FreeBSD on IBM Blade Center?

[Gestur A. Grjetarsson]

hi

no, I haven't been able to use any version of FreeBSD.
I did try to boot the IBM Blade on all of the available versions on ftp.freebsd.org ,, but with no success.

I got some info from the internet that FreeBSD version 4.1 would work, but I tried that and it didn't work.


when booting Blade from mounted iso or from cdrom install disk, I always stop in OK prompt, where I get error about the boot loader not finding kernel or device, when using the lsdev I find that the cdrom device is vanished, so there is no media to load kernel from, this happens both when trying to boot from mounted iso or the built in cdrom.

I've learned that the only way to boot the system is using FreeBSD floppies, that I upload to the usb flash memory, ie. I upload boot floppy, start the system, upload the kern1.flp when the system request it and then upload the second kern floppy etc.etc. until I get the system running in sysinstall for initial setup.
With that, I find that there is no hard disk available, no lun to mount from the DS400 SAN, only disk device is the USB flash memory.


The ISP driver is completely broken and not able to detect any disk device from my IBM Blade Center which has Qlogic 2312 FC controller.


When I contacted the IBM service for technical help on this severe problem, they informed me that this matter is 100% a FreeBSD problem, not anything that IBM should worry about, no help there.

This is very bad for me, as I've used FreeBSD as the foundation for my services, have been using it since 1993, and am forced to use Gentoo which has no problems with the IBM Blade.

If needed, I'm willing to work with any one that is capable on getting the IBM Blade to work and I'm also positive on giving some time for getting the FreeBSD to install and detect all hardware on my IBM Blade Center if needed.  I think this is something that FreeBSD community needs to get resolved quickly... as the Blade Centers are getting more popular day by day.

kveðja / Best regards
Gestur

 

-----Original Message-----
From: fbsd_user [mailto:fbsd_user at a1poweruser.com] 
Sent: 29. desember 2005 19:27
To: freebsd-questions at freebsd.org
Cc: Gestur A. Grjetarsson
Subject: RE: FreeBSD on IBM Blade Center?


Gestur I need some clarification on your question.
Are you saying that you were able to use FreeBSD on older versions of IBM BLADES or that you were able to use older FreeBSD versions before???


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-freebsd-questions at freebsd.org
[mailto:owner-freebsd-questions at freebsd.org]On Behalf Of Jonathan Fosburgh
Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2005 11:16 AM
To: freebsd-questions at freebsd.org
Cc: Gestur A. Grjetarsson
Subject: Re: FreeBSD on IBM Blade Center?


On Wednesday 28 December 2005 07:32, Gestur A. Grjetarsson wrote:
> Hi
>
> I have IBM Blade with Qlogic 2312 adapters using DS400 SAN
>
> now I have learned that after over 10 years of good FreeBSD
experience on
> various sorts of hardware, I can't use FreeBSD anymore as it
does'nt work
> on IBM Blade. I have read alot on this problem trying to solve
this problem
> and done alot of testing and hacking but without any progress.
>
> so I have two questions:
>
> is FreeBSD going to support IBM Blade?
>
> if it is going to support and work on IBM Blade, can you give me
an
> estimation on when it will be ready to run on IBM Blade?

The blade center is a bizarre beast and it is difficult to make the officially supported Operating Systems work correctly with it.  We had difficulties making AIX work properly on the JS20 blade, for instance.  With IBM hardware, it is best to stick with officially supported products.  Sometimes, IBM doesn't support something for a reason...

I would be (pleasantly) surprised to laern you were able to attach FreeBSD to IBM storage.  Of course, IBM will provide you with no help in either of these, and I wouldn't venture to guess if you can do concurrent maintenance on your DS4000 with FreeBSD running.

--
Jonathan Fosburgh
AIX and Storage Administrator
UT MD Anderson Cancer Center
Houston, TX