2    NHD-6 Release Notes

This chapter describes known issues and restrictions pertaining to the NHD-6 kit, and is divided into the following sections:

2.1    Common Release Notes

The following release notes apply to NHD-6 on both Versions 5.1A and 5.1B of the operating system:

2.1.1    Required Firmware

On AlphaServer ES47/ES80/GS1280 systems, this kit requires that the following console firmware be installed:

SRM V6.4-9 or higher.

2.1.2    Updating Firmware May Cause a System to Hang

After loading new console firmware for the AlphaServer DS25 and ES45, the presence of a 3X-DEGXA-SA/TA network interface card (NIC) on the system may cause the system to hang when performing a RIS (Remote Installation Services) installation. This can occur even if the 3X-DEGXA NIC is being used as a cluster interconnect and another NIC is connected to the network. This condition should not occur if the NHD-6 kit is installed on the RIS server.

There are two workarounds:

2.1.3    Documentation

The following notes apply to NHD-6 documentation:

2.1.4    Patch Kit Compatibility

When you install NHD-6, you also must install the most current patch kit from the operating system Version 5.1A or 5.1B before you return your system to production. It does not matter whether you install NHD-6 or the patch kit first.

Tru64 UNIX Versions 5.1A and 5.1B patch kits are available on the World Wide Web at the following URLs:

http://ftp.support.compaq.com/public/unix/v5.1a/
 
http://ftp.support.compaq.com/public/unix/v5.1b/

Section 2.1.9.4 describes messages you may see if you install the current patch kit before you install NHD-6.

2.1.5    Shell Access During Full Installation

If you are installing NHD-6 from the New Hardware Delivery CD-ROM during a Full Installation and you try to launch a shell window, it will fail. You see the following message in the console window:

Error acquiring pty slave as controlling terminal: Not a typewriter.
 

Perform the following steps to access the shell:

  1. Exit the Full Installation process to access the shell from the console device.

  2. At the shell prompt, perform the intended actions.

  3. Enter restart and press Return to restart the Full Installation process.

2.1.6    Full Installation Only on DS20L

You must install the NHD-6 kit during a Full Installation of the operating system on a DS20L system. The kernel modules to support the DS20L system are included in the NHD-6 kit.

2.1.7    DS20L or DS25 Startup with No IDE Disks

You may encounter the following behavior when starting up a DS20L or DS25 system configured with SCSI disks but no IDE disks:

2.1.8    Setting Up SA5300A Controllers

This section discusses issues related to installing NHD-6 onto a system that includes SA5300A series RAID controllers.

2.1.8.1    Performing SRM Console Actions

Before you install NHD-6 onto a system that includes SA5300A series RAID controllers, follow these steps:

  1. At the console prompt, use the following command to determine the console device name of the SA5300A controller:

    >>> show config | more
    

    Look for devices with a py prefix; you see output similar to the following:

    CPQ SmartArray 5300  pya.0.0.10.0
    

    In this example, the console device name of SA5300A controller is pya0. SA5300A controllers are assigned console device name pya0, pyb0, pyc0, and so on, in the order they are scanned by the system when it powers up.

  2. Determine the value of the heap_expand console variable:

    >>> show heap_expand
    heap_expand = nMB
    

    • If the value is 2MB, go to the next step.

    • If the value is anything else, set the value to 2MB:

      >>> set heap_expand 2MB
      

    Caution

    If your system is already running Version 5.1A or 5.1B of the operating system and you change the value of the heap_expand console variable, you may not be able to reboot your system unless you follow the kernel rebuilding instructions in Section 2.1.8.2 first.

  3. Initialize the system:

    >>> init
    

  4. Set the value of the bootbios console variable to the SA5300A console device name. For example:

    >>> set bootbios pya0
    

  5. Initialize the system again:

    >>> init
    

  6. If you are installing NHD-6 to an SA5300A-backed disk, you must create at least one logical volume first. See the SA5300A series RAID controller Installation and Configuration Guide for the procedure to create logical volumes with the Option ROM Configuration for Arrays (ORCA) offline configuration utility.

The target SA5300A BIOS now runs whenever the console is initialized. The console show dev command will show SA5300A-backed logical disks such as DYA0, DYA1, and so on when bootbios is set to pya0.

If you have more than one SA5300A series RAID controller, you will only see the devices backed by the controller specified by the bootbios setting.

2.1.8.2    Rebuilding the Kernel After Changing HEAP_EXPAND

If you are installing NHD-6 onto a system that includes SA5300A series RAID controllers and is already running Version 5.1A or 5.1B of the operating system, make sure you have performed all of the SRM console actions in Section 2.1.8.1. If you have changed the value of the heap_expand console variable, follow these steps:

  1. From the console prompt, boot the generic kernel:

    >>> boot -fi /genvmunix
    

    If you do not have a generic kernel on your boot disk, boot the generic kernel from the operating system software distribution CD-ROM.

  2. At the root shell prompt, use the sizer command to create a temporary configuration file in the /tmp directory. For example:

    # sizer -n filename
    

    Make sure that filename or filename.dev does not already exist in the /tmp directory.

  3. Search the temporary configuration file for the embedded value of the LOADADDR parameter. For example:

    # grep LOADADDR /tmp/myfile
    makeoptions     LOADADDR="fffffc0000230000"
    

  4. Edit the current system configuration file /./SYSNAME and change the existing value of the LOADADDR parameter to the value in the temporary configuration file. In this example, the value from the previous step is fffffc0000230000.

  5. Use the doconfig command to build a new custom kernel. For example:

    # doconfig -c /sys/conf/SYSNAME
    

  6. Copy the newly built kernel to /vmunix. For example:

    # cp /sys/SYSNAME/vmunix /vmunix
    

  7. Reboot your system.

2.1.9    Installation Messages

The following sections describe messages related to installing the NHD-6 kit and recommend what action to take.

2.1.9.1    DS20L or DS25 Boot Messages

During a DS20L or DS25 system boot, you may see the following PCI table error message:

PCI device at bus 0, slot 3, function 0 could not be configured:
Vendor ID 0x1000, Device ID 0x21, Base class 0x1, Sub class 0x0
Sub-VID 0x14d9
Sub-DID 0x8002
has no matching entry in the PCI option table

You also may see the following unrelated driver error message:

<FDI: FATAL ERROR #174  sra:000000ff dor:000000ff msr:000000ff>
fd internal driver error: FDI PROBE FAIL (A,11).

Both of these messages reflect known errors and can be ignored.

2.1.9.2    DS20L or DS25 daemon.log Error Messages

After booting a DS20L or DS25 system, you may see error messages similar to the following in the daemon.log files:

Sep 24 11:28:37 hpsq16 [616]: Initializing the threshold structure
Sep 24 11:28:38 hpsq16 [616]: **ERROR svrsys_fru_parse.c line 1264: \
    FRU Table TLV tag of 0 is not ISOLATIN1

These messages are generated when there is no field replaceable unit (FRU) table available on the system and can be ignored.

2.1.9.3    Tag File Creation Message

During the Setup Stage of a Rolling Upgrade, you may see a message similar to the following during tag file creation:

clubase: Entry not found in /cluster/admin/tmp/stanza.stdin.530756
 

This reflects a known error and can be ignored.

2.1.9.4    Older File Installation Error Messages

If you install the current patch kit from Version 5.1A or 5.1B of the operating system before you install the NHD-6 kit, you may see multiple error messages similar to the following when you install the patch kit:

OSHHWBASE521 version ./path/file is older than the previous, restoring previous version
 

These messages indicate that the files in the NHD-6 kit have been superseded by the files in the patch kit and that the patch kit's version of the files will be used instead. You can ignore these messages.

2.1.9.5    RIS Installation Error Messages

If you are installing NHD-6 from a RIS server, you may see messages similar to the following before the system is configured:

The /usr/sbin/versw -setnew command failed. This error is not fatal,
and the operating system installation will continue. The following
message was received from /usr/sbin/versw -setnew:
 
Failure to set the new version identifier

The kernel that is running at this point includes NHD bits, but NHD support has not yet been loaded or configured on your system. This reflects a known issue and can be ignored.

2.1.9.6    mknod Installation Error Message

When you install NHD-6 during a Full Installation or with the nhd_install utility, either from a CD-ROM or CD image, you may see messages similar to the following when the installation process is loading the NHD base subset:

   Copying from /instkit1/nnn/kit (disk)
/usr/sbin/setld: mknod: not found
/usr/sbin/setld: /var/tmp/pipe5255: cannot open
        Working....Thu May 23 14:23:11 EDT 2002
   Verifying
mkfifo: /var/tmp/pipe5255: File exists
 
 

These reflect known issues and can be ignored.

2.2    Version 5.1A Release Notes

The following release notes apply only to NHD-6 on Version 5.1A of the operating system:

See Section 2.1 for release notes common to both Versions 5.1A and 5.1B of the operating system.

2.2.1    Full Installation Only on New DS25

If you are installing Version 5.1A of the operating system onto a DS25 system for the first time, you must install the NHD-6 kit during a Full Installation of the operating system. The kernel modules to support the DS25 are included in the NHD-6 kit.

If you have a DS25 system already running Version 5.1A with NHD-5, you can use the nhd_install script to install NHD-6.

2.2.2    Installation Messages

The following sections describe messages related to installing the NHD-6 kit and recommend what action to take.

2.2.2.1    Rolling Upgrade Status Messages

If you are installing NHD-6 during a Rolling Upgrade onto a cluster running Version 5.1A and you check the cluster upgrade status, you see output similar to the following example (in this case, after the Setup Stage is complete):

# clu_upgrade -v
Retrieving cluster upgrade status.
             Upgrade Status
 
Stage        Status                Date
 
setup        started:              Thu Jun 20 08:59:48 EDT 2002
             lead member:          1
             patch kit source:     /mnt
             completed:            Thu Jun 20 09:05:29 EDT 2002
 
             Member Status                       Tagged File Status
 
  ID Hostname                 State Rolled    Running with   On Next Boot
 
   1 member01.site.place.net  UP    No        No             No
  10 member10.site.place.net  UP    No        Yes            Yes
  20 member20.site.place.net  UP    No        Yes            Yes
 

This output incorrectly indicates patch kit source rather than nhd kit source. The source information (in this example, /mnt) is correct; the label is in error.

2.3    Version 5.1B Release Notes

The following release notes apply only to NHD-6 on Version 5.1B of the operating system:

2.3.1    Installing NHD-6 Before the Current Version 5.1B Patch Kit

If you are installing NHD-6 on ES47/ES80/GS1280 systems and encounter difficulty accessing the network to download the current Version 5.1B patch kit over the network, install the NHD-6 kit first.