Users Guide

Installing Managed System Software on Red Hat
®
Enterprise Linux Operating Systems 89
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.
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/misc 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 Administrator:
1
Ensure that the DKS prerequisites are met on system A.
2 Start Server Administrator on system A.
Server Administrator builds a device driver for the kernel running on system A during startup.
3 Ty p e uname -r on system A to determine the name of the running kernel.
4 Copy any dcd*.* files in the /lib/modules/ kernel /misc/ directory on system A to the
/var/omsa/dks/ kernel directory on system B, where kernel is the kernel name returned by typing uname
-r
in step 4.
NOTE: The /lib/modules/kernel/misc directory contains two or more of the following files: dcdbas.*,
dcdesm.*, dcdipm.*, or dcdtvm.*.
NOTE: You might have to create the /var/omsa/dks/kernel directory on system B. For example, if the kernel
name is 1.2.3-4smp, you can create the directory by typing: mkdir -p /var/omsa/dks/1.2.3-4smp
5 Start Server Administrator on system B.
Server Administrator detects that the device driver you copied to the
/var/omsa/dks/ kernel directory
supports the running kernel and uses that device driver.
NOTE: You can also use this procedure when upgrading Server Administrator if the new version of Server
Administrator does not support the running kernel with a precompiled device driver.
NOTE: When you have uninstalled Server Administrator from system B, the /var/omsa/dks/kernel/dcd*.* files
that you copied to system B are not removed. You must remove the files if they are no longer needed.
Installing and Upgrading Managed System Software
This section explains how to install and upgrade managed system software using the following
installation options:
• Use the srvadmin-install.sh shell script for a custom installation, in either interactive or silent mode
• Use an RPM to perform an unattended installation of managed system software on multiple systems