problems running RHEL on Dell E6540?
 

Hey there!! At work my company ordered a Dell Latitude E6540 and we plan on installing RHEL 6.5 on it. i'm wondering if anyone has ran RHEL or CentOS on it. If so, did you run into any problems? i'm aware that i can leave windows installed and run linux with VM or set up dual boot but i'd like to run only RHEL on this machine.

Any info is appreciated.

Chris

It should run just fine, since Dell supports Linux. The best thing to do (if you have PROBLEMS that is), is to contact Red Hat and Dell, in that order. Since you're paying for the hardware, you're paying for support. And, since it's for your company, you're also paying for Red Hat Enterprise...which gets you support from THEM as well.

That said, I'd avoid 6.5, and load the latest 7...no sense starting out with an older version on brand-new hardware. And if your company is NOT planning on paying for RHEL, then do NOT LOAD IT. You will NOT get patches/bugfixes/security updates, or access to the online repositories. All you'll wind up doing is having an insecure, unstable system that is more difficult to manage. No point in it...load CentOS 7 instead.

Thanks for the reply, TB0ne. I actually told them they didnt need to pay for RHEL since CentOS is free and as close as it gets to the same thing, they chose to go RHEL anyway. They are paying for it so no problems there. The machine will be used to support a government customer running 6.5 so that's the reason for running for 6.5. I'll get the machine on monday i'll find out soon how everything works. i'd imagine i'll at least need some driver support.

in a work environment
USE REDHAT!!!!!

the required support contract is a VERY SMALL price to pay for
!!!!! piece of MIND !!!!! that is brings


cent is great and all
BUT
unless the business HAS already put in place the PERMANENT STAFF needed to support it
pay for the redhat tech support

Excellent...you're still in good shape (support wise) with RHEL 6.5, so you should be good, and if you're paying you should have no problems. I've never had issues with RHEL on Dell equipment. HP, though...that's different. :)

centos 6.5 is UNSUPPORTED
there will NEVER be any updates to it
-- NO SECURITY UPDATES

if you use cent INSTALL 6.6!!!!!

RedHat on the other hand WILL BACK PORT SECURITY FIXES TO OLDER VERSIONS !!!!

but you HAVE TO PAY FOR THEM

It's me again...

So i got RHEL 6.0 and i'm trying to connect to the internet wirelessly or wired. i'm thinking i may need drivers. here are the output of the lspci and ifconfig commands:

Script started on Tue 25 Nov 2014 06:51:07 PM EST
]0;root@localhost:/media/04EB-7F37[?1034h[root@localhost 04EB-7F37]# uname -r
2.6.32-71.el6.x86_64
]0;root@localhost:/media/04EB-7F37[root@localhost 04EB-7F37]# uname
Linux
]0;root@localhost:/media/04EB-7F37[root@localhost 04EB-7F37]# unmaame -a
Linux localhost 2.6.32-71.el6.x86_64 #1 SMP Wed Sep 1 01:33:01 EDT 2010 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
]0;root@localhost:/media/04EB-7F37[root@localhost 04EB-7F37]

# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Device 0c04 (rev 06)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 0c01 (rev 06)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Device 0416 (rev 06)
00:03.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Device 0c0c (rev 06)
00:14.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation Device 8c31 (rev 04)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Device 8c3a (rev 04)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Device 153a (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation Device 8c2d (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Device 8c20 (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 8c10 (rev d4)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 8c14 (rev d4)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 8c18 (rev d4)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 8c1a (rev d4)
00:1c.6 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 8c1c (rev d4)
00:1c.7 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 8c1e (rev d4)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation Device 8c26 (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Device 8c4f (rev 04)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Device 8c03 (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation Device 8c22 (rev 04)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Device 6606
03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Device 088e (rev 24)
0e:00.0 SD Host controller: O2 Micro, Inc. Device 8520 (rev 01)
]0;root@localhost:/media/04EB-7F37[root@localhost 04EB-7F37]

# ifconfig -a
lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:16 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:16 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:960 (960.0 b) TX bytes:960 (960.0 b)

pan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 06:F2:D8:88:46:3F
BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

]0;root@localhost:/media/04EB-7F37[root@localhost 04EB-7F37]# exitexit
exit

Script done on Tue 25 Nov 2014 06:52:19 PM EST


I'm only seeing pan0 and lo in the ifconfig when i think i need to see eth0 or something similar. any help is appreciated.

Chris

redhat normally dose not have wireless support installed by default
a server dose not need it

also 6.0 is 6 versions and is 4 years out of date
6.0 will have NO support for hardware NEWER than Nov 2010

plug in a ether cable and upgrade to rhel 6.6

i'm unable to connect with a wired ethernet connection also. i'm able to have other machines connect without issue so the connection is good.

also, if i watch /var/log/messages with the "tail -f /var/log/message" command nothing happens when i connect the ethernet cable

A question

is this a laptop or handheld tablet you are putting rhel6 on ?
if so the hardware might NOT be supported

please check the redhat web site for certified hardware
did you turn on the network service ?
or
turn on the OFF BY DEFAULT!!!
"network-manager"
it is disabled by default and might not be installed
( use the install disk to install it )
a server dose not need wireless

i'll double check but i dont think it is listed under supported devices (*ducks as rocks are thrown*) :-)

i asked them to order another machine but they chose this one so unfortunately it is what it is. now i'm stuck trying to figure this out.

i do have all the media that came in the redhat 6 box, i wonder if any of that could be helpful....

chris

The first thing that comes to mind, is you say it's 6.0. You originally said you had to have 6.5, which is newer, and supports newer hardware. That is the first thing I'd try. The second thing to do, would be to contact Red Hat support. Since you're having problems with a WIRED connection, that is much simpler to diagnose. If your company is paying for support, this is something that RHEL can easily help you with.

Go the 6.5 route first....and (as root) run "dmesg -c", then plug in your wired connection, wait a few seconds, and run "dmesg", and see what you get.

sorry if i wasnt clear. i asked them to get 6.5 but it showed up at my desk as 6.0. I also found out today that they only ordered the self-support version so help from Redhat MIGHT not be an option. i'm going to contact them ask what my options are.....surely they will help at a price($$$$). in the mean time i installed CentOS 6.5 and the wired and wireless internet access is working fine. when i get a chance i will reinstall RHEL and find what happens when i run the "dmesq" command and post back. Thanks again for the help.

chris

then go back to your boss
and have them contact redhat
and get the NEW 6.6 install dvd's

( i would not yet install 7.0 -- wait until 7.1 or 7.2 comes out )

for 6.0 they will have to PAY EXTRA for any support
and the self support for a version that is 6 versions out of date --- well it is 6 versions out of date

Honestly, if you're not going to be FULLY supported by Red Hat, there's not much point in it over CentOS. The differences between CentOS 6.5 and RHEL 6.5 are trivial. If you have 6.5 going, stick with it. This article:
https://access.redhat.com/solutions/25037

...has information you'd be interested in. Since you're paying for RHEL access (Level 3 - self-support, with repository access), you can log in and view that article. You CAN 'migrate' from CentOS to RHEL fairly simply.

Thanks, TB0ne! i actually contacted RH and they contacted the person that ordered 6.0 for me(instead of 6.5) and had the subscription transferred to my account. soon i'll be able to download whatever version i want. they also said if i have problems i can contact them for assistance. thanks again!!