PlateSpin PowerConvert 7.x or Greater
PlateSpin PortabilitySuite 8.x or Greater
Target Platform is Physical, Intended OS is Linux
 
Linux Drivers are in the following formats,
1. For kernel 2.4, .o files
2. For kernel 2.6, .ko files

This article provides instructions on how to inject Linux drivers into linux boot ISO file, source take control package and X2P driver manager in PowerConvert or PortabilitySuite.

 

1. Upload bootofxx2p.iso to any Linux machine, for example, to /root/platespin/bootofxx2p.iso.
2. Upload drivers (.o or .ko files) to be injected to /root/platespin/drivers.
3. Logon to the Linux machine using root account and switch to /root/platespin/.
4. Execute: mkdir -p /mnt/platespin.
5. Execute: mount -o loop bootofxx2p.iso /mnt/platespin.
6. Execute: cp /mnt/platespin/tools/rebuildiso.sh ./
7. Execute:

   ./rebuildiso.sh -i bootofxx2p.iso -d drivers -m i586 (If drivers are of 32-bit)
   ./rebuildiso.sh -i bootofxx2p.iso -d drivers -m x86_64 (If drivers are of 64-bit)

8. bootofxx2p.iso will be updated and is ready to put to test.

Note: "bootofxx2p.iso" may be "LinuxPhysicalTarget.iso".  These names are interchangeable.

Driver Packaging for Source TakeControl
 
1. Open the ISO file in which drivers were injected to (using MagicISO for example). Copy "initrd.gz" and "vmlinuz" out from "\i586".
2. Backup 1.package file under ".\Platespin Portability Suite Server\Packages\740C1DE0-76EC-4939-8075-8C71F6C6FCAF".
3. Rename the above package file to 1.zip and open using WinZip. Replace the two files (initrd.gz and vmlinuz) with the two from step 1.
4. Remove 740C1DE0-76EC-4939-8075-8C71F6C6FCAF folder from the package cache under ".\Platespin Portability Suite
Server\Controller\Packages\0\740c1de0-76ec-4939-8075-8c71f6c6fcaf".
5. The correct drivers for take control of source machine will be applied when conversion is run next time.
 

Driver Packaging for X2P Driver Database

Note: A Linux driver ties to a specific Linux kernel version. Therefore, in order to inject drivers into X2P Driver Database for a specific kernel version, all drivers must be valid for such kernel version. And the drivers injected will work with this specific kernel version only.

1. Find a Linux machine that has the same kernel version as the source machine. Source machine itself is one of the best choices.
2. Upload bootofxx2p.iso to the Linux machine, for example, /root/platespin/bootofxx2p.iso.
3. Upload to the Linux machine the driver (.o or .ko file) to be injected to X2P Driver Database , for example, /root/platespin/drivers.
4. Logon to the Linux machine and switch to /root/platespin.
5. Execute: mkdir -p /mnt/platespin.
6. Execute: mount -o loop bootofxx2p.iso /mnt/platespin.
7. Execute: cp /mnt/platespin/tools/PackageModules.tar.gz ./
8. Execute: tar xvfz PackageModules.tar.gz.
9. Execute: ./PackageModules.sh -d drivers -o <package name>. Recommended package name format: DriverName-DriverVersion-Dist-KernelVersion-Arch.pkg. For example, bnx2x-1.48.107-RHEL4-2.6.9.11.EL-i686.pkg.
10. The newly generated .pkg file is ready to be injected into the X2P Driver Database.

You may ecounter an error "The problem is that in architecture is missing from the package". The problem indicates that the version.xml file within the package does not include the architecture type of the drivers. I f you encounter the this error while adding the driver, then follow the steps below to resolve the issue.

 

Solution

 

 

Each built package can be extracted by a zip utility. When you extract the contents, you will see an XML file named "version.xml". with linux kernel version in it.  Edit the filename to include the architecture as well. In above example, change it to "2.6.5-7.244-bigsmp x86.xml" (by adding x86 for architecture). Here are the steps to be taken:

 

1. Rename the .pkg file to .zip and extract the contents.

 

2. Edit file named "version.xml" and locate the line which shows the linux kernel version. It should read like "<kernel version> <architecture>.xml" but in this case, will only have the kernel version part.  

 

3. Modify this xml file and append either " x86" (for 32bit) or " x86_64" (for 64bit) to the end of the line. In above example, after correcting the line, it will read as "2.6.5-7.244-bigsmp x86".

 

4. Compress all extracted contents to a zip file and rename it to ".pkg".

 

5. Upload this file in X2P driver manager.