Diskless InstallationΒΆ
Prepare dependency packages in the pkglist
In order for the Mellanox installation script to execute successfully, certain dependency packages are required to be installed on the compute node. xCAT provides sample package list files to help resolve these dependencies. The samples are located at
/opt/xcat/share/xcat/ib/netboot/<os>/
.To use the
/opt/xcat/share/xcat/ib/netboot/rh/ib.rhels7.ppc64le.pkglist
, edit your existingpkglist
file for the target osimage and add the following at the bottom:#INCLUDE:/opt/xcat/share/xcat/ib/netboot/rh/ib.rhels7.ppc64le.pkglist#
Configure the
mlnxofed_ib_install
script to install the MNLX_OFED driversEdit the
postinstall
script on the osimage to invoke themlnxofed_ib_install
install script.For example, take
rhels7.2-ppc64le-netboot-compute
:Find the path to the
postinstall
script:# lsdef -t osimage -o rhels7.2-ppc64le-netboot-compute -i postinstall Object name: rhels7.2-ppc64le-netboot-compute postinstall=/opt/xcat/share/xcat/netboot/rh/compute.rhels7.ppc64le.postinstall
Edit the
/opt/xcat/share/xcat/netboot/rh/compute.rhels7.ppc64le.postinstall
and add the following:/install/postscripts/mlnxofed_ib_install \ -p /install/<path-to>/<MLNX_OFED_LINUX.iso> -i $1 -n genimage
Note
The
$1
is a argument that is passed to the the postinstall script at runtime.
Tip
Kernel Mismatch
The Mellanox OFED ISO is built against a series of specific kernel version. If the version of the linux kernel being used does not match any of the pre-built kernels, pass
--add-kernel-support --without-32bit --without-fw-update --force
to the Mellanox installation script to build the kernel modules based on the kernel you are using. Example:/install/postscripts/mlnxofed_ib_install \ -p /install/<path-to>/<MLNX_OFED_LINUX.iso> -m --add-kernel-support --without-32bit --without-fw-update --force -end- \ -i $1 -n genimage
Generate the diskless image
Use the
genimage
command to generate the diskless image from the osimage definitiongenimage <osimage>
Use the
packimage
command to pack the diskless image for deploymentpackimage <osimage>
Provision the node
rinstall <node> osimage=rhels7.2-ppc64le-netboot-compute
Verification
Check the status of
openibd
servicesysVinit:
service openibd status
systemd:
systemctl status openibd.service
Verify that the Mellanox IB drivers are located at:
/lib/modules/<kernel_version>/extra/
Use the
ibv_devinfo
command to obtain information about the InfiniBand adapter.