Bug 702211

Hey Harold,

To sum up the problem:

Broadcom nics can do iscsi offload, but there are cases where users do not want to use the offload feature and instead want to use the normal nic (bnx2x or bnx2) + ibft + software iscsi (iscsi_tcp).

The problem is that when booting off the normal nic + ibft, iscsi_ibft does seem to get loaded. We see this in the boot up logs:

iscsi: registered transport (tcp)
FATAL: Module ibft not found.

Note:

I tried RHEL6.1-20110501.n.0-Server-x86_64 and it worked fine for me.

Broadcom is testing snap5.

I am not sure if there is a anaconda or dracut change since then.

Oh yeah Jamal,

I just wanted to confirm that when you do the install ibft is setup ok. So when the installer runs if the machine is setup for ibft, then it will automatically set up the targets/sessions based on the info found in ibft. You do not have to go the special storage devices section and manually add your target info.

Is anaconda setting things up using the ibft data found automatically for you or are you setting it up manually?

Also, some helpful debugging tips:

1. When installing, you can do "ctrl+F2" and drop into a shell. From there you can you look at /sys/firmware/ibft and confim it has the needed info. Or you can run "iscsistart -f" and it will print out the ibft info found in sysfs. Or you can run "iscsiadm -m fw" and that will also print out the ibft info.

2. You can add rdshell to the kernel command line and if the boot fails you will be dropped into a shell. From there you can run commands and search sysfs to do some debugging.

(In reply to comment #4)
> Note:
> 
> I tried RHEL6.1-20110501.n.0-Server-x86_64 and it worked fine for me.
> 
> Broadcom is testing snap5.
> 
> I am not sure if there is a anaconda or dracut change since then.

dracut changed! they should test the new version

(In reply to comment #6)
> dracut changed! they should test the new version

Is the new dracut in RC1?

(In reply to comment #5)
> Oh yeah Jamal,
> I just wanted to confirm that when you do the install ibft is setup ok. So when
> the installer runs if the machine is setup for ibft, then it will automatically
> set up the targets/sessions based on the info found in ibft. You do not have to
> go the special storage devices section and manually add your target info.
> Is anaconda setting things up using the ibft data found automatically for you
> or are you setting it up manually?
> Also, some helpful debugging tips:
> 1. When installing, you can do "ctrl+F2" and drop into a shell. From there you
> can you look at /sys/firmware/ibft and confim it has the needed info. Or you
> can run "iscsistart -f" and it will print out the ibft info found in sysfs. Or
> you can run "iscsiadm -m fw" and that will also print out the ibft info.
> 2. You can add rdshell to the kernel command line and if the boot fails you
> will be dropped into a shell. From there you can run commands and search sysfs
> to do some debugging.

Everything was picked up from ibft automatically during first phase of installation. After I chose " Special Storage Devices" option and clicked NEXT, target was found automatically. The target found matched the one specified in ibft.

I am in the middle of trying RC1. I'll keep you posted.

(In reply to comment #9)
> (In reply to comment #5)
> > Oh yeah Jamal,
> > I just wanted to confirm that when you do the install ibft is setup ok. So when
> > the installer runs if the machine is setup for ibft, then it will automatically
> > set up the targets/sessions based on the info found in ibft. You do not have to
> > go the special storage devices section and manually add your target info.
> > Is anaconda setting things up using the ibft data found automatically for you
> > or are you setting it up manually?
> > Also, some helpful debugging tips:
> > 1. When installing, you can do "ctrl+F2" and drop into a shell. From there you
> > can you look at /sys/firmware/ibft and confim it has the needed info. Or you
> > can run "iscsistart -f" and it will print out the ibft info found in sysfs. Or
> > you can run "iscsiadm -m fw" and that will also print out the ibft info.
> > 2. You can add rdshell to the kernel command line and if the boot fails you
> > will be dropped into a shell. From there you can run commands and search sysfs
> > to do some debugging.
> Everything was picked up from ibft automatically during first phase of
> installation. After I chose " Special Storage Devices" option and clicked NEXT,
> target was found automatically. The target found matched the one specified in
> ibft.
> I am in the middle of trying RC1. I'll keep you posted.


I am glad to report that non-HBA mode is now working in RH6.1 RC1. I was able to install and boot the iscsi boot image.

The HBA Mode problem will be tracked in BZ 701864. I will try the HBA Mode with RH6.1 RC1 and post finding in BZ701864.

Thanks Harold. Closing this bz.