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 wrote:

==> Regarding [Wlug] kernel driver vs module; Mike Leo 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

well, now can someone explain why putting a bin file in /lib/firmware i now get the following after a insmod qla2xxx: 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: Waiting for LIP to complete... qla2xxx 0000:00:01.0: LOOP UP detected (2 Gbps). qla2xxx 0000:00:01.0: Topology - (F_Port), Host Loop address 0xffff scsi6 : qla2xxx qla2xxx 0000:00:01.0: QLogic Fibre Channel HBA Driver: 8.01.04-k QLogic QLA2340 - 133MHz PCI-X to 2Gb FC, Single Channel ISP2312: PCI (33 MHz) @ 0000:00:01.0 hdma-, host#=6, fw=3.03.20 IPX My redhat servers don't even have a /lib/firmware directory...is this a debian thing? Seems by simply putting a qla2300_fw.bin file in /lib/firmware fixed my problem. I have yet to get actual SAN disks, but at least the card came up this time. Also, what is a KCONFIG entry? --- John Stoffel wrote:

Mike> good feedback...thanks Mike> the entries in dmesg show

Mike> QLogic Fibre Channel HBA Driver Mike> qla2xxx 0000:00:01.0: Found an ISP2312, irq 9, iobase 0xf8aa6000 Mike> qla2xxx 0000:00:01.0: Configuring PCI space... Mike> qla2xxx 0000:00:01.0: Configure NVRAM parameters... Mike> qla2xxx 0000:00:01.0: Verifying loaded RISC code... Mike> qla2xxx 0000:00:01.0: Firmware image unavailable. Mike> qla2xxx 0000:00:01.0: Failed to initialize adapter

This is good, but what it's really telling me is that you don't have the driver properly installed, with the firmware that needs to be downloaded to the card setup properly.

Do you have any docs on the card driver install? Check that /lib/firmware/.. has the right stuff in there. Here's some docs from the KCONFIG entry, since the qla2xxx driver is part of the core linux kernel now (2.6.18-rc1-mm1):

By default, firmware for the ISP parts will be loaded via the Firmware Loader interface.

ISP Firmware Filename ---------- ----------------- 21xx ql2100_fw.bin 22xx ql2200_fw.bin 2300, 2312, 6312 ql2300_fw.bin 2322, 6322 ql2322_fw.bin 24xx ql2400_fw.bin

Upon request, the driver caches the firmware image until the driver is unloaded.

Firmware images can be retrieved from:

ftp://ftp.qlogic.com/outgoing/linux/firmware/

Mike> This is a brand new, out of the box HBA and we have had zero Mike> failure rates to date on these (via Redhat).

Mike> The only "drivers" i can find via QLogic are rpm's...that makes Mike> them binary drivers (?) since I cannot compile them myself, Mike> right?

Whether they're RPMs or not doesn't mean much, it's whether or not you can get source code without any binary blobs. In this case, since the firmware is binary only, it's not a completely open adapter, but at least you can grab what you need easily enough.

John _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug@mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

Mike> well, now can someone explain why putting a bin file in Mike> /lib/firmware i now get the following after a insmod qla2xxx: Umm... because the card can now initialize itself with the firmware image and do the initial logins to the SAN? I dunno, I've never used them under Linux. Yet. :] Mike> QLogic Fibre Channel HBA Driver Mike> qla2xxx 0000:00:01.0: Found an ISP2312, irq 9, iobase 0xf8aa6000 Mike> qla2xxx 0000:00:01.0: Configuring PCI space... Mike> qla2xxx 0000:00:01.0: Configure NVRAM parameters... Mike> qla2xxx 0000:00:01.0: Verifying loaded RISC code... Mike> qla2xxx 0000:00:01.0: Waiting for LIP to complete... Mike> qla2xxx 0000:00:01.0: LOOP UP detected (2 Gbps). Mike> qla2xxx 0000:00:01.0: Topology - (F_Port), Host Loop address 0xffff Mike> scsi6 : qla2xxx Mike> qla2xxx 0000:00:01.0: Mike> QLogic Fibre Channel HBA Driver: 8.01.04-k Mike> QLogic QLA2340 - 133MHz PCI-X to 2Gb FC, Single Channel Mike> ISP2312: PCI (33 MHz) @ 0000:00:01.0 hdma-, host#=6, fw=3.03.20 IPX So that's good. Mike> My redhat servers don't even have a /lib/firmware directory...is Mike> this a debian thing? It's a Linux 2.6 thing Mike> Seems by simply putting a qla2300_fw.bin file in /lib/firmware Mike> fixed my problem. Good. Mike> I have yet to get actual SAN disks, but at least the card came Mike> up this time. Yeah! I assume that there are some tools under Linux to actually probe the fabric and see what's out there. It sounds like you're most of the way there now, unless of course you run into SAN zoning issues. Mike> Also, what is a KCONFIG entry? It's part of the Linux kernel source code tree. When you extract the kernel source and do: make xconfig it prompts you with entries from the KCONFIG files for each driver/kernel feature that you need to configure. I just cut'n'pasted the info from my local copy of the kernel source before. Good luck, John