HP ILO / RHEL7 Systemd Output to VSP console

During my last post, I described the redirection of Linux Output to Serial on an Upstart Distribution based (using RHEL6). The main aim of this post is to describe the same on Systemd Distribution based (RHEL7). Before I begin with the technical matters, I have to say that I've been quite impressed by how Systemd makes this configuration so easy (no pain at all! So cool!). This isn't to make a comparison between Systemd and Traditional Init or Upstart, but you can check these two previous posts to draw your own Conclusions:  VSP/Traditional Init, VSP/Upstart.

Let's now delve in the interesting matters. The whole procedure is just about setting Kernel Options and reboot, and if the reboot can't be performed right away, just start a systemd service.

1. Set the Kernel Options boot options: 

On RHEL7 with Grub2, add "console=ttyS1" to  GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX in /etc/default/grub file (You might also remove rhgb quiet as rhgb is for RedHat Graphical Boot and quiet is meant to hide the majority of boot messages before rhgb starts)

[root@mynode ~]# grep "GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX" /etc/default/grub GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="crashkernel=auto vconsole.font=latarcyrheb-sun16 rd.lvm.lv=el/swap rd.lvm.lv=el/root vconsole.keymap=us console=ttyS1"

Changes to /etc/default/grub require rebuilding the grub.cfg file. This file location's on BIOS based machine is /boot/grub2 and for UEFI based machine, it is /boot/efi/EFI/redhat/.

On BIOS Based Machine:

[root@mynode ~]# grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

On UEFI Based Machine:

[root@mynode ~]# grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/efi/EFI/redhat/grub.cfg

2. Reboot or start a serial-getty service on ttyS1

Now we can either reboot the System to have the Kernel Loaded with the new parameter during the reboot , or (especially if we can't afford a downtime :-)) run the following to have a getty service started right away on the ttyS1.

[root@mynode ~]# systemctl start serial-getty@ttyS1.service

That's it! So simple! Go on the console, run vsp and there's a nice prompt...

Red Hat Linux Server 7.0 Kernel 3.8.13-35.3.1.el7uek.x86_64 on an x86_64 mynode login:


Reference:
http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/serial-console.html

HP ILO / RHEL6 Upstart Output to VSP console

Following my post related to HP ILO VSP console redirection , I've received many comments related to the same Configuration on recent Linux Distribution. In this post, I'm willing to detail the same on Upstart Based Distribution (using RHEL6, but should be the same for others Upstart Based distribution ). In fact, the main configuration on old Distribution was mostly related to Init Daemon Configuration, with new distribution based on Upstart/Systemd, things are slightly different. 

Note that I won't detail the configuration of the Virtual Serial Port on BIOS/UEFI as it had already been discussed in this previous post.
If you're interested in the same configuration for Systemd Based Distribution, it's described in this post.

1. Create an init configuration file for ttyS1

[root@mynode ~]# vi /etc/init/ttyS1.conf start on runlevel [S345] stop on runlevel [016] respawn instance /dev/ttyS1 exec /sbin/agetty ttyS1 115200 vt100-nav

2. Check the init configuration and start running the agetty process

Upstart leverages the Linux inotify API to make itself aware of any changes that can happen within its configuration directory, so the creation of the ttyS1 file above is enough to have the service available and listed when using initctl. The only thing we have to do is to start the process.

[root@mynode ~]# initctl list | grep ttyS1 ttyS1 stop/waiting [root@mynode ~]# initctl start ttyS1 ttyS1 (/dev/ttyS1) start/running, process 38394

3. Test you have access to the System through vsp

</>hpiLO-> vsp Virtual Serial Port Active: COM2 Starting virtual serial port. Press 'ESC (' to return to the CLI Session. mynode login:

4. Add Serial Port to securetty to allow login as root

This is needed if we want root account to be able to log in through this serial console.

[root@mynode ~]# echo "ttyS1" >> /etc/securetty

5. Configure the Grub GRUB config file

Finally, we can configure the GRUB to have outputs of the boot process on the console, this is easily achieved by adding console=tty0 console=ttyS1,115200

[root@mynode ~]# cat /etc/grub.conf # grub.conf generated by anaconda # # Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file # NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that # all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg. # root (hd0,0) # kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/sda5 # initrd /initrd-[generic-]version.img #boot=/dev/sda default=0 timeout=5 splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz hiddenmenu title Red Hat Enterprise Linux (2.6.32-220.el6.x86_64) root (hd0,0) kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.32-220.el6.x86_64 ro root=UUID=0084ea5e-39e2-4994-aaa5-5abe8bf7eeb0 rd_NO_LUKS rd_NO_LVM LANG=en_US.UTF-8 rd_NO_MD SYSFONT=latarcyrheb-sun16 crashkernel=128M KEYBOARDTYPE=pc KEYTABLE=us rd_NO_DM console=tty0 console=ttyS1,115200 initrd /initramfs-2.6.32-220.el6.x86_64.img

Oracle/Redhat Enterprise Linux 7 Kickstart Installation / without DHCP

RHEL7/OEL7 is out for few months now, with a lot of new features (Revamped Anaconda, Systemd...). But before really starting to enjoy all these nice features, let's perform some basic Automated Kickstart Installation. In this short post, I'm willing to describe just that type of Installation without relying on a DHCP Server (using Static Network Parameters). I'm also using an Installation tree and Kickstart file located on httpd servers and reachable from the System I'm installing. Enough talk! let's detailed this Kickstart Installation in the following 4 steps:

1. Make Installation Tree available on an httpd server:

We've RHEL7/OEL7 ISO Files and an httpd server (192.168.0.10) configured (with DocumentRoot being the classic /var/www/html). Mounting the ISO as loop device in the DocumentRoot is enough to have the Installation Tree available over httpd.

# mkdir /var/www/html/media_oel7u0 # mount -o loop /home/stiv/Downloads/Oracle_Enterprise_Linux_7.0.iso /var/www/html/media_oel7u0

2. Create the Kickstart File and make it available on the httpd system:

For that, I used as template an anaconda-ks.cfg  from another installed node and created the following kickstart.

#version=RHEL7 # System authorization information auth --enableshadow --passalgo=sha512 # Use http tree for the installation url --url=http://192.168.0.10/media_oel7u0 # Run the Setup Agent on first boot firstboot --enable ignoredisk --only-use=sda # Keyboard layouts keyboard --vckeymap=us --xlayouts='us' # System language lang en_US.UTF-8 # Network information network --bootproto=static --device=eno49 --gateway=192.168.0.1 --hostname=olnode--ip=192.168.0.20 --nameserver=192.168.0.1 --netmask=255.255.255.0 --noipv6 --activate network --bootproto=dhcp --device=eno50 --onboot=off --ipv6=auto network --bootproto=static --device=eno51 --ip=192.168.50.22 --netmask=255.255.255.0 --onboot=off --ipv6=auto network --bootproto=dhcp --device=eno52 --onboot=off --ipv6=auto # Root password rootpw --iscrypted $6$v797wiKZv7W0MK58$4drw.ys34Z4cMoR7ECwkCIbhYuY7Aoc2A3dWs3wCTTyRTt1OovohA518vsdqpEfFCKwqwfU4weCcFK6VAmdv/1 # System timezone timezone Africa/Douala --isUtc --nontp # System bootloader configuration bootloader --location=mbr --boot-drive=sda # Partition clearing information clearpart --all --initlabel --drives=sda # Disk partitioning information part /boot --fstype="xfs" --ondisk=sda --size=500 part pv.26 --fstype="lvmpv" --ondisk=sda --size=254005 part /boot/efi --fstype="efi" --ondisk=sda --size=200 --fsoptions="umask=0077,shortname=winnt" volgroup ol --pesize=4096 pv.26 logvol /var/lib/mysql --fstype="xfs" --size=150000 --name=var_lib_mysql --vgname=ol logvol swap --fstype="swap" --size=64000 --name=swap --vgname=ol logvol /home --fstype="xfs" --size=20000 --name=home --vgname=ol logvol / --fstype="xfs" --size=10000 --name=root --vgname=ol logvol /var --fstype="xfs" --size=10000 --name=var --vgname=ol %packages @base @compat-libraries @core @development @file-server @hardware-monitoring @infiniband @large-systems @network-file-system-client @performance %end

Make this file available on http (copied under httpd DocumentRoot) and test to make sure it's reachable (i.e http://192.168.0.10/olnode.ks )

3. Start the Kickstart Installation

I'm using an UEFI system, so In order to provide the right Kickstart Parameters during the boot process, I'm selecting an installation option in the boot menu and then press either the E key ( For BIOS Systems, that'll be he Tab key). A prompt is displayed which enables to edit the boot options already defined and to add new options.  In this case, I'm adding the following: 

inst.ks=http://192.168.0.10/olnode.ks ip=192.168.0.20::192.168.0.1:255.255.255.0:olnode:eno49:none

inst.ks specifies the location of the kickstart file, and ip sets statics network parameters, it must be in this form: ip=ip::gateway:netmask:hostname:interface:none. Below are some screenshots taken to illustrate this process.
Note that parameters such as hostname and Interface could be empty

4. Enjoy the Automation:

Once that's done, the last step is to Press Ctrl-x (or enter on BIOS System) and enjoy the automation...

References:
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E52668_01/E54695/html/ol7-install-boot-options.html