SUMMARY: 2nd generation Ultra10 workstations

From: mshen@bcm.tmc.edu
Date: Thu Mar 11 1999 - 05:32:18 CST


**** Thanks to everyone who responded, especially
 Mikel Stous <stous@cstp.umkc.edu>
 "Brooke King (6532)" <jbking@sandia.gov>

**** To clarify my situation:
There are the original Ultra 5 and 10, and there are the
second version of Ultra 5 and 10. My current project uses
the second version of Ultra 10.

Ultra 10s will not boot from a slave disk or CDROM drive.
So to install Solaris, I put the disk in the first channel as master,
and CDROM drive in the second channel as master. boot cdrom.
After OS install, I put CDROM in the first channel as slave, so now
the first channel has the disk and CDROM. I put the second disk
in the second channel as master. boot -r; a few times, even.
I also tried to put both disks in the first channel as master and slave
and CDROM drive as master in second channel. boot -r, a few times.
Unplug and re-seat the data cables, power cables, jumpers, boot -r.
Then I tried putting each disk in each channel and without the CDROM
drive, boot -r a couple of times. Same result.

The one thing I haven't tried is to install the latest kernel patches;
because the Ultra10 is not on the network yet. The OS CDROM is
Solaris server 2.6 May 1998. Kernel patch level 5.
Both disks show up in /var/adm/messages, dmesg, and prtconf,
but not in iostat -En, nor in format. "iostat -En" causes segmentation
fault.

All hardware are brand new, just opened.
But could it be a bad disk?
So I tried Solaris server 7, one disk in each channel as master,
CDROM drive in first channel as slave.
The successful initial testing says the disks are not bad.

My eventual goal is to have a disk on each channel as master,
use SDS to mirror them, and be able to boot from either disk.
The CDROM is not important for this project, after OS install.

Because of what Brooke King said, I'll try from scratch with Solaris 2.6.

**** Others who responded:
Richard Felkins <richardf@gso.saic.com>
Ronald Loftin <reloftin@syr.edu>
Timothy Lorenc <lorenct@load.com>
"Peter L. Wargo" <plw@ncgr.org>

**** From Mikel Stous <stous@cstp.umkc.edu>
**** it appears Mikel has the first generation Ultra 10
As of a few weeks ago, Sun does not support HDs on the 2nd IDE channel.
They are working on a "patch"...

I've installed 2.6 both with and without the 2nd HD on the 2nd channel.
You don't get any stability and the bootloader sometimes panics on
the boot.

I was able to probe-ide at the openboot prompt and sometimes was able to
see the drive.

I've spent 40+ hours spread over 8 months diagnosing this and have not had
a good answer from Sun yet. I'm pushing my Sun Rep hard on why something
like this was released.

Because my project is now nine months behind, I am cutting my losses and
staying with both HDs on the 1st channel. This cuts disk bandwidth in
half. :( I am NOT happy.

> I also tried to install Solaris 7, and it has no trouble
I was able to do bandwidth tests with the 2nd HD, but like I said, it
isn't stable.

**** From "Brooke King (6532)" <jbking@sandia.gov>
I've installed U10 workstations with both 2.6 5/98 and Solaris 7.
Some of the 2.6 5/98 systems have two IDE drives and use them
both just fine. I can't explain why 7 would see them when 2.6
does not in your case.

Oh, yeah. I wouldn't mirror from the master to the slave. I
understand that if the IDE master fails, the slave is
inaccessible. I suppose you could open the box and change the
cabling at that point, but that may be more trouble than you want
to undertake.

**** Original question:

Has anyone tried the new Ultra10s?
I am trying to add a second IDE disk and run Solaris 2.6 (May 1998).
After Solaris 2.6 is installed, with the two disks on
one IDE channel (one disk master and one disk slave), or with the
two disks on two channels (both master, and the CDROM drive
on primary IDE channel slave), Solaris 2.6 seems unable to see
the second disk.

/var/adm/messages (ok, the dads are there, with correct size - 9.1 GB, cylinder, etc.)
iostat -En (does not show the second disk)
format (does not show the second disk)

I also tried to install Solaris 7, and it has no trouble
seeing, partitioning, and using the second disk. (I tried
to mirror / and it worked.)



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