ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit Version 1.3.02 Readme

                                                              
  IBM(R) ServerGuide(TM) Scripting Toolkit, Version 1.3.02      
  Part number 41Y2976a                                          
                                                              
  (C) Copyright International Business Machines Corporation     
    2003-2006. All rights reserved.                           
                                                              
  US Government Users Restricted Rights  Use, duplication       
  or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with   
  IBM Corp.                                                     
                                                              
  Notes:                                                        
  o  Before using this information and the product it supports,    
     read the general information under Notices and trademarks
     for more information.                                          
                                                              
  o  Check the ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit Web site for the      
     latest version of this readme. See Support Web sites for 
     more information.                                          
                                                              
  Updated 24 May 2006                                      
                                                            

Table of contents

Overview

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The ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit is a collection of system-configuration tools and installation scripts that you can use to deploy operating systems to your IBM eServer or xSeries(R) server in a repeatable, predictable manner.

Translated versions of the licensing information and license agreement for ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit are available from the ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit Web site. See Support Web sites for more information.

Change history

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This section contains information about the ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit change history.

ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit 1.3.02

The ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit 1.3.02 includes the following changes:

ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit 1.3.01

The ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit 1.3.01 includes the following changes:

ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit 1.3

ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit 1.3 includes the following changes:

ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit 1.2.01

ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit 1.2.01 includes the following changes:

ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit 1.2

ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit 1.2 includes the following changes:

ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit 1.1.01

ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit 1.1.01 included the following changes:

ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit 1.1

ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit 1.1 included the following changes:

ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit 1.0.02

ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit 1.0.02 included the following changes:

ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit 1.0.01

ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit 1.0.01 included the following changes:

ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit 1.0

This was the first release of ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit.

Installation

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The ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit provides an InstallShield wizard for installing ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit files from a Windows operating system. Instructions for using the wizard to install the ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit files are provided in the "IBM ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit User's Reference." This guide is in Portable Document Format (PDF) and requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to view it.

Supported hardware and operating systems

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You can use the ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit to deploy operating systems to the following IBM eServer and xSeries servers:

Notes:

Supported operating systems and hardware

You can use the ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit to deploy the following 32-bit and x64-bit operating systems to supported servers:

The following tables list the hardware and operating system compatibility of supported servers.

Server ServeRAID (SCSI) ServeRAID (SATA) ServeRAID (SAS) ServeRAID (E-SATA) ServeRAID (E-SCSI) LSI SCSI RAID LSI IDEal RAID LSI SAS RAID Fibre Channel
xSeries 100 No Yes No No No No No No No
xSeries 205 Yes No No No No No No No No
xSeries 206 Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No No
xSeries 206m Yes Yes Yes1 Yes Yes Yes No No No
xSeries 225 Yes No No No No Yes No No Yes
xSeries 226 Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No No
xSeries 235 Yes No No No No Yes No No Yes
xSeries 236 Yes No No No Yes No No No Yes
xSeries 255 Yes No No No No No No No Yes
xSeries 260 Yes No Yes No No No No No No
xSeries 305 Yes No No No No No No No No
xSeries 306 Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No No
xSeries 306m No Yes Yes1 Yes Yes No No No No
xSeries 335 Yes No No No No Yes No No Yes
xSeries 336 Yes Yes No No No Yes No No Yes
xSeries 345 Yes No No No No Yes No No Yes
xSeries 346 Yes No No No Yes No No No Yes
xSeries 365 Yes No No No No Yes No No Yes
xSeries 366 Yes No Yes No No No No No Yes
xSeries 445 Yes No No No No Yes No No Yes
xSeries 455 No No No No No No No No No
xSeries 460 Yes No Yes No No No No No Yes
HS20 7981 No No No No No No No Yes Yes
HS20 8832 No No No No No Yes Yes No Yes
HS20 8843 No No No No No Yes No No Yes
LS20 8850 No No No No No Yes No No Yes
HS40 8839 No No No No No No Yes No Yes
eServer 325 Yes No No No No No No No Yes
eServer 326 Yes Yes No No No No No No Yes
eServer 326m Yes Yes No No No No No No No

Notes:

Server Windows 2000 Windows Server 2003
xSeries 100 Yes Yes
xSeries 205 Yes Yes
xSeries 206 Yes Yes
xSeries 206m Yes Yes
xSeries 225 Yes Yes
xSeries 226 Yes Yes
xSeries 235 Yes Yes
xSeries 236 Yes Yes
xSeries 255 Yes Yes
xSeries 260 Yes Yes
xSeries 305 Yes Yes
xSeries 306 Yes Yes
xSeries 306m Yes Yes
xSeries 335 Yes Yes
xSeries 336 Yes Yes
xSeries 345 Yes Yes
xSeries 346 Yes Yes
xSeries 365 Yes Yes
xSeries 366 Yes Yes
xSeries 445 Yes Yes
xSeries 455 No No
xSeries 460 No Yes3
HS20 7981 Yes Yes
HS20 8832 Yes Yes
HS20 8843 Yes Yes
LS20 8850 No Yes1
HS40 8839 Yes Yes
eServer 325 No Yes2
eServer 326 No Yes2
eServer 326m No Yes

Notes:

Server RHEL AS 3 (32 bit) RHEL AS 3 (x64) RHEL ES 3 (32 bit) RHEL ES 3 (x64) RHEL AS 4 (32 bit) RHEL AS 4 (x64) RHEL ES 4 (32 bit) RHEL ES 4 (x64) SLES 9 (32 bit) SLES 9 (64 bit)
xSeries 100 No No No No Yes No Yes No No Yes
xSeries 205 Yes No No No No No No No No No
xSeries 206 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes N/S2 N/S2
xSeries 206m No No No No N/S1 No N/S1 No No Yes
xSeries 225 Yes No No No No No No No No No
xSeries 226 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes N/S2 N/S2
xSeries 235 Yes No No No No No No No No No
xSeries 236 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes N/S2 N/S2
xSeries 255 Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No N/S2 No
xSeries 260 No No No No No No No No No Yes
xSeries 305 Yes No No No No No No No No No
xSeries 306 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes N/S2 N/S2
xSeries 306m Yes1 Yes1 Yes1 Yes1 Yes1 Yes1 Yes1 Yes1 No Yes
xSeries 335 Yes No No No No No No No No No
xSeries 336 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes N/S2 N/S2
xSeries 345 Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No No No
xSeries 346 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes N/S2 N/S2
xSeries 365 Yes No Yes No No No No No N/S2 No
xSeries 366 Yes Yes1 Yes Yes1 Yes1 Yes1 Yes1 Yes1 Yes Yes
xSeries 445 Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No N/S2 No
xSeries 460 No No No No No No No No Yes Yes
HS20 7981 No No No No Yes No Yes No Yes No
HS20 8832 Yes No Yes No Yes N/S1 Yes N/S1 N/S3 N/S3
HS20 8843 No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
LS20 8850 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
HS40 8839 Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No
eServer 325 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No N/S2
eServer 326 N/S1 N/S1 N/S1 N/S1 N/S1 N/S1 N/S1 N/S1 No N/S2
eSeries326m No N/S1 No N/S1 No N/S1 No N/S1 Yes Yes

Notes:

Supported Deployment Scenarios

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The ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit supports the following deployment scenarios:

DOS-startable CD or DOS-startable diskette and data CD

You can use a DOS-startable diskette with a data CD to deploy Microsoft Windows to all supported servers that have both a diskette drive and a CD drive. This includes all supported servers except the following:

You can use a DOS-startable CD to deploy Microsoft Windows to all supported servers that have a CD drive.

DOS-startable diskette and network share

You can use a DOS-startable diskette with a network share to deploy Microsoft Windows or Red Hat Linux to all supported servers that have a diskette drive and access to a network share.

Remote Supervisor Adapter II or BladeCenter Management Module and network share

You can use a virtual diskette to deploy Microsoft Windows to all supported servers that contain a Remote Supervisor Adapter II, or a BladeCenter Management Module. This includes all supported servers except the following:

Note: The xSeries 445, machine type 8870 is supported only when a Remote Supervisor Adapter II-EXA is installed.

Altiris Deployment Solution

You can use the ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit with the Altiris Deployment Solution to deploy Microsoft Windows, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server to all supported servers. The following versions of Altiris Deployment Solution are tested and supported with this version of the ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit:

Note: The ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit does not support WinPE or FreeDOS boot environments with Altiris Deployment Solution for Windows, version 6.5.

Microsoft Automated Deployment Services (ADS)

You can use the ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit to configure supported RAID adapters and controllers.

Note: In some cases, performing a memory-intensive DOS-based task such as updating the server BIOS code or IBM ServeRAID firmware code requires more conventional memory (RAM) than is available after loading the Microsoft ADS virtual boot diskette and the IBM ServerGuide Scripted Toolkit with network connectivity.

Note:

Updating ServeRAID firmware using the ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit with ADS was verified on an xSeries 225, machine type 8647 with a ServeRAID 4H RAID controller.

Solving ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit Problems

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This section contains information about solving problems that might occur as you use ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit.

Error reporting

Each DOS batch file (sample scripts) performs a task, calls other ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit utilities to perform a task, or calls other batch files to perform a task. The ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit performs limited error-checking using the return codes from the utilities that are called. Persistent-state information is used to communicate errors, which are otherwise cleared, that are returned from other batch files.

Note:
No log files are created by the ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit to report errors.

When an error is encountered, the batch file currently in-process stops and displays an error message. If more than one batch file is in-process, each file will report an error message. You must correct the problem; then, restart the deployment scenario.

Attention: When you restart a deployment scenario after an error is encountered, the process always starts from the beginning. It does not resume from the last task correctly performed.

Intermittent praid.exe errors in Altiris configuring an xSeries 236 with both a ServeRAID 7e SCSI and 6M

Intermittent errors have been seen using "praid.exe /d" (default mode) to configure a xSeries 236 system containing both a ServeRAID 7e SCSI and a ServeRAID 6M controller in the Altiris environment. The errors are indicated by a "Memory Allocation Error" or an "Invalid media type reading drive F" message. A workaround is to use a policy file with praid.exe. A default configuration can be achieved by defining a policy with just the keyword "AppliesTo.1 = ALL".

Problems with CD-based scenarios

When you create a CD for a deployment scenario, be sure to enable all DOS 8.3 character file names in the ISO image. Otherwise, file names that contain characters such as the tilde (~), dollar sign ($), and number sign (#) might be renamed and cause the CD-based deployment scenario to fail.

Problems booting eserver 325, 326 and 326m from a bootable CD

You might receive a "Non-system disk or disk error" message when attempting to boot these servers from a bootable CD. To resolve the problem:

  1. During the boot sequence, enter the LSI configuration by entering Ctrl-C.
  2. Select "F2-Menu".
  3. From the menu, select "Global properties".
  4. On the next screen, select "Restore defaults" to change the value for Support Interrupt to "Hook interrupt, the Default".
  5. Save the changes and exit the menu.
  6. Reboot.

Problems installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux on eServer 325, machine type 8835

Red Hat Enterprise Linux installations on the x325(8835) can fail because of the way that Red Hat Enterprise Linux detects the networking adapters in the server. When installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux to this server, you must connect both networking adapters to the network.

Problems installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux on some servers with 8e HostRAID SAS

For xSeries 206m and 306m with 8e HostRAID SAS enabled, a driver disk is required for Red Hat installations. A driver disk can be downloaded from the IBM website.

For xSeries 206m, 260, 306m, 366, and 460 systems with SAS HostRAID disabled, an additional driver is needed in order to install Red Hat Linux Operating systems. This driver is also available for download from the IBM website.

For instructions on installing Red Hat Linux with a driver disk, please see the ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit Reference Guide, Chapter 6 under "Solving Linux Installation Problems".

Known BIOS problems

This section contains information about known BIOS problems involving the ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit.

eServer xSeries 305 Type 8673, BIOS version 1.68A, build ID PLET68A

If the BIOS update loops continuously and does not get past the update portion of its processing, edit the lcreflash.bat BIOS file.

Problems with scripted system BIOS updates

The IBM ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit does not support scripted updates to the BIOS for the following servers:

eServer xSeries 225 Type 8647, BIOS version 1.48, build ID OPE148A

If BIOS version 1.48 is applied to the server, the server does work correctly. However, it is not possible to run a Microsoft Windows scripted unattended installation successfully. Therefore, with BIOS version 1.48 applied, the ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit cannot deploy any supported version of a Windows operating system.

IBM UpdateXpress RemoteUX utility fails with Altiris Agent 6.5

The IBM ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit provides a set of Altiris jobs that use the IBM UpdateXpress RemoteUX utility to manage post-operating system installation of firmware and operating system driver updates. Tests of the Scripting Toolkit 1.3.01 determined that the RemoteUX firmware update jobs do work as expected on target servers running the Altiris agent from Altiris Deployment Solution 6.1. However, the same firmware update jobs do not work as expected on target servers running the Altiris agent from Altiris Deployment Solution 6.5. An interaction between the Altiris agent 6.5 and RemoteUX prevents RemoteUX from properly scheduling the firmware updates.

Currently, there is no work around for this problem.

The two Scripting Toolkit RemoteUX firmware update jobs check the version of the Altiris agent installed. If the Altiris 6.5 agent is detected, the job does not run and the console contains the following information about the failed job: 

"No tasks defined for this condition"  "CheckAclientVersion"

MakeDisk-Windows-Network-Install.bat fails with an error message at 99% complete

You might receive an error message indicating that the diskette was not completed. This is a spurious error message caused by a known problem with the utility used by MakeDisk-Windows-Network-Install.bat. When you receive this message, the diskette is complete, and you can safely ignore the error message.

xSeries 205 System BIOS updates hang with Altiris Deployment Solution 6.5

System BIOS updates to an xSeries 205 server are not supported with Altiris Deployment Solution 6.5. A bug introduced in Altiris Deployment Solution 6.5 causes the system BIOS updates on an xSeries 205 server to hang. This same action works correctly on Altiris Deployment Solution 6.1 SP2.

Please contact Altiris to inquire about possible workarounds.

Additional Files, Utilities, And Information

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This section contains information that is not documented in the "IBM ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit User's Reference."

Limitations

The following limitations are applicable to this version of the ServerGuide Scripting Toolkit:

Support Web Sites

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The following Web pages provide resources for understanding, using, and troubleshooting IBM deployment and systems-management software:

Notices And Trademarks

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INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION PROVIDES THIS PUBLICATION "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Some jurisdictions do not allow disclaimer of express or implied warranties in certain transactions, therefore, this statement may not apply to you. This information could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically made to the information herein; these changes will be incorporated in new editions of the publication. IBM may make improvements and/or changes in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this publication at any time without notice.

The following terms are trademarks of the IBM Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both:

BladeCenter

eServer

ServeRAID

ServerGuide

ServerProven

TotalStorage

xSeries

IBM is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.

Intel is a trademark or registered trademark of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.

Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds in the united states, other countries, or both.

Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.

Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.

gement/

This Web page provides an overview of IBM systems-management software.

Notices And Trademarks

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INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION PROVIDES THIS PUBLICATION "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Some jurisdictions do not allow disclaimer of express or implied warranties in certain transactions, therefore, this statement may not apply to you. This information could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically made to the information herein; these changes will be incorporated in new editions of the publication. IBM may make improvements and/or changes in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this publication at any time without notice.

The following terms are trademarks of the IBM Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both:

BladeCenter

eServer

ServeRAID

ServerGuide

ServerProven

TotalStorage

xSeries

IBM is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.

Intel is a trademark or registered trademark of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.

Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds in the united states, other countries, or both.

Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.

Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.