Owner's Manual

Server Administrator includes two device drivers for Linux: Systems Management Base Driver (dcdbas) and BIOS Update Driver (dell_rbu). Server Administrator
uses these drivers to perform its systems management functions on supported Linux operating systems. Depending on the system, Server Administrator loads
one or both of these drivers if required.
The device drivers for Linux have been released as open source under the GNU General Public License v2.0. They are available in Linux kernels from kernel.org
starting with kernel 2.6.14.
If the Server Administrator drivers are available with the operating system, Server Administrator uses those versions of the drivers. If the Server Administrator
drivers are not available with the operating system, Server Administrator uses its Dynamic Kernel Support (DKS) feature to build the drivers when needed. For
more information about DKS, see the "Dynamic Kernel Support" section.
Dynamic Kernel Support
Server Administrator includes DKS, a feature that Server Administrator uses to build its device drivers automatically for a running kernel if needed.
IfyouseethefollowingmessageduringServerAdministratorDeviceDriversstartup,thenServerAdministratorhasattemptedtouseitsDKSfeature,butwas
unable to use the feature because certain prerequisites were not met:
Building <driver> using DKS... [FAILED]
where <driver> is dcdbas or dell_rbu
To use DKS, identify which kernel is running on the managed system, and check the DKS prerequisites.
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Determining the Running Kernel

1. Log in as root.

2. Type the following command at a console and press <Enter>:
uname -r
The system displays a message identifying the running kernel.

Dynamic Kernel Support Prerequisites
FormanagedsystemsoftwaretouseDKS,thefollowingdependenciesmustbemetbeforestartingServerAdministrator.
l The running kernel must have loadable module support enabled.
l The source for building kernel modules for the running kernel must be available from /lib/modules/`uname –r`/build. On systems running SUSE Linux
Enterprise Server, the kernel-sourceRPMprovidesthenecessarykernelsource.OnsystemsrunningRedHatEnterpriseLinux,thekernel -devel RPMs
provide the necessary kernel source for building kernel modules.
l The GNU make utility must be installed. The make RPM provides this utility.
l The GNU C compiler (gcc) must be installed. The gcc RPM provides this compiler.
l The GNU linker (ld) must be installed. The binutils RPM provides this linker.
When these prerequisites have been met, DKS automatically builds a device driver when needed during Server Administrator startup.
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Using Dynamic Kernel Support After Server Administrator Installation
ToenableServerAdministratortosupportakernelthatisnotsupportedbyaprecompileddevicedriverandisloadedafterServerAdministratorhasbeen
installed, perform the following steps: Ensure that the DKS prerequisites are met on the system to be managed and boot the new kernel on the system.
Server Administrator builds a device driver for the kernel running on the system the first time that Server Administrator starts after the kernel is loaded. By
default, Server Administrator starts during system startup.
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CopyingaDynamicallyBuiltDeviceDrivertoSystemsRunningtheSameKernel
When Server Administrator dynamically builds a device driver for the running kernel, it installs the device driver into
the /lib/modules/<kernel>/kernel/drivers/firmware directory, where <kernel> is the kernel name (returned by typing uname -r). If you have a system
running the same kernel for which a device driver was built, you can copy the newly built device driver to the /var/omsa/dks/<kernel> directory on the
other system for use by Server Administrator. This action allows Server Administrator to use DKS on multiple systems without having to install the kernel
source on every system.
An example is the following scenario: System A is running a kernel that is not supported by one of the Server Administrator precompiled device drivers. System
B is running the same kernel. Perform the following steps to build a device driver on system A and copy the device driver to system B for use by Server
NOTE: Server Administrator logs messages to the /var/log/messages log file.