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SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9 Service Pack 1 for zSeries 64bit

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(Last modified: 19JAN2005)


solutions SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9 Service Pack 1 for zSeries 64bit SuSE Linux Maintenance Web (773ab0b0ce72cfc7ba7126f64c1fd0b9)

Applies to

Package: SLES-9-SP-1-s390x-RC5-CD1.iso
SLES-9-SP-1-s390x-RC5-CD2.iso
Product(s): SUSE CORE 9 for IBM zSeries 64bit

Release: 20050119
Obsoletes: none
Release Notes for SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9 Service Pack 1
Overview
1. Important General Information
1.1 Purpose
2. Enhancements
2.1 Installation and YaST2 2.2 Platforms, Hardware, and Drivers 2.3 Standards 2.4 Availability 2.5 Serviceability 2.6 Scalability 2.7 Performance 2.8 Security 2.9 Applications and Tools 2.10 New Packages Introduced with SP1
3. Maintenance Fixes
3.1 Bug Fixes 3.2 Security Fixes
4. Updating from SLES 9 to SP1
4.1 Using the CD Autorun Mechanism 4.2 Calling YaST2 Manually or Remotely 4.3 Updating Functional Patches 4.4 Registering the Service Pack as an Additional Installation Source 4.5 Updating Individual Packages 4.6 Updating Everything Using "System Update"
5. Fresh Installation Using SP1
5.1 Need For 5.2 Using the Bootable SP CD 5.3 Setting Up an Installation Server     5.3.1 Integrating the Service Pack into an Installation Server 5.4 Installation Support for Creating and Installing a Bootable Software RAID
6. Known Problems
7. More Information and Feedback
1. Important General Information
These release notes are generic for all SLES 9-based products, so some parts may not apply to a particular architecture or product. In cases where this is not obvious, the respective architectures are explicitly listed.
1.1 Purpose
This SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Service Pack serves multiple purposes:
  • Contains enhancements to the SLES code base (see Chapter 2).
  • Contains all maintenance fixes (see Chapter 3) released since GA of SLES 9.
  • Provides an easy update (see Chapter 4) of your system or individual packages to the latest Service Pack level. This is especially useful if you cannot use online update mechanisms.
  • Provides improvements for an easy fresh installation (see Chapter 5) using the latest kernel, drivers, and updates to the installer.
  • Includes PTFs (special fixes for customers) that were folded back into the common code base making them maintained.
  • Contains useful additional information and documentation (see Chapter 7).
Through joint testing and maximum care, we try hard not to break any ISV certification with a Service Pack, but we recommend that you check with your ISV about the certification status of your application. We also strive to minimize the need for IHV and HW recertification due to a clone concept for driver updates, introduced with SLES 9 Service Pack 1 (see Chapter 2.2).
2. Enhancements
2.1 Installation and YaST2
  • Updated sax2 monitor database.
  • Added support in YaST partitioner for disks with size > 2 TB.
  • Added 'netwait=N' option to wait N seconds after network setup.
  • Added kernel parameter "ide=noraid" to prevent IDE drivers compiled into the kernel from initializing IDE RAID devices. Use this option for the modular LSI MegaIDE controller to work.
  • Added YaST Initial System Configuration (yast2-firstboot) The YaST first boot utility allows running the initial system configuration after installation. This is useful for OEM or preloaded or imaged versions of SLES 9 to roll back some steps, like showing the EULA for confirmation again or setting the time zone on the first boot.
  • Added command line support for samba-server BackendHandler.
  • Added hooks for installing Novell Open Enterprise Server.
  • Made sure that configs stored in LDAP also work with Novell eDirectory.
  • Fixed YOU module to handle username and password correctly in FTP mode.
  • Fixed inst-server module to work with Service Pack CDs and SuSE Linux 9.1.
  • Provided documentation for setting up the network installation server.
  • Fixed the uml module.
  • Fixed the cd-creator module.
  • Fixed DDNS handling in the dns-server module.
  • In addition, the following YaST modules have had smaller bug fixes:
    • yast2-bootloader
    • yast2-ca-management
    • yast2-country
    • yast2-ipsec
    • yast2-ldap-server
    • yast2-nis-server
    • yast2-storage
  • Fixed several problems with Asian font support.
  • Improved support for Asian input methods (ami, scim).
  • Several bug fixes to RPM including relocations and database locking.
  • Added installation support and translations for traditional Chinese.
  • Added support to cache an installation source. This helps, for example, inserting CDs only once during installation, because all needed RPMs from this source are copied into an installation source cache.
  • Added dialog to allow assigning PCI IDs to drivers. This enables us to teach a driver about additional PCI IDs it is able to handle as well, because often an existing driver works well with new hardware released later but does not know it because the PCI IDs are unknown to the driver. This information is then be used during installation and persists in the installed system.
  • On IBM pSeries and IBM POWER i5/p5 systems, the boot loader installation to drives attached to Emulex adapters is now supported.
  • On IBM JS20 blade systems, the boot loader installation to drives attached to Qlogic FibreChannel adapters is now supported.
2.2 Platforms, Hardware, and Drivers
  • Introduced concept of "cloned" drivers to minimize impact on HW certifications.
    We have been discussing a lot how best to solve the dilemma of extending the hardware support with driver updates during the maintenance of a product while at the same time minimizing the effort for new or recertifications of hardware.
    The best compromise we found was the following:
    • If only very few HW certifications are affected, default to update the driver in case it provides significant additional hardware support or value.
    • If many HW certifications would be affected, keep the old driver <DRIVER> untouched and add a "clone" <DRIVER>-new using the latest version but only serving the new PCI IDs. This is achieved by removing the PCI IDs that exist in <DRIVER> from the <DRIVER>-new for them to be disjunct, which automatically ensures that the right driver is loaded.</ul><p></p>
    Furthermore, we have introduced a new YaST dialog (see Chapter 2.1)
    which allows mapping additional PCI IDs to a driver. This both allows
    teaching any driver about new PCI IDs and forcing the use of the new
    driver for the old PCI IDs.
    If you do not want to use YaST you can also set these PCI IDs manually
    if you like. The file README.PCI.new_id in the docu dir on CD1 explains
    how to do that.
  • Supported many new hardware components via driver and PCI ID updates:
    • cloned tg3-new with version 3.10 to support Broadcom 5721 and 5751
    • cloned bcm-new with version 7.3.5 to support Broadcom 5721
    • updated e1000-new with version 5.3.19 to support one new PCI ID
      • added fix because EEH error must not remove device
      • updated according to new information from Intel
      • fixed oops in e1000 driver on x86_64
    • updated ixgb to version 1.0.82 to support 10 GB Ethernet
    • updated ipr to version 2.0.10.1 to support new RAID types
    • updated IBM ServeRAID driver ips to 7.10.18 to fix bugs
    • updated s2io driver to version 1.7.5.1
    • updated qlogic to version 8.00.00 to use official release which is better and binary compatible to version 8.00.00b14 which was used in SLES 9 GA.
    • updated megaide to version 5.07r to support LSI controllers
    • updated megaraid_mbox to version 2.20.4.2/2.20.2.4 for new hardware support
    • updated cciss driver to version 2.6.4 to support SAS
      • added fix for bad unknown ioctl return
    • updated gdth to version 3.04 for new hardware support
      • added fix for oops on x86_64
    • updated Emulex lpfc driver to version 2.10g for bug fixes
    • added driver jsm version 1.1 to support Digi Neo PCI serial cards
    • updated avm_fcdsl driver to support Fritz!Card DSL USB analog driver and Fritz!Card DSL USB 2.0 driver
    • updated avmfritzcapi to support new Eumex devices
    • included support for Intel i915 chipset (hwinfo, sax2, xf86)
    • enhanced driver update dialog to also support USB disks and sticks
    • fixed 4-port SATA support in the ICH6 driver
    • updated MPT fusion driver to version 3.01.14.23
    • fixed aic7?xx driver probe info
    • added Altix system controller communication driver
    • cloned aic79xx-new with version 2.0.12 to support AIC7901 and 39320
    • added Qlogic iSCSI support (qla4xxx)
    • added patches to Infiniband Gen1 code
    • backported dpt_i2o from 2.6.8
    • updated aacraid driver to version 1.1.2-lk2 from 2.6.9
    • added TIO support for SGI Altix
    • allow modules to use virtual IRQs
    • fixed veth dying on ppc64
    • fixed oops with Nvidia Nforce4
    • enabled new DASD CCW IDs (S/390)
    • fixed some hipersockets bugs and a dasd dbf oops on s390
  • Many filesystem and I/O subsystem improvements:
    • Allowed swapfiles > 2G on x86.
    • Fix device special files and permission cache.
    • Added reiserfs performance improvements.
    • Fixed reiserfs oops on small file systems (< 128 MB).
    • Integrated patches to allow enabling ext3 reservation code.
    • Fixed ext2/ext3 memory leak.
    • Fixed ext3 directio when extending the journal.
    • Improved iSCSI and SAN/NAS support with patches from EMC, NetAPP, and others.
    • Backported several NFS bug fixes from upstream or mainline kernel.
    • Improved NFS performance by avoiding unnecessary sillyrenames.
    • Fixed ACL umask handling over nfs.
    • Always add credentials to inodes for NFS.
    • Fixed that kernel statd should accept NOTIFY calls from high ports
    • Fixed file locking for 32 bit apps running on 64 bit systems.
    • Fixed files > 2 GB in isofs.
    • Updated XFS file system and tools to latest CVS snapshot.
    • Fixed panic and deadlock in XFS direct IO.
    • Allow reading from zeropage with O_DIRECT/rawio.
    • Fixed oops in aio_free_ring.
    • Made Infiniband also usable on ppc64.
    • Fixed spinlock problem in infiniband drivers.
    • Merged new Lustre hooks.
    • Updated CIFS to 1.22.
    • Added several autofs4 fixes.
    • Included support for Novell nss file system (km_nss).
    • Included support for Oracle Cluster File System 2 (ocfs2). (Refer to Chapter 6 for Known Problems)
  • Several powermanagement improvements:
    • Added powernow K8 cpufreq support for CG stepping K8.
    • Added cpufreq support for SMP systems.
    • Fixed centrino speedstep on x86-64.
  • Misc enhancements:
    • Backported epoll fixes from 2.6.9.
    • Added Several backports from upstream or mainline kernel:
      • unmap_mapping_range() from 2.6.6
      • generic_file_direct_write() and generic_file_buffered_write() from 2.6.9-rc4
      • backport mapping_mapped()
      • export sync_page_range
    • Supported official variable name INSTALL_MOD_DIR in addition to our MOD_DIR.
    • Fixed hooks to enable CA.
    • Added kernel support for POSIX message queue.
  • Misc bugfixes:
    • Integrated numerous other bug fixes from upstream or mainline kernel.
    • Fixed sys_stime() in 31-bit compatibility mode on S/390.
    • Fixed CD/DVD writing for non-root users.
    • Fixed problem with pclose() sometimes hanging.
    • Fix crbce to provide time stamp in msec rather than in jiffies.
    • Fix possible EEH or memory corruption when DMA crosses a 64k boundary.
    • Fixed iSeries Linux on legacy systems not reporting PURR.
    • Fixed hang caused by loopback TX.
    • Fixed race condition in unix_dgram_recvmsg().
    • Limited max number of concurrent khelper processes.
    • Fixed IMM highmem oops.
    • Added fix to avoid deadlocks with non-ram under mlockall.
    • Fixed vfree() with interrupts disabled in sg driver.
    • Added fix to not fill up process table when many events occur.
    • Fix MCA during cross-partition MPI (IPF).
    • Fixed random kernel memory corruption if openfirmware stdin device is an usb controller.
    • Fixed CPU time reporting for single processes.
    • Fixed kernel hang in __getblk_slow().
    • Fixed sunrpc to not crash on unknown program numbers.
    • Fixed memory leak in pageattr code (x86 and x86-64 only).
    • Added fix to not lose edge triggered IRQ when delivered while IRQ disabled.
    • Fixed USB HID driver parsing usage IDs.
    • Fix to allow keyboard to survive if any key (e.g. F2) is pressed early.
2.3 Standards
  • Updated openhpi to version 1.0.2 to comply with the SA Forum HPI A.1.1 spec.
  • Added POSIX message queue support to glibc on x86 (CGL 2.0 spec Prio 1 req). POSIX messages queues were added to glibc after the development was stopped for librtkaio. glibc librt contains a full implementation for POSIX message queues on all architectures. librtkaio does not contain any support for POSIX message queues. Adding POSIX message queues to librtkaio is possible for x86 only. Other architectures are not possible due a change in the glibc syscall handling.
2.4 Availability
  • Updated heartbeat to version 1.2.3 final.
  • Updated drbd to version 0.7.5 + some fixes for 32/64bit interoperability.
  • Updated multipath-tools to 0.3.6.
  • Updated device-mapper to 1.00.19.
    • multipath enhancements
    • added support for message passing ioctl
  • Added multipath fixes for barrier handling.
  • With SP1, we now disabled the multipathing failover support in the QLogic driver by default, because it caused many problems. We print a warning that it is deprecated and how one can still turn it on if needed using ql2xfailover=1.
  • Included support for Oracle Cluster File System 2 (ocfs2). (Refer to Chapter 6 for Known Problems)
  • Added patches for OES to EVMS.
  • Fix RAID1 device failure resulting in kernel crash
  • Provide code to enable recovery from PCI EEH errors.
  • Added CPU hotplug support for S/390.
  • Fixed lvm2 to cope with minor device number larger than 255.
  • Fixed lvm2 to prevent hang on resizing an LV containing an active root fs.
  • Integrated bug fix to SHPC PCI hotplug driver.
2.5 Serviceability
  • Updated OpenIPMI to 1.3.11.
  • Updated CKRM to newer revision and added CPU controller.
    • Fix to not create unnamed directory under /rcfs/taskclass.
  • Updated kdb to version 4.4.
    • Added modular kdb support for x86_64.
    • Fixed double echo on x86-64.
    • Fixed breakpoints on x86-64.
  • Updated Linux kernel crash dump (lkcd) and lkcdutils.
    • Allow for producing reliable backtraces with lkcd.
  • Updated iprutils to version 2.0.13.
  • Added SGI Altix hardware performance monitoring API.
  • Added check for PROM version on ia64 Altix machines and print early warning.
  • Exported some symbols needed by ES7000 Service Processor.
  • Added tg3 ethtool stats.
  • Updated OpenWBEM to version 3.1.0.
  • Updated CIM provider package novell-life to version 1.0.0.
  • Updated sysfsutils in udev package to version 1.2.0.
  • Added PAGG support on IPF.
  • Fixed problem with monitored processes going to sleep on IPF.
  • Added fix to correctly display per process CPU utilization.
  • Fix perfmon assertion failure in pfm_load_regs.
  • Allow ACPI PCI hotplug callbacks to set/get_attention_status().
2.6 Scalability
  • Improved RCU scalability.
  • Assorted scalability improvement for large machines.
  • Fixed scalability problem in dnotify_parent.
  • Support SGI Altix and 512 CPUs with Linux kernel crash dump (LKCD).
  • Added CPUSET support for IPF.
  • Added scalability enhancements for big IPF machines.
  • Added support for systems with many IRQ resources.
  • Allow IRQ0 to be used as a legal PCI device IRQ
  • Added clustered APIC support for x86_64.
    • Enlarge max number of CPUs on x86-64 and number of IO-APIC.
    • Disable clustered APIC mode on AMD systems
    • .
  • Enabled APIC on ES7000 architecture and increased MAX_MP_BUSSES.
  • Don't waste memory for hashes on huge machines.
  • Avoid memory alloc problem on machines where still enough memory is available.
  • Allow memory holes on S/390.
  • Fixed possible cpuset race.
2.7 Performance
  • Default read ahead to 512KB (instead of 128KB).
  • Updated schedutils to version 1.4.0 to add cpu list support.
  • Updated Performance CoPilot to version 2.4.0.
  • Fixed TPC-C performance problems on x86_64 (caused by vsyscall gettimeofday).
2.8 Security
  • Added amtu package in preparation for CC-EAL4 certification.
  • Included all security fixes (see Section 3.1 below).
2.9 Applications and Tools
  • Updated ypbind to version 1.18, which adds a -ping option so that the system administrator can specify the ping interval of ypbind.
  • Added linuxthreads patch to glibc to make old JVM 1.3.1 work.
  • Backported all NPTL fixes to glibc to solve deadlock problems.
  • Provided POSIX message queue support for x86 with glibc, which can be used by apps now. See Section 2.3 for more details.
  • Made usage of MDNS configurable via /etc/host.conf (see man page).
  • Changed the AIO glibc interface from librtkaio to librt. For completeness, we want to clarify that there are two different AIO interfaces: one separate from glibc provided via the package "libaio" and one via "librt" from glibc. The libaio is really just a wrapper for the kernel AIO syscalls. These functions all start with io_*(). This is what most database vendors are using. This interface is not POSIX compatible, but is, for example, used by Oracle. It is contained in the package "libaio" on SLES 9. This has nothing to do with glibc and will not change for SP1. Then we have librt provided by glibc, which contains a set of aio_*() functions defined by POSIX. There are two different implementations of this library: one fully implemented in userland (librt from glibc) and one that tries to use the Kernel AIO interface (called librtkaio). Both libraries install as "librt" and are binary compatible. The interface expects a file descriptor, so it should be usable with everything that could be opened by open(). The librt aio_* functionality is not really implementable in userland. This is the reason why the glibc librt does not work for most users. To solve this, it was attempted to implement these functions with help of the Kernel AIO. The kernel interface was not designed for this (kernel developers implemented it for the need of database vendors, not for POSIX nor glibc usage), however, so it does not work as expected and needs much more CPU usage than the glibc librt. We know from bug reports from IBM that both librt implementations (librt and librtkaio) do not work for them. Both implementations also do not pass 100% any test suite. Because librtkaio is worse by wasting a lot of CPU power, we switch back to the standard glibc librt implementation with SP1. This in an internal implementation change of librt, but is binary compatible to what we had in SLES 9 GA version.
  • Fixed blocking in gethostbyaddr with corrupted UDP packets.
  • Added gcc_old on i386 to support linking of old apps.
  • Fixed several Heimdal problems:
    • correctly handle RESPONSE_TOO_BIG response from Windows kdc
    • fixed crash with certain versions of winbind of Samba
    • fixed crash in telnet used with w2k kdc
  • Added large file support (LFS) to wget and rsh.
  • Updated parted to version 1.6.15.
    • fixed two problems
    • added support for ATA over Ethernet
    • added support for partitioning device-mapper devices (for dmraid)
  • Added bug fixes to apache.
    • mod_ssl returned invalid method on TLS upgraded connections.
    • upgraded mod_auth_ldap and util_ldap to 2.0.53 level because of many bug fixes in these modules. They are still declared experimental by the authors. The update causes a minor binary incompatibility in the API exposed by the util_ldap module. Only third-party software built directly on top of util_ldap is affected by this incompatibility. There is *no* incompatible change in the functionality provided by the two modules or in their configuration.
  • Added fixes for iManager to Mozilla 1.6.
  • Backported bdb back-end from stable OpenLDAP release.
  • Added certificate revocation list (CRL) support for OpenLDAP.
  • Increased limits in quota package to match the fact that the kernel can support more than 256 mounts.
  • Integrated client side of ZLM 6.6 + fixes on fresh default install.
  • Included menu entry to easily start ZMD/ZLM.
  • Added novell-ldapext package containing LDAP extensions.
  • Updated Samba to version 3.0.9.
    • Added eDirectory patch from Vince Brimhall
    • Added alias migration code from Volker Lendecke
    • More detailed information about changes and fixes comes with the samba-doc package in /usr/share/doc/packages/samba/WHATSNEW.txt
    • Included security fix from 3.0.10
2.10 New Packages Introduced with SP1
The following new packages have been introduced with Service Pack 1:
  • gcc_old
  • amtu
  • km_nss
  • novell-openwbem-authenticator
  • novell-ldapext (x86 only)
  • yast2-firstboot
Important Note:
These packages are provided on the Service Pack 1 CDs, but depending on the
installation method used, may not be automatically installed.
Use "rpm -U <PACKAGE>" to install any of these packages.
3. Maintenance Fixes
3.1 Bug Fixes
Service Pack 1 contains all bug fixes released via the maintenance
Web since the GA version. Refer to Chapter 4.3 for information about
how to install these and Chapter 7 for detailed documentation for
each patch.
3.2 Security Fixes
Service Pack 1 contains all security fixes released via the maintenance
Web since the GA version. Refer to Chapter 4.3 for information about
how to install these and Chapter 7 for detailed documentation for
each patch.
4. Updating from SLES 9 to SP1
After completing any form of update, look at the contents of the file
/var/adm/rpmconfigcheck. This file contains a list of configuration files
that could not be updated automatically. Usually this means the installed
version was modified. These files must be checked and the configurations
adjusted manually.
4.1 Using the CD Autorun Mechanism
The most convenient way to update your system to SP1 is to use the CD autorun
feature. Log into KDE and insert SLES 9 SP1 CD1. After some seconds, a
window opens, asking for the root password if logged in
as a regular user and offering to install the patches from this CD.
Install all recommended updates (this is the default) or select
individual updates. This is basically the same update method as
described in Section 4.3, so continue to read there for more
details. Do not forget to reboot at the end.
4.2 Calling YaST2 Manually or Remotely
The autorun of Section 4.1 might not be an option if you need to update
machines remotely or even without a CD-ROM drive. In this case,
start YaST manually as the superuser root with the command "yast2".
Then select the respective YaST module as mentioned in any chapter below.
A YaST2 reference like "Software -> Patch CD Update" means you should
select "Software" on the left side then the "Patch CD Update"
icon on the right side.
To use YaST remotely, you can login via ssh with
ssh -X root@YOUR_MACHINE
then call "yast2". See also Chapter 7 for references to our manuals
and documentation, including sophisticated other methods to call and use
yast, such as over VNC or a serial line.
4.3 Updating Functional Patches
The maintenance updates to SLES 9 are grouped into logical functional units,
called "patches," which are (or will be) available via the maintenance Web,
but also available on this Service Pack. This method is much more convenient
and less error-prone than updating packages individually and also supports
special hooks for PRE and POST scripts of a complete patch. This method
can be used calling YaST -> Software -> Patch CD Update. Although it
was designed for CDs initially, it can also be used via many other
sources, like NFS or a local directory.
There are four classes of patches. First, there are patches to YaST itself.
These are always selected and must be installed first. Second, there are
security patches, which should always be installed. Third, there are
recommended patches, which usually should be installed. Check the
indications and contraindications for these. Last, there are optional
patches, which are only needed in very special cases.
View details for a patch by clicking 'Description'.
If additional information or warnings are available for any packages
selected for installation, YaST2 shows those in pop-up message
windows during the installation process. Do not ignore these
messages, because they contain important information for your system.
Usually the right patches for your system are automatically selected,
so in most cases you can just accept the defaults.
If one of the pop-up screens said a reboot is necessary, reboot now.
4.4 Registering the Service Pack as an Additional Installation Source
For the YaST package manager to know about the updated packages
residing on the Service Pack CD, you must register this CD as an additional
installation source.
You can do this in YaST -> Software -> Change Source of Installation.
Then select "Add" and "CD" then use the "Up" button to move SP1
to the top (highest priority). This makes sure that if a newer
version of a package is found on the Service Pack CD, this version
is used.
4.5 Updating Individual Packages
First register SP1 as an additional install source (see Section 4.4).
Then you can use the "Install and Remove Software" module of YaST
to update, install, or remove individual packages.
4.6 Update Everything Using "System Update"
You first need to register SP1 as an additional install source (see Section 4.4).
Then you can update all packages with the "System Update" module of YaST.
5. Fresh Installation Using SP1
If you are doing a fresh install, you can benefit from SP1 as well.
Enhancements in the installer are listed in Section 2.1 and additional
platform and hardware support and driver updates in Section 2.2.
5.1 Need For
If you have already successfully installed SLES 9, there is no need
to do a fresh install. Just use any of the update mechanisms described in
Chapter 4 to get your system to SP1 level.
In cases where the SLES 9 GA version did not work for you, either
because of missing hardware support or bugs in the installer, you should
try a fresh install with SP1 using any of the methods listed below.
5.2 Using the Bootable SP CD
Insert the bootable Service Pack CD1 in your drive and boot your machine.
The kernel loads and the following dialog appears:
"Make sure that CD number 1 is in your drive."
At this point, insert the first product CD, in this case, CD1 of the SLES 9 GA
ISO set. Hit "Ok" and the regular installation (with the new kernel, drivers,
and the new YaST) runs. Continue as usual with the installation.
The benefit of this method is that you directly install the newest
version of every package in this mode, so no need to call any of the
update methods listed above afterwards.
If you need to install many machines, we recommend booting from SP1 CD1
but using a network installation server. Chapter 5.3 explains how to set up an
installation server.
5.3 Setting Up an Installation Server
Here is a step-by-step guide to setting up a SLES 9 installation
server. This example sets up an NFS installation server, but the
method for others, like HTTP or FTP, are very similar.
  • Call YaST -> Misc -> Installation Server.
  • Select "Configure as NFS Source" and, as Directory, the desired location. This example uses "/install".
  • Then click "Next".
  • Leave the defaults for "Host Wild Card" and "Options".
  • Click "Next".
  • With this, an NFS server serving "/install" is set up automatically.
  • The "Source Configuration" dialog appears.
  • In "Sources to Configure", click "Configure".
  • As "Source Name", enter your desired name for this install source, for example, "sles9". This creates a subdirectory "sles9" under /install.
  • Enable "Announce as Installation Service with SLP". This makes this server broadcast himself as an installation server and any SUSE product can automatically find it in SLP install mode.
  • If you have CDs of SLES 9 and SP1, skip the next step.
  • If you have ISO images instead of CDs, enable this check box and browse via "Select Directory" to the directory that contains all ISO images of all CDs.
  • Click "Next".
  • You will now be prompted to insert "CD1".
  • Insert "SLES 9 CD1" (which is the main product CD) and press "Continue". Now the data from CD1 is copied to the local directory, in this example, /install/sles9
  • Proceed the same way when prompted for CD2 through CD6.
  • Press "Finish".
  • Now your installation server for SLES is ready.
  • The directory structure should look like this: /install/sles9/ SUSE-CORE-Version-9/ CD1/ CD2/ CD3/ CD4/ CD5/ SUSE-SLES-Version-9/ CD1/ boot -&gt; SUSE-SLES-Version-9/CD1/boot content -&gt; SUSE-SLES-Version-9/CD1/content control.xml -&gt; SUSE-SLES-Version-9/CD1/control.xml media.1 -&gt; SUSE-SLES-Version-9/CD1/media.1 yast/ instorder order You may have noticed that the six CDS are 1 SLES CD, which is really defining the product settings, and 5 CORE CDs, which contain the common code base for SUSE business products (the common code base avoids ISVs or IHVs having to do multiple certifications).
  • Now you can easily install another machine over the network using the installation server.
    • Boot the machine to install from SLES 9 CD1.
    • On the initial dialog, scroll one line down and choose "Installation".
    • In the "Boot Options" field, enter "install=slp" (or change this with "F3" if this is available on your platform).
    • The machine boots then shows a selection of install options it has found via SLP. If this does not work out of the box, you are probably lacking a working DHCP and DNS server in your network. In this case, use the following parameter in "Boot Options": install=nfs://IP_ADDRESS_OF_YOUR_SERVER/install/sles9 to force the installation to use a certain installation server.
5.3.1 Integrating the Service Pack into an Installation Server
The YaST2 install server module needs some bug fixes to be able to read
and integrate Service Pack CDs. Make sure that you have at least
version 2.9.21-0.0.1 of yast2-instserver installed (this package is
on the Service Pack CD itself).
Then follow these steps:
  • Call YaST -> Misc -> Installation Server -> Change -> Edit.
  • Enable "Prompt for Additional CDs (Service Packs, Additional Package CDs, etc.)".
  • Click "Next".
  • It will say that contents already exist in this directory.
  • Click "Ok".
  • It prompts for CD1.
  • Now insert the "Service Pack CD1" and press "Continue".
  • The contents of Service Pack CD1 are copied to the local disk.
  • Proceed the same way when prompted for CD2.
5.4 Installation Support for Creating and Installing a Bootable Software RAID
With SLES 9 SP1 for x86, AMD64, and EM64T, it is possible to create and
install a bootable software RAID (md) configuration. It is. for example,
possible to use a RAID1 setup to mirror two drives and be able to boot from
either drive (with the boot loader stored on both drives).
Proceed as follows:
During installation in the boot loader configuration:
  • Set the "Boot Loader Type" to "LILO"
  • Set the "Boot Loader Location" to /dev/md0 (select "Other" to add /dev/md0 manually)
  • Select "Activate Boot Loader Partition"
  • Select "Replace Code in MBR"
Ignore the warning about the boot partition not being available.
6. Known Problems
The following section describes known problems.
Systems with PCI-Express (PCI-E) Chipset
With SLES9 and SLES9-SP1, Memory Mapped Configuration (mmconfig)
of PCI Express is not fully supported. As many of the newer EM64T
systems are equipped with these chipsets, we expect problems in
this area. A work-around is to disable 'mmconfig' by adding
'pci=nommconf' to the kernel command line.
The absence of PCI-E slots is not sufficient indication that the
system is not based on a PCI-E chipset. Check the lspci output
or refer to your system manual to be sure.
Booting from SLES9 Service Pack 1 CD 1 on IBM iSeries Systems
To boot from SLES9 Service Pack 1 CD 1 on IBM iSeries systems, set
the "IPL stream file" parameter in the Network Server Description to
'/QOPT/SU90SP1.P01/ISERIES64'. The "SU90SP1.P01" part of the path
is the disk label of CD 1.
IBM POWER Systems and Partitions for /boot
On IBM POWER systems, the YaST2 expert partitioner suggests creating a
partition for /boot. This partition is not needed on POWER systems and
should not be created, because it may confuse the boot loader
installation process and lead to an unbootable system.
Instead, a primary partition of type "PReP boot" (type 0x41) with no
mount point and a recommended size of 16MB must be present. By default,
YaST2 creates such a partition. The boot loader installation process
(the LILO script for POWER architectures) takes care of reducing the
size and changing the type of this partition to meet the boot loader
requirements according to the type of POWER system the installation
runs on.
Using the Rescue System on Systems with Many Devices
The rescue system contains device nodes for a limited number of
devices. If your system has more devices, use the command udevstart
on the command line. This creates the missing device nodes in /dev
for all devices that are listed in /sys.
Missing ocfs2 module in SP1
The ocfs2 kernel module is missing in the binary kernels of SP1.
It will be included in a later kernel update. Please see Oracle
bug 4112062 for information on when it will be available.
SPident reports inconsistent Service pack level
SPident is a tool to identify the Service Pack level of the
current installation.
SPident may report that the system has not reached the level
of Service Pack 1. This happens, when so-called "optional" updates,
which will not be automatically installed by YOU, are not manually
selected during update. To fully reach the level of Service Pack 1
you have to manually select these packages in YOU.
On SGI Altix, you need to update the PROM to version 4.x before
installing this Service Pack.
On HP rx1600 we encountered problems using the PDH console; please
use the MP or VGA consoles instead.
Problems in One Particular SLES 9 Update Method
One of the three methods offered for updating an existing SLES 9 system
might fail under the circumstances below. If you boot the installation
system from Service Pack 1 and choose the option "Update system on
hard disk", the installation of the new kernel may not succeed. This was
seen to fail on S/390 and zSeries.
However, being as there are two other possibilities for updating an
existing SLES 9 ("System update" and "Install Patch CD")
those should be preferred.
7. More Information and Feedback
First, you should always read the release notes for this service pack, which
can be found as file "Notes" on the toplevel of CD1, but even newer ones
might be available next to the ISO images as file *.Notes.
Also read the READMEs on the CDs.
Find high-level information on all patches contained in this Service
Pack under the directory docu. Just point your browser to
file:/WHEREVER_YOU_MOUNTED_SP1_CD1/docu/index.html
You can, of course, always get the very detailed changelog information
about a particular package from the RPMs themselves by doing
rpm --changelog -qp FILENAME.rpm
where FILENAME.rpm is the name of the rpm.
The file "ChangeLog" in the toplevel of CD1 contains a chronological log of
all the changes that were made for these updated packages.
Find a lot more useful information in the directory docu of CD1 of the
original SLES 9 GA (!) CDs. This includes pdf
versions of the SLES 9 installation and administration manuals, which
explain many other sophisticated methods to install and use SLES 9,
for example, using autoyast or VNC.
Visit http://www.suse.com for the latest product news from SUSE and Novell.
As usual, please report bugs via Bugzilla or your contact and feedback channel.
Please use "Enterprise Server" as product and "9-SP1" as version for
reporting bugs.
Your SUSE Linux Enterprise Team
The MD5 sums for the ISO images are:
SLES-9-SP-1-s390x-RC5-CD1.iso  897e8b4f082a9606f92fb54302ee6638
SLES-9-SP-1-s390x-RC5-CD2.iso  74541daa9e4fa05ec5d3f45909c73dd5
The images can be written to a blank CD-R. To do that on a Linux system, we recommend to use the program cdrecord. A sample command line to cdrecord looks like this:
cdrecord dev=0,4,0 -v -eject -speed=8 SLES-9-SP-1-s390x-RC5-CD1.iso
Please adjust the values for dev and speed according to your system.
Note:
We are not going to send out an individual 'Maintenance Support Information'
mail for every single patch to reduce the mail load. You could also update to
SLES9 SP1 using YOU.

links to download packages

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Download the source code of the patches for maintained products.


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