SRM Installations

SRM Devices

You should be familiar with how the SRM console lists the devices present in your system. The SRM console references devices based on their type. Here is a list of common devices, and how they are referenced in the SRM console:

If you have an IDE CD-ROM, you will need to know where in the IDE bus it is installed. It will be one of the following devices, based on its position on the IDE busses of your machine:

You should have the following information available before you begin:

• The SRM device of the floppy drive. In most cases, the SRM device will be dva0.

• The SRM device address of your hard drive. For example, in this document, we've used the SRM device dkb0 to refer to the hard drive.

• The SRM device address of your CD-ROM drive. In this document, we've used device dka500 to refer to the CD-ROM drive.

To see the list of devices that the SRM console can see, type in the following command:

>>> show dev 

A list of the devices that the SRM console is capable of seeing will appear. You must chose one of these devices from which to boot Red Hat Linux, during the installation process and every time you wish to boot your machine.

In some cases, however, you may have a SCSI adapter, IDE drives, or networking hardware that is compatible with Red Hat Linux, but is neither OEM Digital or Compaq hardware or otherwise detectable by the SRM console. This may not impede your running Red Hat Linux on your Alpha machine, but you are always required to boot from a device that the SRM console recognizes.

SRM Variables

The SRM console has several variables which store their values in NVRAM, therefore keeping them between reboots. To see the value of SRM console variables, type in the command:

>>> show VAR 

Replace VAR with the name of the SRM console variable.

To make listing variables easier, you can append an asterisk (*) at any point at the end of a variable name to show all variables that match the text typed so far. For example, the following command will show a list of all SRM console variables that begin with the letter "b":

>>> show b* 

A special case of the show command is the show dev command (as previously mentioned), which lists all the devices that the SRM console can locate.

You can explicitly list all the devices of a particular type that SRM can see on your machine using the command:

>>> show dev dk 

The previous command will show all SRM devices that begin with "dk" (i.e., all SCSI disks).

To set an SRM console variable, use the command:

>>> set VAR VALUE 

In the above command, VAR is the name of the SRM console variable, and VALUE is the value it should be set to. Integer values do not have to be in quotes; however, it is recommended that you enclose all string values in quotes. And, while single-word string values don't need to be in quotes, it's easier to ALWAYS put string variable values in quotes.

To clear a SRM console variable, use the following command:

>>> set VAR "" 

In the above command, VAR is the name of the SRM console variable, and the empty quotes ("") denote a blank value. Some integer values cannot be cleared, but can be set to 0. Also note that some SRM console variables are integer in value, but boolean in nature.

Several SRM console variables are worth mentioning:

boot_file

The boot_file variable is equivalent to the -file option of the SRM boot command.

boot_osflags

The boot_osflags SRM console variable is equivalent to the value passed to the boot command by the -flags option. It can be set to the value that you would pass to the -flags parameter of an SRM boot command. At the very least, it is convenient to set the root=/dev/XXX value.

bootdef_dev

The bootdef_dev SRM console variable sets the default boot device used when the boot command is issued.

auto_action

The auto_action SRM console variable can be set to HALT or BOOT, depending upon what default power-on function you want for your Alpha, when booted into the SRM console.

These variables can be set to automatically boot your Alpha. See the section called SRM Console Variables in Chapter 8.

SRM Disk Images

Some things have changed for the better since the 5.x releases of Red Hat Linux. Now there is a single, generic kernel for all Alpha machines. This simplifies Alpha installation immensely. The recommended method for booting into the Red Hat Linux installation process is to use a floppy disk to load the kernel and to load the installation program directly from the CD-ROM.

All Alpha installations will need the kernel disk, created from the image file images/generic.img on CD 1. If you're booting the installation program from a floppy, you'll also need the RAM disk image from images/ramdisk.img, also on CD 1. Instructions for creating disk images are located in Appendix A.

Booting the Installation Program from a Floppy

Now that you've created the kernel disk, you will need to boot into the Red Hat Linux installation program. Put the kernel disk into your floppy drive and then use the following command:

>>> boot dva0 -fl 0

Booting the Installation Program from a CD-ROM

Many modern Alphas which use SRM can boot directly from the Red Hat Linux CD that is shipped in the boxed set, as the CD does have a valid aboot block. The command to boot from the CD looks like the following:

>>> boot dka500 -fi /kernels/generic.gz -fl root=/dev/scd0

Please note that in the above command, we've used dka500 (SRM) and /dev/scd0 (Linux) to refer to the CD-ROM device. Your system may be set up differently, so the command may need to be changed.

SRM Installation Process

Follow the instructions contained in Chapter 5 to install Red Hat Linux.