How to install Fedora, Red Hat or any other distro on AMD quad core Supermicro server
 

Hi all,

Glad if someone could help. I am new to Linux. I managed to install Fedora 7 on my laptop having specs 'Core 2 duo (x86), 2 GB RAM, 120 GB singe hard disk'. It worked fine.

Now having done that, I was asked to install the same OS (Fedora) on a Supermicro brand server with specs 'AMD opteron, quad core, 32 GB RAM, having 4 * 1.8TB hard disks. I am not sure if it forms a RAID 5 or not (i see RAID 5 somewhere while I boot the server though.. duhh!... :D )... Anyways.. I went on installing by using default settings... It showed me the 'formating / file system' etc and finally it was done... when i rebooted... I got some error message.. I rebooted and tried all possible (atleast what I knew :D ) methods but no luck.. I even tried installing RHEL for a change over this installation... and still i get similar error messages as below:

".... found volume group "VolGroup00" using metadata tyhpe lvm2
device-mapper : table : 253:0: linear: dm-linear: Device lookup failed
device-mapper : reload ioctl failed: Invalid argument
device-mapper : table : 253:1: linear: dm-linear: Device lookup failed
device-mapper : reload ioctl failed: Invalid argument

2 logical volume(s) in volume group "VolGroup00" now active
nash recieved SIGSEGV! Backtrace:
[0x804f8f4]
[0xe10420]
.........
....
...
...
..
..
(many other memory adresses)
...
..
..
Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!"

Please help!!:(

Thanks in advance!

Try Fedora 10/11

Given that each Fedora only lasts 13 mths, I'd go with Centos (free equiv of RHEL); good for up to 7 yrs of updates.
In either case, a current distro would be better; and you should upgrade that F7 before it gets hacked.
(As above, current is F11)

...

I'm afraid we can't look over your shoulder, so you're going to have to tell use whether you setup an array or not. It didn't happen by itself.

During the BIOS part of the boot process, you should see something come up about the disk controller. Do you have an array configured?

It almost sounds like you have setup an array in the BIOS, but the install just went to a disk. If that's the case, then use the BIOS to eliminate the array(s) and reinstall Linux.

Sorry but I tried now installing with no LVM partitions (custom partition option). I made one partition 'sda1' contain the '/' and another 'sda2' to contain swap. Left the rest of the drive as free space. After installation and reboot, I see nothing... Just a cursor keeps blinking on my screen.. :(

Ok.. I did not know this, but after a few exploration steps I found that an array WAS setup with RAID 5. I re-created a RAID 5 array rather than eliminating it and re-installed F7... After a reboot... it showed up the following screen

'....
....
Uncompressing Linux.... Ok, booting the kernel
Powernow-k8: MP systems not supported by PSB BIOS structure
Powernow-k8: MP systems not supported by PSB BIOS structure
Powernow-k8: MP systems not supported by PSB BIOS structure
Powernow-k8: MP systems not supported by PSB BIOS structure
Powernow-k8: MP systems not supported by PSB BIOS structure
Powernow-k8: MP systems not supported by PSB BIOS structure
Powernow-k8: MP systems not supported by PSB BIOS structure
Powernow-k8: MP systems not supported by PSB BIOS structure
Red hat nash version 6.0.9 starting
...
....
2 logical volumes now active (something like that)
..
Starting udev...
...
...
'

After which my screen goes blank for a long long time...

I tried the same after making a RAID 0 array then and reinstalling... Still had the same result
...

Please let me know if this RAID 5 or RAID 0 setup of 4*1.8 TB disks is really compatible with / too huge for F7 or any other Linux Distro for that matter... Coz I even tried installation of CentOS and Debian on the same machine, both of which did not work as well..

Thanks for your concern :hattip:

I found numerous links about "Powernow-k8: MP systems not supported by PSB BIOS structure" using google (your friend). Here's one: http://saf.bio.caltech.edu/saving_power.html

Well, I'm against having a "/" (root) drive of this size. It doesn't accomplish anything positive, and will probably bite you in the end. Instead, you could try setting up one array with 20GB and install to that. Once the install works fine, then setup another array and call that "/data" or even overlay "/home" with it.

Which Debian did you use? You should be using Lenny for this installation with this fakeraid.

Or, you could just drop the idea of using the fakeraid - which I strongly suggest. Fakeraids can only be managed in the BIOS, which isn't very convenient. Disable all your arrays in the BIOS, and then use Lenny to install to a 20GB partition on the first disk. Then, figure out how you want to utilize the rest of your space and setup your array(s) using mdadm. Given the size of your array, if you don't know yet how you will be using it, then you might also want to use LVM to manage the space on your array.

...

Well I dont think I am using a Fakeraid here... Its a genuine 3ware controller in my company which is used for testing purposes.. However as per your advice, I physically removed the RAID card, disabled the RAID array; I removed 3 out of 4 of my disks, making use of a single disk of 2TB; I made a 10 GB boot partition on the disk and installed Fedora 7 on it.... Still the same old problem.... screen goes blank and no response....

After doing allll these, I thought of trying Mandriva spring 2009 with the same specs as above.. Voila! It worked!....

Now my question is "I tried installing Fedora 7, Fedora 10, Ubuntu 2008, Debian 5.0, CentOS, RHEL before this... Why the hell didnt all these work????"

Thanks! :scratch:

Yea dude... I think your idea of working with a new distro helped!.. As I trieda Mandriva spring 2009 and it worked.. thanks! :cool:

Hey guys.. NOW i found out what the problem is... Actually there's an option in my BIOS to choose what type of OS is being installed - 'Linux/Others'.... All this while 'Others' was the default option... I just tried to switch the option to 'Linux', and reinstalled the OS and voila!.. Everything worked like a dream!... Fedora, CentOS, RedHat, Ubuntu etc etc...... All that DIDNT work out before DID now!!!!!... And Im so happy indeed... :cool: ! Also i tried switching it back to 'Others' AFTER installing the OS, there was no problem.. Hence it seems that this option applies WHILE we install any OS..

Thanks a loottttt to all who have helped though!.... Keep 'em posting, u guys rock! :hattip:

I tried various sites to learn what this option actually does, as there is no description about this in BIOS.. I went to AMiBIOS site n all but of no use... Glad if someone could help me know what it actually does, if any of you had the experience of changing the option like this in your BIOS... :hattip: