IPX not supported by kernel
 

Im running RHEL5 and kernel 2.6.9-42.ELsmp but it seems it dont have the support for ipx. The error i got is: "Adress family not supported by protocol". How can i make it to support it? I really need to mount netwares shares.
I've been reading and it says that i have to recompile the kernel with this support. Is that true? but it is not risky? how can i do that?

Thanks in advace.

If you either:

1) look through /lib/modules/<your-kernel-name>/kernel/net/ for the IPX module

or

2) read through the .config file if it is available on your system and see whether IPX is built (as a module)

.. and it IS, then the command 'modprobe <module-name>' should fix the issue.

However, I suspect that if the module DID exist, the software asking for it would have the kernel modprobe it automatically. But maybe not, so look around for the module first.

If it doesn't exist, then yes, you need to either rebuild your kernel, OR get/download/install/upgrade to another kernel that does have IPX built in or built as a module.

I won't go into how to rebuild your kernel here; there are a bazillion other threads on that subject, and myriad other resources findable via your favourite search engine on how to do it.

Is it risky? It's more daunting than risky, for a first time kernel-compiling-person ;) but if you read carefully, you can do it! Do some research, figure out your plan of attack, ie what you will need to do, and if you're unsure of something, then ask.

And DO NOT delete or remove your working running kernel, until/unless you are CERTAIN that your new kernel works as expected and boots properly (and even then, I wouldn't delete it-- I typically have like a dozen or so kernel images lying around, with three or four in my LILO boot menu. If your (or my) new kernel fails to work, you can always reboot your previous working one, but not if you delete it).

Sasha

PS - a question or two: Doesn't Enterprise stuff (eg RHEL) have some sort of service or customer assistance? You may want to inquire, if so. And, if this is an 'important' production machine, you will want to be really sure of what you are doing, before you do it, if you don't want to render the machine temporarily useless with a borked kernel.

Deleted duplicate post for some reason.. !?

Thanks for your help. We dont have RHEL5 support anymore, it was due last year. But i will be carefull as you say.
Thanks again.

P.S. I dont know how to delete the duplicate post. As you can see i am a newbie.

Basics of kernel build
 

No worries - posts actually cannot be deleted (save for by forum admins under very extraneous circumstances perhaps) but it was a duplicate of my post-- it got posted twice for some reason, so I just emptied out the body of the post.

As a newbie, you're in the right place.

I don't use RH/EL myself, so any peculiarities of RedHat I cannot likely help much with, but another RH user can surely help if you need. But building the kernel itself I have done lots of times, and I'll check back here occasionally to see how you're making out.

Figured I'd put some help here too; I hope it helps ;) Here goes, though if you have found a tutorial that is very specific to your RHEL system, you may do well to follow it, as again, this is generic info..

The very generic basics (for rebuilding your same kernel configuration PLUS the IPX module):

1) have your kernel sourcecode on the system.
2) in a console or Xterm, execute 'make clean' in the sourcecode.
3) execute one of 'make xconfig' or 'make menuconfig' or 'make gconfig'
4) from the menu, load your .config file if you have it (to begin with everything configged as it currently is now) or extract the .config from /proc/config.gz if it is there and then load that into the menu. If you do not have available the .config file for your current kernel, you'll pretty much need to config the whole kernel from scratch.
5) Under the 'General' area in the menu, choose 'local version - append to kernel release', and give some sort of identifying name for your new build. This will help by making all the new modules and other new build files wind up in their OWN folder with this name on it, preserving your existing kernel and modules so you can still boot it.
6) locate the menu option in networking or wherever, for the IPX module, and enable [.] it or <m> it to make it as a module.
7) save the .config file. I like to also double-save the file as a name I recognize, such as the name you named the kernel in step 5.
8) exit menu configger.
9) execute 'make'
10) execute 'make modules_install'

At this point, the kernel is built, and the modules are in place. The exact procedure you use now to actually INSTALL the kernel BzImage into position and set up your bootloader depends on your system, and I would rather not guess how that might be exactly on a RHEL system; I probably might guess wrongly.

Best of success!

Sasha

Im really thankful for your help and patience really..
Well, i did what you say, but when i tried to buid it I get this error:

[root@ctb 2.6.9-42.EL-smp-i686]# make
CHK include/linux/version.h
UPD include/linux/version.h
SPLIT include/linux/autoconf.h -> include/config/*
CHK include/asm-i386/asm_offsets.h
/bin/sh: arch/i386/kernel/asm-offsets.s: No existe el fichero o el directorio
UPD include/asm-i386/asm_offsets.h
mv: no se puede efectuar `stat' sobre «include/asm-i386/asm_offsets.h.tmp»: No existe el fichero o el directorio
make: *** [include/asm-i386/asm_offsets.h] Error 1

Do u know what it means??

LOL, my spanish is a tad rusty, but the first error reads 'no such file or directory..' and the second one seems to read 'cannot STAT <something-or-other>: no such file or directory.'

If I had to guess, I would say that the kernel-headers are missing. There is definitely *something* missing.

Check in your package manager and see if there is a kernel-headers package installed, and if not, install it, and try again.

(and if anyone else has further input on this, please do advise us, especially if I got that spanish wrong)

I downloaded a new kernel source, compile and build it again and I got it working now. I boot now with this new kernel and got IPX working. Im not erasing yet the old kernel, just in case.
Thank you very much for your help.:)

Excellent, glad you got it sorted out :)

Sasha