Users Guide
Server Administrator builds a device driver for the kernel running on system A during startup.
3. Type uname -r on system A to determine the name of the running kernel.
4. Copy any dcdbas.* or dell_rbu.* files in the /lib/modules/<kernel>/kernel/drivers/firmware 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 3.
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.
Forcing Dynamic Kernel Support on Red Hat Enterprise Linux Update Releases When Kernel is Tainted
Server Administrator provides precompiled device drivers for the "Gold" releases of supported Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating systems. Red Hat Enterprise
Linux supports loading device drivers built for the "Gold" release, on the Update releases. This means Server Administrator does not have to ship precompiled
device drivers for every Red Hat Enterprise Linux Update release and users are not forced to use DKS in order to run Server Administrator on every system
thatisrunningaRedHatEnterpriseLinuxUpdaterelease.However,loadingadevicedriverbuiltforthe"Gold"releaseofRedHatEnterpriseLinux(version3)
on an Update release may taint the kernel. If the kernel on a system running a Red Hat Enterprise Linux (version 3) Update release has been tainted by this
device driver load process, Server Administrator's init script command restart-forcekernelmatch can be used to force DKS to be used in this situation. DKS will
build device drivers that do not taint the running kernel.
Determining if the Running Kernel is Tainted
AfterServerAdministratorserviceshavebeenstarted,performthefollowingstepsonRedHatEnterpriseLinuxUpdatereleasestodetermineifthekernelhas
been tainted:
1. Log in as root.
2. Execute the following command:
lsmod
If you see Tainted: GFinthefirstlineoftheoutputasinthefollowingmessage,therunningkernelistainted:
Module Size Used by Tainted: GF
The "tainted" status may be caused by the Server Administrator device driver load process.
Forcing Dynamic Kernel Support on Red Hat Enterprise Linux Update Releases
After the installation of Server Administrator, perform the following steps to force DKS to be used on Red Hat Enterprise Linux Update releases to build device
driversfortherunningkernel,ifneeded,sothattheydonottaintthekernel:
1. Ensure that the prerequisites of DKS are met.
2. Execute the following command:
/etc/init.d/instsvcdrv restart-forcekernelmatch
This command will first stop the Server Administrator device drivers. It will then search for precompiled device drivers to load, by checking for precompiled
device drivers built for a kernel whose name is an exact match as the name of the running kernel. If it fails to find an exact match, it will use DKS to build
devicedriversfortherunningkernel.Finally,thecommandwillrestarttheServerAdministratordevicedrivers.
OpenIPMI Device Driver
The Server Administrator Instrumentation Service of Server Administrator requires the OpenIPMI device driver in order to provide IPMI-based information and
functionality. It also requires a minimum version of the OpenIPMI device driver. The minimum version required is defined based on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux
or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server operating system.
This requirement is checked and enforced by Server Administrator at three instances. Two of the instances are during installation, while the third is a run-time
NOTE: The /lib/modules/<kernel>/kernel/drivers/firmware directory may contain one or more of the following files: dcdbas.* or dell_rbu.*
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
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>/*. files that you copied to system B are
not removed. You must remove the files if they are no longer needed.
NOTE: The system must be rebooted to clear the kernel "tainted" status.