good feedback...thanks the entries in dmesg show QLogic Fibre Channel HBA Driver qla2xxx 0000:00:01.0: Found an ISP2312, irq 9, iobase 0xf8aa6000 qla2xxx 0000:00:01.0: Configuring PCI space... qla2xxx 0000:00:01.0: Configure NVRAM parameters... qla2xxx 0000:00:01.0: Verifying loaded RISC code... qla2xxx 0000:00:01.0: Firmware image unavailable. qla2xxx 0000:00:01.0: Failed to initialize adapter This is a brand new, out of the box HBA and we have had zero failure rates to date on these (via Redhat). The only "drivers" i can find via QLogic are rpm's...that makes them binary drivers (?) since I cannot compile them myself, right? --- Jeff Moyer <jmoyer@redhat.com> wrote:
==> Regarding [Wlug] kernel driver vs module; Mike Leo <mleo963@yahoo.com> adds:
mleo963> I am still having a hard time understanding kernel drivers vs mleo963> module's in practical use: I understand a kernel driver, is a mleo963> driver that Linus, et al, have coded into the kernel, so if i have mleo963> a peice of hardware, and I compile a kernel with that device's mleo963> driver turned on, then my device will work.
mleo963> If i build that kernel driver as a module, the driver remains mleo963> outside the kernel, but still availible for use. As a module I mleo963> can rmmod or insmod when i need to use the device.
mleo963> My foggy'ness comes from a few things.
mleo963> 1. if the driver is built into the kernel, will it show up in lsmod?
No.
mleo963> 2. if the driver does not show up in lsmod, how do i know if its mleo963> loaded?
dmesg
mleo963> 3. weather it's a built in driver or a module, how do i associate mleo963> the driver (or module) with a particular device?
It's done for you, via built-in PCI id mappings.
mleo963> 4. if the device does not have a driver in the kernel, I cannot mleo963> build a custom kernel to include it, nor can I build it as a mleo963> module from the kernel source. So:
This isn't a question... ;)
mleo963> 5. if I get the driver from the vendor, it will build a module mleo963> for me, based on my kernel-source or kernel-headers??? Then what? mleo963> again, see #3: how do i associate the module with my device?
Vendor modules come in 2 flavors: binary only, and not binary only. ;) In the former case, you'll likely have to run the kernel version against which they built the module. In the latter case, yes, you can build the module out of tree, and then insmod it. Again, PCI id's on the card are matched to those supported by the driver.
mleo963> This is a general linux quandry, but this time i have a debian mleo963> stable install and have inserted a QLogic HBA. lsmod does show mleo963> qla2xxx, but it doesn't seem to be functioning as it isn't logging mleo963> into the fiber switch.
What does the dmesg output show?
-Jeff _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug@mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug