Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 Update 2 Release Notes

May 2003



OVERVIEW

      The following topics are covered in these release notes:

      * New and updated driver support
      
      * Driver performance enhancements
 
      * Installer program (anaconda) enhancements
      
      * Using the PERC3/DC/SC/QC adapter for shared storage in a cluster
      
      * General advisories
      


DRIVER UPDATES

    This section describes drivers that are updated with this
    release, and provides instructions for installing alternate drivers.


    Updated Drivers

      * LSI Logic MPT Fusion (mpt* drivers)

        This driver is updated from 2.02.01 to 2.05.00.

 
      * Compaq Tachyon Fibre Channel (cpqfc driver)

        The cpqfc driver is updated from 2.1.1 to 2.1.2.


      * Compaq SMART2 Controllers (cpqarray driver)

        The cpqarray driver is updated from 2.4.20 to 2.4.26.  The
        older driver  is preserved with the name cpqarray_2420.o.

 
      * Compaq SA53xx Controllers (cciss driver)

        The cciss driver is updated from 2.4.27 to 2.4.45. The 
	older driver is preserved with the name cciss_2427.o.

 
      * IBM ServeRAID (ips driver)

        The ips driver is updated to v6.00.26.

        The ips v5.10.21 driver (ips_51021.o) has been
	removed. Systems that were using this driver will be
	automatically migrated to the ips driver.

        The ips v4.80.26 driver has been preserved as ips_48026.o.

        Note that the firmware version on the adapter must
	match the driver version.  Change your adapter firmware
	before installing the QU2 errata, or changing to a different
	driver.

 
      * Qlogic Fibre Channel (qla2xxx driver)

        The qla2100, qla2200, and qla2300 drivers are updated to v6.04.01.

        The older version (v5.31.RH1) of these drivers has been
	preserved as qla2200_531RH1.o and qla2300_531RH1.o.

        The following drivers have been removed:

	- v6.03.00 drivers (called qla2100_60300.o, qla2200_60300.o, and
	  qla2300_60300.o)

	- v5.31.RH3 drivers (called qla2300_new.o and qla2200_new.o)
	    
        - v4.31.7b driver (called qla2x00)

        Systems that were using these drivers will be automatically migrated
	to the v6.04.01 drivers.

        Note that the QLA2100 adapter has been retired by Qlogic.  
	This adapter is no longer supported by Qlogic or Red Hat.
 

      * Adaptec SCSI Adapters (aic7xxx and aic79xx drivers)

        The default driver for the Adaptec aic7xxx family of HBAs,
	called aic7xxx.o, remains at version 5.2.5.

        The alternate driver for the Adaptec aic7xxx family of HBAs, called
	aic7xxx_mod.o, is updated to version 6.2.30.

        Some older models of Adaptec adapters operate better with
	the default driver.  Newer Adaptec models may operate better 
	with the newer driver.

        The driver for the aic79xx family of HBAs, called aic79xx.o,
	is updated to version 1.3.4.

 
      * Adaptec RAID (aacraid driver)

         The aacraid driver has been updated from 0.9.9ac2.1 to 0.9.9ac6-TEST.
 

      * Intel PRO/100 (e100 driver)

        The e100 driver is an alternative to the eepro100 driver. The 
	e100 may work better than the eepro100 on some hardware.

        The e100 driver is updated to 2.2.21-k1.

        An older version (2.1.24-k2) of e100 driver, called
	e100_2124k2.o is also available.


      * Intel PRO/1000 (e1000 driver)

        The e1000 driver is updated to 5.0.43-k1.

        Netdump support has also been added to this driver.

        An older version (4.4.12-k1) of the e1000 driver, called
	e1000_4412k1.o, is also available.


      * Broadcom Tigon3 (tg3 and bcm5700 drivers)

        The default driver for this family of NICs has been changed 
	from the bcm5700 driver to the tg3 driver. The tg3 driver pro
	vides netdump support.

        The bcm5700 driver (v2.0.28) is preserved (the driver name 
	remains bcm5700).

        The tg3 driver is updated to v1.2e4 (which corresponds to v1.4c).

        The older version (v1.2e3) of the tg3 driver, called
	tg3_12e3.o, has been removed. Systems that were using the
	v1.2e3 driver will be automatically migrated to the tg3 driver.


      * National Semiconductor NICs (natsemi driver)
      
        The natsemi driver is updated to 1.07+LK1.0.17.


    Installing Alternate Drivers

        The kernel contains several alternate drivers that are not used
        by default when the system is installed. 
  
	The kernel contains several alternate drivers that are not used  
	by default when the system is installed. Some of these are older 
	drivers that may work better on some older hardware, and newer 
	drivers that may work better on some newer hardware models.

        If it becomes necessary to change from the standard driver to an
        alternate driver, follow these steps: 

        1. Edit /etc/modules.conf and replace each occurrence of the standard
           driver name with the alternate driver name. For example, the line: 

              alias scsi_hostadapter4 aic7xxx 

           would become: 

              alias scsi_hostadapter4 aic7xxx_mod 

        2. Re-make the initial RAM disk, with commands similar to the 
	   following, ubstituting the version number (for example, 
	   2.4.9-e.12) of the current kernel for <version>:

              cd /boot/efi/efi/redhat/
              mv initrd-<version>.img initrd-<version>.img-saved
              mkinitrd initrd-<version>.img <version>


        3. Reboot the system.



DRIVER PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENTS

      Varyio improves the efficiency of raw I/O.  The following
      drivers support varyio:

	- qla2100, qla2200, qla2300 (new in QU2)
	- cciss (new in QU2)
	- aic7xxx (new in QU2)
	- aic79xx (new in QU2)
	- mptfusion (new in QU2)
	- aacraid (new in QU2)
	- megaraid_2002
	- megaraid
	- qlogicisp

      Highmem_io improves performance by reducing the need for
      bounce buffers. The following drivers support highmem_io:

	- qla2100, qla2200, qla2300
	- aic7xxx_old
	- aic7xxx 
	- aic79xx 
	- megaraid
	- megaraid_2002
	- sym53c8xx
	- qla1280
	- aacraid (new in QU2)
  


CHANGES TO THE INSTALLER PROGRAM
    
     The following enhancements to the installer program (anaconda) are
     implemented in this update:


     *  Support has been added for specifying module parameters for the
        installer on the kernel command line.  When you specify module
        options on the kernel command line, these options override any
	module parameters provided through other means (either through the
	module options UI when using the noprobe option or through the
	device directive in a kickstart config file).
	  
        The module options will be used when the module is inserted into
	the kernel during installation and written to /etc/modules.conf 
	on the installed system.
  
        For example: 

	boot:  linux eepro100_opts="full_duplex=1 txfifo=4"
	  
	-or-
  
        boot:  linux bcm5700_opts="full_duplex=1"
	  
	  
        Multiple _opts lines can be provided.  If the same module name is
        specified more than once, only the first instance will be used.
	  
        The exact syntax and method used for this functionality is likely to
        change in a future release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.  A similar
        feature will be provided to achieve the same end result.
	

      * Support has been added for setting speed, duplex, and autonegotiation
	settings via ethtool for ethernet devices which support its use at
	installation time.  This capability does not extend to the installed
	system.

	 
	For example:  

	boot: linux eth0_ethtool="speed=100 autoneg=off duplex=full"

        -or-

	boot: linux eth1_ethtool="speed=10 duplex=half"
	  

        Valid ethtool directives and their options are as follows:
	  
	- speed: Specifies interface speed.  Valid values are 10,
          100,and 1000.

        - autoneg: Specifies whether or not the interface should attempt
          autonegotiation.  Valid values are on and off.
	  
        - duplex: Forces the duplex setting of an interface to the specified
          value.  Valid values are half and full.
	  
        These options are only effective for drivers that support the
        ethtool ioctls (which includes e1000, e100, and tg3).


     * The installation program will now automatically detect summit class
       machines and install an appropriate kernel for them.

 
     * isolinux is now used for booting from the CD-ROM.  This allows all 
       major supported drivers to be loaded for use during installation 
       without requiring the use of a driver disk.
     

     * The images/pxeboot/initrd-everything.img initrd has been added to
       provide support for all major supported drivers to be used when
       booting a machine over the network without requiring the use of a
       driver disk.


     * Improved support for USB storage devices being used as installation or
       driver disk sources.
     
     Please note that boot disks created for use with previous versions of 
     Red Hat Enterprise Linux cannot be used to install this updated version.
    


USING THE PERC3/DC/SC/QC ADAPTER FOR SHARED STORAGE IN A CLUSTER

     This section pertains only to shared storage configurations in which
     the Cluster Manager is being used.

     Our testing has shown that it is extremely difficult to build 
     reliable multi-initiator SCSI configurations with the current 
     LVD technology and Ultra SCSI speeds. It is even more difficult to 
     find RAID host adapters that work well in multi-initiator 
     configurations. For this reason we strongly prefer Fibre Channel 
     for shared storage.  If SCSI is desired, it is best to use
     an external SCSI RAID box that has multiple single-initiator 
     SCSI host ports.
    
     The one exception is the PERC3/DC/SC/QC, which we support as a
     low-end solution, both in terms of performance and reliability.
 
     To use the PERC3/DC/SC/QC for shared storage in clusters, you must
     observe the following restrictions:

      * Run the latest firmware.  The minimum required firmware is 1.72.
	Newer revisions, available from Dell, are recommended.

      * In the PERC3/DC/SC/QC BIOS, select cluster mode, and select a
	unique SCSI initiator ID for each PERC3/DC/SC/QC on the shared
	SCSI bus.  Cluster mode disables the write cache.  Be aware
	that this limits the performance of the PERC3/DC/SC/QC, which
	can have a significant impact since the performance of the
	PERC3/DC/SC/QC is already rather low, compared to the
	theoretical maximum.

      * Use the PERC3/DC/SC/QC BIOS setup utility to view the settings 
        for each logical unit.  You will see that the write cache is 
	automatically set to WRTHRU, as a result of putting the adapter 
	in cluster mode in the previous step.  You must also set 
	NO_READAHEAD and DIRECTIO for each logical unit.

      * Run the megaraid v2.00.2 driver.  This is not the default
        driver.  You must change modules.conf to select the v2 driver, named
	megaraid_2002.

      * Run the latest kernel errata and the latest Cluster Manager version.

      * When there is a heavy I/O load on the shared storage, the
        cluster quorum I/O can be delayed.  This can become severe
	enough to cause a system to be removed from the cluster. There are
	two methods for avoiding this problem:

	- Increase the cluster timeout values.  See "Tuning the
          Failover Interval" at the following URL:

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-AS-2.1-Manual/cluster-manager/
	      
          Increasing the timeout value slows down failure detection
	  and, therefore, reduces availability. If you need fast failure
	  detection, do not use PERC3/DC/SC/QC.

        - Configure the shared storage so that the two quorum
	  partitions are on a dedicated logical storage unit, with no
	  other application data.  Place application data on different
	  logical storage units. This approach does waste
	  disk space, but it has been found to be an effective workaround
	  for the problem of quorum I/O latency.

	  In some cases, you may need to implement both of these methods to
          attain a stable cluster.



GENERAL ADVISORIES AVAILABLE WITH THIS RELEASE

      For advisories on specific bug fixes, security updates, and
      feature enhancements to specific packages included in this update,
      please visit the following URL:
    
               http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/
    
