1.6 SUSE Drivers for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 on Xen

This section provides instructions for installing, uninstalling, and upgrading the SUSE Drivers for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 on Xen.

1.6.1 Installing the RHEL 4 Drivers

  1. Open a terminal.

  2. Locate the RPM package you want to install ( opt/novell/vm-driver-pack).

    If you are installing from the binary RPM included with the driver pack, the RPM is located on the driver pack ISO. .

    (Optional) If you are installing from an RPM that you built, the RPM is located in /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/ arch , where arch is the architecture of the virtual machine. See Section 1.6.5, Building Your Own RPMs for more information.

  3. Set up the ISO image or CD as a virtual CD reader by following the instructions in the Configuration Options and Settings Guide in Section 1.5: Virtual CD Drives and ISO Images.

  4. Enter rpm -U xxx.rpm , where xxx is the RPM filename.

  5. Edit the /boot/grub/menu.lst file and make the following change:

    For each drive specified in the virtual machine configuration file (for example, hda and hdb), append hdx=noprobe to the kernel line for the updated kernel, where hdx is the drive specification found in the virtual machine configuration file.

  6. Shut down the virtual machine.

  7. On the virtualization host server, open a terminal and enter xm delete vm_name to delete the virtual machine’s reference in the xenstore so it is no longer managed.

    HINT: Enter xm list to see the name of the virtual machine ( vm_name).

  8. Open the virtual machine configuration file located on the virtualization host server ( /etc/xen/vm/vm_cfgfile where vm_cfgfile is usually the same as the name of the virtual machine).

  9. Remove all parameters from the vif= line except the mac=mac_address parameter. Make sure to leave the single quotes.

    For example, change the line

    vif=[ 'mac=00:16:3e:55:24:21,model=pcnet,type=ioemu', ]
    

    to

    vif=[ 'mac=00:16:3e:55:24:21', ]
    
  10. At the terminal, enter xm new vm_cfgfile to reference the virtual machine in the xenstore so it is managed again.

  11. Restart the virtual machine.

1.6.2 Uninstalling the RHEL 4 Drivers

  1. Open a terminal.

  2. Enter rpm -e xxx , where xxx is the name of the driver pack.

    HINT:Enter rpm -qa | grep vmdp to find out what you have installed.

  3. Edit the /boot/grub/menu.lst file and remove all hdx=noprobe entries from the kernel line.

  4. Reboot the virtual machine.

1.6.3 Upgrading the RHEL 4 Drivers

  1. Open a terminal.

  2. Locate the RPM package you want to install ( opt/novell/vm-driver-pack).

    If you are installing from the binary RPM included with the driver pack, the RPM is located on the driver pack ISO. Refer to the Configuration Options and Settings Guide in Section 1.5: Virtual CD Drives and ISO Images for instructions on mounting the ISO.

    (Optional) If you are installing from an RPM that you built, the RPM is located in /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/ xxx , where xxx is the architecture of the virtual machine. See Section 1.6.5, Building Your Own RPMs for more information.

  3. Ener rpm -U --force xxx.rpm , where xxx is the filename of the new RPM.

1.6.4 Using the Drivers with an Upgraded the Kernel

  1. Install the new kernel packages.

  2. Edit the /boot/grub/menu.lst file and remove all hdx=noprobe entries from the kernel line.

  3. Restart the virtual machine.

  4. Upgrade the driver pack (see Section 1.6.3, Upgrading the RHEL 4 Drivers).

  5. Edit the /boot/grub/menu.lst file and make the following change:

    For each drive specified in the virtual machine configuration file (for example, hda and hdb), append hdx=noprobe to the kernel line for the updated kernel, where hdx is the drive specification found in the virtual machine configuration file.

1.6.5 Building Your Own RPMs

If you do not have a driver pack that was built for your Linux kernel, you can build your own SUSE Drivers for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 on Xen RPM.

  1. Open a terminal.

  2. Mount the driver pack ISO. Instructions for mounting the ISO are available in the Configuration Options and Settings Guide in Section 1.5: Virtual CD Drives and ISO Images.

  3. Enter rpmbuild -–rebuild xxx.src.rpm , where xxx is the name for the source RPM. This creates a binary RPM in /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/ arch/ , where arch is the architecture of the virtual machine.