Support Notes for SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 10 for HP Integrity Servers
When softpowerdown is enabled on an rx7620 or rx8620 server, if one nPartition is defined
in the server then halting the operating system powers off the server cabinet (including all
cells and I/O chassis). On an rx7620 or rx8620 server with multiple nPartitions, halting the
operating system from an nPartition with softpowerdown enabled causes only the resources
on the local nPartition to be powered off.
You can run the acpiconfig command with no arguments to check the current setting and
the softpowerdown setting; however, softpowerdown information is displayed only
when different from normal behavior.
To power on hardware that has been powered off, use the PE command at the management
processor command menu. To make an inactive nPartition active, use the management
processor BO command to boot the nPartition past the boot-is-blocked state.
8. HP supports up to two I/O chassis per hard partition for the rx7620, rx8620, and sx1000
Superdome. HP supports up to two I/O chassis per hard partition for the rx7640. HP supports
up to four I/O chassis per hard parition for the rx8640.
9. SCSI errors and resets for any reason cause system failures. For example, if your disks have
a problem such as a parity or disk error that causes a SCSI reset, the system will fail.
Combining a Seagate drive with the ds2100 disk carrier causes electrical problems on the
SCSI bus and subsequent reset attempts that also result in system failure. Do not use Seagate
drives with this disk carrier.
10. A package will fail to install if the system clock is not set properly (as indicated in Bugzilla
56902). Ensure the system clock is set properly before attempting any installs.
11. Do not run the "Test X Configuration" when installing the system. It triggers the start of a
second X server, which when saving or restoring fonts causes an MCA. Upon completion
of installation, the user should upgrade the xorg-x11-server package by either downloading
the recommended update from the patch support database, or installing it from YOU. This
update will resolve this problem.
12. SLES10 obsoletes mii_tool, preventing the user from being able to query a Tulip card (as
indicated in Bugzilla 163975).
13. The autoinst.xml file written by YaST after installation will format drives even if they were
not touched during the installation of the system (as indicated in Bugzilla 184210). The user
should take care to modify this file to handle their hard disks appropriately before attempting
to use the file.
14. If installing from the CD set, the user cannot install to a disk presented via a Qlogic
FibreChannel card because the Qlogic firmware is missing from the initrd (as indicated in
Bugzilla 191100). To work around this issue, install using either network media or the DVD.
Installation from physical CD media to disks connected via QLogic Fibre Channel cards will
fail after the first reboot. Use DVD media or network installation sources instead.
15. The cdrecord program may hang when burning a CD-RW disk with unsupported media
using certain models of CD/DVD-ROM Combo and DVD+RW drives shipped in rx1600,
rx1620, rx2600, rx2620, and rx4640 servers.
Use only approved HP CD-RW media to prevent burn hangs. Try different brands of media
if HP media is not available.
16. The ELILO bootloader can pass command-line options to the Linux kernel. The max_addr=
and mem= options limit the amount of memory used by the kernel.
Some versions of the kernel handle these arguments incorrectly, resulting in an MCA that
crashes the system during boot. If the system boots successfully, there is no risk of a crash
due to this problem.
Booting with max_addr= or mem= is sometimes useful for debugging problems, but is not
a tested feature. A similar effect can be achieved by deconfiguring (with the EFI dimmconfig
command) or physically removing DIMMs.
Known Issues 9