Comments on: Debian Lenny PXE Installation on Dell PowerEdge 1950/2950 servers: bnx2 annoyances

By: Sashi

Sashi — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 22:16:48 +0000

If you rm -rf usb/storage directory then squeeze installer kernel panics. Removing the contents of directory works.

By: Shawanda Schmertz

Shawanda Schmertz — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 19:37:43 +0000

Can you order just the connecting tunnels to enlarge your system?

By: Michelangelo

Michelangelo — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 11:09:56 +0000

I’d like to suggest to you to improve for DELL Administrators the tutorial adding the uploading of the drivers by DELL DRAC Card

Regards

By: simon

simon — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:59:26 +0000

Thanks works with http://downloads.julian360.net/Firmware/bnx2%20firmware%20pack%20by%20julian360.net.zip fine!!!!!!!! hope an upgrade work?!

Simon

By: La tarjeta NIC Broadcom NetXtreme II en Debian Lenny | PataTux

La tarjeta NIC Broadcom NetXtreme II en Debian Lenny | PataTux — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 06:11:12 +0000

[...] información: MDLog:/sysadmin, Ali Aboosaidi Share and Enjoy: Posted in Cómo hacer? Tags: Broadcom NetXtreme, debian « [...]

By: Michelangelo

Michelangelo — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 09:37:38 +0000

Thanks for the help!
Is there a way to create a bash script that helps all to create the initrd.gz correctly? thanks again.

Michelangelo

By: miticofioz

miticofioz — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 11:33:30 +0000

Hi All,

i found the simplest way to solve the problem. I succesfully installed Debian Lenny 5.0.6 (version without bnx2 firmware in the intrd by default) on a PowerEdge 1950 via DRAC console redirection. Here below is the procedure:

1. Download bnx2 firmware debian package from here: http://packages.debian.org/lenny/firmware-bnx2
2. Make an iso file (I used magic iso to do this) with the just downloaded .deb package inside
3. Connect Debian Lenny netinst ISO to the virtual CD-ROM (in DRAC console)
4. Start and Follow the normal installation procedure until it shows the error message (bnx2 firmware not found)
3. In DRAC console disconnect Debian Lenny netinst ISO from the virtual CD-ROM
4. In DRAC console connect as a Virtual Floppy/USB the iso created before (the one containing the .deb package)
5. In the error window (in Debian installation) select “yes” when it asks: “Loading missing firmware from removable media”.
6. The system will load the correct firmware and installation will continue normally
7. After the firmware is loaded disconnect the iso with the bnx2 firmware and re-connect as a Virtual CDROM the Debian Lenny netinst iso (this is very important, otherwise the installation won’t be able to continue).

It worked for me and it saved me a lot of time!

Cheers.

Miticofioz

By: Alex Owen

Alex Owen — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:55:26 +0000

@Ger
I have the same issue… downloaded http://www.broadcom.com/docs/driver_download/NXII/linux-5.2.55.zip but having trouble compiling it!!! GRRRRR!
Any tips appreciated.

Remember that the debian initrd is in fact an initramfs… so no need to unpack it you can just concatinate another cpio.gz archive to it to get more stuff in the initial ramdisk… see:

http://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller/NetbootFirmware

By: Debian Lenny erfolgreich auf Dell PowerEdge 1950/2950/2970 etc. installieren Tutorial/Anleitung und Informationen | Julian360.net

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 06:02:37 +0000

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By: Ger

Ger — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:18:24 +0000

First of all, very useful info.. thanks!

It helped me through this mess of our autoinstall procedure being broken. Perhaps useful to mention, we use Dell R410 servers and it is also needed with those broadcom versions that a more current module is included in the ramdisk besides the firmware.
In that case, just download the official driver and compile it for the version kernel you’re pxe booting. cp the module files inside the extracted dir and archive it again like mentioned above