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Installing HMC in Virtualbox or Vmware: From Aixwiki
Installing HMC in Virtualbox or Vmware: From Aixwiki
In the instructions below I will explain how to install the Hardware Management
Console Software into a Virtual Machine. This should also work for VMWare but the
instructions are based on VirtualBox.
The instructions is based on the latest HMC version available at the time of writing,
which is HMC v7.7 (with Service Pack 1). At the end of the page you will find the
modified files for HMC v7.7 (SP1).
http://www-933.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/
Download:
Do NOT download:
Mandatory efix for HMCV7R710 - MH01214 (Service Pack 1 superceeds this efix)
HMC_Recovery_V7R710_1.iso
HMC_Recovery_V7R710_2.iso
HMC_Update_V7R710_SP1.iso
KNOPPIX-ADRIANE_V6.2CD-2009-11-18-EN.iso
ftp://ftp.knoppix.nl/pub/os/Linux/distr/knoppix/
3. Download & Install MagicISO and enter license code (v5.5 Build 0281 at the time of
writing).
http://www.magiciso.com/download.htm
http://www.virtualbox.org/
Name: HMC
Operating System: Linux
Version: Linux 2.6
6. Extract the file initrd.gz from first HMC install-DVD using MagicISO (or WinRAR,
7-Zip):
7. Add Knoppix to VirtualBox and boot Linux 2.6 from this ISO.
8. Start sshd and transfer initrd.gz from the local computer to the virtual computer:
Choose Option 10: Shell
su -
/etc/init.d/ssh start
ifconfig -a
Copy the file initrd.gz using a SCP-client to the IP-address of virtual machine. Use
account login: root with password 'abc123'.
Be aware that you might not be able to connect when the network adapter of the
virtualbox is not set to Bridged Adapter or Host-only Adapter. Bridge Adapter is the
most useful especially if you want to be able to connect to real POWER-systems.
If you did not specify the target directory then your file will be transferred your
home-directory (in our case gunzip the file and mount it:
gunzip /root/initrd.gz
losetup /dev/loop0 /root/initrd
mkdir /mnt/initrd
mount /dev/loop0 /mnt/initrd
/mnt/initrd/opt/hmc/bin
Please edit the file 'Install' within this directory using vi or nano. Add the following line
(line-number 22):
VPDINFO="7042CR4"
Between
CMDLINE=`cat /proc/cmdline`
And
cd /
CMDLINE=`cat /proc/cmdline`
VPDINFO="7042CR4"
cd /
case "$VPDINFO" in
Save the file (:wq! in vi) and repack initrd (umount, gzip):
cd
umount /mnt/initrd
losetup -d /dev/loop0
gzip /root/initrd
And add the modified version you just copied over from the knoppix-virtualbox. Use
'Save As ..' to save the modified iso (HMC_Recovery_V7R710_1_modified.iso for
example)
10. Boot from the modified dvd and install HMC v7.7.
After the installation you will be prompted for a login. Enter the default hmc
username/password: hscroot/abc123
Now, you can get root access using 'su -'. The password is 'passw0rd'.
11. Change the start-up check file 'getHMCVPD' using nano or vi.
vi /opt/hsc/bin/getHMCVPD
echo "2AKT51A"
# echo "$cmodel$mtype*$sn"
echo "7042CR4*10-1234A"
# echo "$cmodel$mtype"
echo "7042CR4"
You can install the service pack (HMC_Update_V7R710_SP1.iso) without any checks.
What about XF86Config? Well, it seems not to be needed for VirtualBox. It is possible
that it is needed for VMWare but I did not test this.
For the people that were not able to modify the files using the instructions above or for
the ones that are just to lazy, download here (http://www.aixwiki.org/files/hmc_7_7.zip)
the modified files for HMC v7.7.
Without them it would have been more difficult to get HMC v7.7 working in VirtualBox.
For the people who get "A critical error has prevented normal HMC startup. Please
reboot the HMC and try again. If the problem persists, contact your support personnel.
1901: HMC Startup aborted due to a malfunction of a required module."
As far as I understand in the last release (R7.1.0) or can be last build of this release,
VPD check is not only using the script /opt/hsc/getHMCVPD, but also the class of
ccfw.jar (/opt/ccfw/ccfw.jar). Which directly calls dmidecode from the java code. GetInfo
(com/ibm/hwmca/fw/util/GetInfo in ccfw.jar) class formed file /opt/ccfw/data/pciinfo
/sys_info.out, which is used to validate the hardware.
"Java.lang.StringIndexOutOfBoundsException
at java.lang.String.substring (String.java: 1092)
at com.ibm.hwmca.fw.managed.HMC.getVpdInfo (HMC.java: 1358)
at com.ibm.hwmca.fw.managed.HMC.getBiosMachineType (HMC.java: 1088)
... "
indicating that improper handling of type String. This error arises from the fact that the
"dmidecode - string system-product-name"/"dmidecode - string bios-version" returns are
not what is expected. Accordingly, the need to give what is expected of us.
cd /usr/sbin
mv dmidecode dmidecode.orig
#!/bin/bash
DMIDECODE=/usr/sbin/dmidecode.orig
if [[ "$2" == "bios-version" ]]
then
echo "1234-123"
elif [[ "$2" == "system-product-name" ]]
then
echo "1234-123"
else
$DMIDECODE "$@"
fi
chmod +x dmidecode
I've tested this solution on VMWare Server and old SuperMicro server.
I think I found an easier way to install in Virtualbox, I used 3.2.8 r64453 for
windows.
Edit the XML file located, in windows xp, at: C:\Documents and Settings\<your
user>\.VirtualBox\Machines\<VM name>
In the <ExtraData> section add the following to fake out the HMC code. It will think
the VM is now a 7310-CR3 :-)
"not sure the second line is needed" you could probalby add more "pcbios" options but
less is always better.
But the best thing is that I did not have to muck around inside of the .iso files.
Bryan
Laksi
Bryan-
July 30, 2011: I successfully installed HMC into a 32-bit virtual machine on a VMware
ESXi 3.5 build 123628 server. I used the following images from ibm.com:
When initially creating the VM profile, I selected 'Other 32-bit linux' and among other
things, 'Flexible' ethernet adapter type. Unfortunately, the 'Flexible' adapter type
doesn't work with this procedure and there are no other options available to you in the
GUI. To get around this, I had to change the ethernet adapter type to 'e1000' by editing
the .vmx file directly.
1. After creating the initial VM profile using the vSphere client, remove the VM from
the inventory (don't delete from the disk). The reason for this step is you will want to
force VMware to re-read the profile later after editing the profile manually.
3. cd into the directory where the HMC VM's files are located and edit the .vmx file with
vi. In my case,
cd /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/hmc-vm
vi hmc-vm.vmx
3. Add the following entry to the .vmx file and save it, adjusting for the actual ethernet#
you have created. If you only have one ethernet, then ethernet0 is correct for you.
ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"
Back on the vSphere GUI, click on the Vmware host name in the upper left of the GUI.
Click the server's Configuration tab and then its Storage hardware item.
In the Storage pane, right-click on the datastore where you have stored the VM profile and select 'Browse Datastore'.
In the datastore browser, navigate to the VM's profile directory and locate the .vmx file.
Right-click the .vmx file and select 'Add to Inventory'
One last note, I got the error that Bryan mentions at the end of his procedure regarding
dmidecode. Following Bryan's dmidecode bypass procedure cleared that up.
-Henri
Also, after reboot you get only restriced shell So, comment the "set -r" command to get
rid of restricted shell
cd /opt/hsc/data/ssh/
chmod 755 hmcsshrc
vi hmcsshrc
-Mr.Toth