installation, though all of SUSE software is commercial grade and not intended to be free but for a very short time. You may find enough info to then get openSUSE to install on it by seeing how SLES does it.

Thank You,

3

On Tue 19 Feb 2013 03:26:02 AM CST, jdmcdaniel3 wrote:

futureboy;2528418 Wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> Normally I can figure things out pretty easily setting up openSUSE on,
> well, anything but I seem to have hit a road block so I am looking at
> this as an outstanding opportunity to learn some new things.
>
> HP ProLiant DL385 G1 with dual AMD Opteron Processor 285s that I got
> for free (favorite price) and I would like to set it up to do server
> type things (file share, backups, web server, print server, stuff like
> that). Well, after monkeying around with it for some time, I
> discovered that I needed to set the boot loader to the MBR and had to
> add: acpi=off and apic=off in the boot parameters to get the thing to
> boot after install. Unfortunately, the thing still stalls out in
> start up. Rather than copy the output by hand I took a picture: (if
> you know a good way of capturing this information I would like to
> know)
>
> [image:
> http://dl.dropbox.com/u/106879229/openSUSE/HP_ProLiant_DL385G1/2013-02-18%2021.18.01-sm.jpg]
>
> I just don’t know what the next step is to fix this. Here are some
> thoughts: different kernel, instead of using the desktop kernel, use
> the defalut as I don’t see a specific “server” kernel; just use
> openSUSE 12.1 as that installed just fine on another ProLiant I have;
> remove systemd-sysvinit and install sysvinit-init; I’ve even
> considered using grub instead of grub2 but I don’t see that as the
> issue.
>
> Any advice as to what to do next would be great. I’d like to get this
> unit going.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> -Nathan

A quick look finds that SLES is supported (‘HP Proliant DL385 G1
Quickspecs’
(http://www.harddrivesdirect.com/quickspecs_proliant_DL385G1.php)) but I
think you need to look at all of the info there at HP to get proper
support for this old and very specific server setup. There is no need
to say you got it for free. You may be able to download SLES for free
just to test its installation, though all of SUSE software is commercial
grade and not intended to be free but for a very short time. You may
find enough info to then get openSUSE to install on it by seeing how
SLES does it.

Thank You,

Hi
Yes, SLE is a free download and a 60 day evaluation license to updates,
it will keep working after that, you just don’t get updates…

Check out the HP site for specific drivers etc for the hardware (they
generally have iso images with the drivers), there should also be src
rpms that you may be able to rebuild for openSUSE (or tweak the spec
files and maybe even patch).

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 12.2 (x86_64) Kernel 3.4.28-2.20-desktop
up 8:01, 3 users, load average: 0.05, 0.07, 0.11
CPU Intel® i5 CPU M520@2.40GHz | GPU Intel® Ironlake Mobile

4

On my mother’s PC, which came with Windows7 OEM, I had to change it in the BIOS to AHCI (as opposed to RAID) for openSUSE to install. I also could not get the AHCI driver to work in Windows7 as the AHCI driver was not included by HP on this implementation of a Pavilion P6000 (go figure) and win7 only works with the RAID on this PC (thanks HP :frowning: ). openSUSE only works with the AHCI so that means I left windows7 disabled.

Is there any chance this is a BIOS setting issue ?

5

Sorry for OP but I have a small question and I think I shouldn’t create a thread for it. Is there anyway to mount a partition on harddisk, or open Terminal, when install openSUSE using DVD? I downloaded 12.2 addon CD and put it in that partition, but I can’t find anyway to mount it to install addon (while booting DVD installer).

6

Please don’t just hop in on some existing thread, the subject is not the same. Start a new thread with a proper title and as much info as you can give.

7

@futureboy: I have a Compaq/Proliant DL580 (the original series, I guess G1?), anyway, HP has driver cds for these servers. Yes, linux is supported, but after you do your partitioning w/HP setup cd you must select OS type for installation so that the scsi controller + stuff + bios is properly configured before install of distro of choice. You also have choice of windoze (!ugh&^$!!), solaris, bsd type, etc. As your unit is new compared to mine I suspect you will still be able to get the support cd (HP keeps these avail for long, long periods before EOL). I’m newly installed openSuSE 12.2-1.6 on my a few days ago; am looking forward to getting Newscoop CMS installed & running. Tried a couple of times w/some minor success, but borked it again!! In any event, take your time when browsing the HP site for the appropriate software & support info; HP website is very, very dense. Also, it’s better to rename the pdf stuff you get so you may keep up with what you get. HP naming is: [ex.] “c0018243.pdf” and soon you’ll forget what’s what!! Good Luck, and Take Care.
—rob

8

To the OP,

Compaq released “Softpaq” driver bundles on CD for this vintage hw. Look for it. Install at least the management apps if not the drivers.

As speculated above, I also suspect your problem is a BIOS setting issue. Recommend noting all current settings, then reset to default. Maybe try installing a very old version of openSUSE(maybe 10.3 or 11.1?) for kicks. But don’t stay using an old version, that’d be suicide.

Maybe ask the guy who gave you the machine if he noticed the same cpu frequency issue.

HTH,
TSU

9

I installed openSUSE 12.1 with no problems. I was not able to determine what the error was exactly with 12.2 so I will stick with 12.1 for the time being and give 12.3 a whirl down the road. I also want to note that 12.1 did not require me to set acpi OFF or apci OFF either. I would like to file a bug report but seeing how 12.3 is coming out soon… 19 days according to the banner above as I write this… it seems like a moot point.

Thoughts?

Thank you to everybody for your assistance on this matter.

10

Hey! glad you got it going…but don’t ignore #tsu2 and yours truly ; ] about those ‘softpaq’ cd’s. they really come in handy, especially for the scsci controller drivers. I’ve only needed mine about 3 or 4 times in about 10 years…but you never know; was glad to have it when needed. And, they are free! Note: go to the rear of your maching and copy down the
“Service Tag” number. With that, you can plug it into HP’s site and get the original config for the machine as shipped w/all the dirty details + specs. Take Care.
—rob
OBTW: upgrading your disks to 10k/rpm or 15k/rpm should be rather inexpensive (ebay, etc.)

11

I will certainly go to the HP site and download the free stuff to tweak around my machine. I have noticed that those SCSI drives on eBay have been pretty cheap. I have 6 72GB drives that I have in a RAID 5 configuration. For a 7 year old (or more, not sure how old it is) machine, I am really quite impressed with how snappy it is.

Because this machine is not being used in an Enterprise environment, it does seem like using the full fledged SUSE is a bit much. Sure, if I were to use it actively for a small business, I would, most certainly go that way but since I am not making money off of this, I would like to stick with the openSUSE offerings.

I do appreciate everyone’s help and advice on this matter.

12

Hello all, i have also try to install OpenSuse 12.2, 12.3 on my DL385 without success, i have see in a another forum that the OpenSuse 11.3 is compatible, i have install it, it runs, but it use only 1 CPU - 1 core of the the 2 Opteron Dual Core, if someone can help me …

13

On 04/17/2013 11:26 AM, cbocksta2 wrote:
> OpenSuse 11.3

openSUSE 11.3 has not had any security patches since January of
2012 when it went past its end of life…
cite: http://en.opensuse.org/Lifetime

in those 15 months there have been -MANY- vulnerabilities
fixed in the supported Linux distributions…

do NOT run openSUSE 11.3 on any network!!

instead you must use a fully patched operating system…

if you are unwilling to use SUSE Linux Enterprise (as mentioned
several time earlier in the thread, fetch it from www.suse.com) then
try Red Hat, or Ubuntu, or CentOS, or Arch, or Debian, or whatever…

while others might (but i believe should not), i will not help you
run an unpatched openSUSE…

–
dd
http://tinyurl.com/DD-Caveat

14

Thank you for your warnings, but the machine has no entry point open to the outside world, I’m contains risks.

Why not choose another distribution, because I use OpenSuse FREE from version 6.2, and I did not want to change, i have already migrated 4 others DELL servers to 12.2 without any problem.

I prefer to operate a machine with a previous version that (normally) works fine , an updated version that does not work correctly.

The strangest thing is that the temperature widget gives me the temperature of two K8 CPU cores 0, while the cpu widget, and / etc / sysconfig / devices / system / cpu, shows me only one CPU with one core.

If I change, I would try first suse SLES 10.

cbo

15

No change with sles 10, 1 core detected on 4. Same with ubuntu server. I haven’t see any parameter un thé bios, hp diags are ok.

16

Hi
Why not SLES 11 SP2?

Can you check if the cpu’s are offline, as root user;


cd /sys/devices/system/cpu
cat offline
cat online
lscpu
17 
in /var/log/messages, i have found :

Apr 21 01:02:58 HPDL385 kernel: powernow-k8: Found 1 AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 285 processors (1 cpu cores) (version 2.20.00)

Only CPU0 in : /sys/devices/system/cpu

ls -lrtR /sys/devices/system/cpu
/sys/devices/system/cpu:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 0 2013-04-21 01:02 cpu0

/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root    0 2013-04-21 01:02 topology
-rw------- 1 root root 4096 2013-04-21 01:02 online
-r-------- 1 root root 4096 2013-04-21 01:02 crash_notes
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root    0 2013-04-21 01:07 cpufreq

/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/topology:
total 0
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2013-04-21 01:02 thread_siblings
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2013-04-21 01:02 physical_package_id
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2013-04-21 01:02 core_siblings
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2013-04-21 01:02 core_id

/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq:
total 0
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2013-04-21 01:02 scaling_available_governors
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2013-04-21 01:02 affected_cpus
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2013-04-21 01:02 scaling_available_frequencies
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    0 2013-04-21 01:02 scaling_governor
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2013-04-21 01:05 scaling_driver
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2013-04-21 01:05 scaling_cur_freq
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2013-04-21 01:05 cpuinfo_min_freq
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2013-04-21 01:05 cpuinfo_max_freq
-r-------- 1 root root 4096 2013-04-21 01:05 cpuinfo_cur_freq
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2013-04-21 01:05 scaling_min_freq
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2013-04-21 01:05 scaling_max_freq
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2013-04-21 01:07 scaling_setspeed

lscpu
Architecture:          i686
CPU(s):                1
Thread(s) per core:    1
Core(s) per socket:    1
CPU socket(s):         1
Vendor ID:             AuthenticAMD
CPU family:            15
Model:                 33
Stepping:              2
CPU MHz:               2600.000

iLo screenshot :

http://i37.tinypic.com/f1e9ao.png

18

Hi
Your running 32bit? Have you tried a 64bit live CD? How much system RAM and what kernel are you running?

19

Yes is the 32 bits, because the 64 bits doesn’t work i have try the 32 bits SP3 (with PAE Support), but same problem.

4 Gb RAM,
kernel-bigsmp │2.6.16.60 │2.6.16.60 │Kernel with Multiprocessor Support and PAE

Thank’s, CBO.

20

On Sun 21 Apr 2013 10:36:02 PM CDT, cbocksta2 wrote:

Yes is the 32 bits, because the 64 bits doesn’t work i have try the 32
bits SP3 (with PAE Support), but same problem.

4 Gb RAM,
kernel-bigsmp │2.6.16.60
│2.6.16.60 │Kernel with Multiprocessor Support and PAE

Thank’s, CBO.

Hi
OK, as root user can you run;


dmidecode -t processor

Does this show both processors?

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 12.3 (x86_64) Kernel 3.7.10-1.1-desktop
up 8:16, 3 users, load average: 0.11, 0.08, 0.08
CPU Intel® i5 CPU M520@2.40GHz | GPU Intel® Arrandale