Known problems and limitations

This section provides information and alternative solutions for known problems and limitations of the Linux Scripting Toolkit.

Integration script altiris_sgtklinux.cmd fails with error code 16

The altiris_sgtklinux.cmd command fails with the following error:

[Altiris_PerformUpgradeSteps.cmd] 
Running 
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Altiris\eXpress\Deployment Server\pxe\pxeconfig.exe" 
-delete "IBM Linux Toolkit 1.00"
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Altiris\eXpress\Deployment Server\pxe\pxeconfig.exe" 
-delete "IBM Linux Toolkit 1.00" returned a non-zero error code
     ReturnCode = 16
    The Altiris_PerformUpgradeSteps.cmd script was aborted.

To correct this problem, restart the Windows operating system on which the Altiris Deployment Server and the PXE server are running.

Integration script altiris_sgtklinux.cmd fails with error code 10

The altiris_sgtklinux.cmd command fails with the following error:

[Altiris_CreatePXEImage.cmd] 
Running 
"E:\Program Files\Altiris\eXpress\Deployment Server\pxe\pxeconfig" 
-create -linux "IBM Linux Toolkit 1.00" -x64 -defaultLinux -oem "ibm" 
-save -notmanaged
     "C:\Program Files\Altiris\eXpress\Deployment Server\pxe\pxeconfig" 
-create -linux "IBM Linux Toolkit 1.00" -x64 -defaultLinux -oem "ibm" 
-save -notmanaged returned a non-zero error code
     ReturnCode = 10
    The Altiris_CreatePXEImage.cmd script was aborted.

This problem can occur when the Altiris Linux x64 Automation Environment is not properly installed by the altiris_sgtklinux.cmd script.

To correct this problem, manually install the Altiris Linux x64 Automation Environment (BDCgpl_6.9.xxxx.frm) then try running the script again.

To manually install the Altiris Linux x64 Automation Environment:

Start the PXE Configuration Utility from the Altiris Console.
Click Boot > New.
Select the Linux radio button, and click Add pre-boot.
Select the row Linux X64 from the table.
Enter the path to the BDCgpl_6.9.xxxx.frm file.
Click Next, and follow the on-screen instructions.

Operating system installation halts after reboot when using LSI SAS RAID controller

Some combinations of LSI SAS RAID controllers and operating systems might experience a system halt after rebooting during an operating system installation. The affected operating systems are:

SLES 10
SLES 11
RHEL 5
VMware 4

in combination with one of these RAID controllers:

LSI-SAS-1078-IR
LSI-SAS-(1064,1068)
ServeRAID-BR10i
ServeRAID-BR10ie

This problem occurs when the server has a drive that is not part of a RAID array and is not configured as a hot-spare. The problem is caused by the ordering of Linux mptsas devices.

The following example depicts the problem. A system has four drives with two configured in a RAID 1 array, one configured as a hot-spare, and one outside the array. The BIOS sees the drive outside the array, /dev/sda, as HDD1. The RAID array, /dev/sdb, is treated as HDD0. The operating system installation puts the boot files on /dev/sda, the drive outside the array, but after the reboot, the installation looks to HDD0 for the boot files.

To work around this problem, use one of these options:

Do not configure RAID.
Change the RAID configuration so that all drives are included in a RAID array.
Remove the drive outside the RAID array from the controller.
Modify the boot order of the system to point to the drive outside the array instead of the array.

UpdateXpress System Pack Installer returns errors when supported hardware is not present

Deployment tasks that include installation of UpdateXpress System Packs (UXSPs) will return errors if the hardware supported by the UXSPs is not present in the target system. These errors can be safely ignored.

Missing files in USB key network deployment

When using a USB key as a boot method for network Linux Scripting Toolkit deployments with a key that was used previously for local deployments, you might receive errors due to missing files.

To perform network installations with a key that has been used for local installations, manually remove the sgdeploy directory from the key before creating the boot media with the Linux Scripting Toolkit.

Unattended Linux installation requests network device

When performing unattended Linux operating system installations, the process might pause to ask which network device to use if there are multiple devices available. To avoid this problem, you can add a kernel parameter to specify the desired network device during the workflow creation process.

In the OS install section of the workflow, a field is provided for optional kernel parameters.

The kernel parameter varies by operating system:

For Red Hat and VMware: ksdevice=eth, where eth is the network device to use. For example eth0, eth1, and so on.
For SUSE Linux: netdevice=eth where eth is the network device to use. For example eth0, eth1, and so on.

Unattended file not found during installation of SLES on uEFI systems

When using Linux Scripting Toolkit to install SLES on a uEFI based system, the installation task might be unable to find the answer file, causing the installation to attempt to continue in manual mode.

To resolve this issue, perform these steps:

Edit the workflow for your installation.
In the OS install section of the workflow, add brokenmodules=usb_storage to the optional kernel parameters.
Save the workflow.
Create bootable media from the workflow, and perform the installation.
After the installation is complete, edit the file /etc/modules.d/blacklist. It is recommended that you make a copy of this file before editing it.
Remove the line blacklist usb_storage.

This limitation affects the following systems:

System x3400 M2, types 7836 and 7837
System x3500 M2, type 7839
System x3550 M2, types 7946 and 4198
System x3650 M2, types 7947 and 4199
System xiDataPlex dx360 M2 types 7321, 7323 and 6380
BladeCenter HS22, types 7870 and 1936

Altiris clone of image fails on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11

Altiris RapiDeploy does not support the cloning of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 for capturing or deploying images, which causes this job to fail. To avoid this problem, use the -raw parameter for the Capture Linux Image and Deploy Linux Image jobs.

You must add -raw to the Additional Parameters line of both the Capture Linux Image and Deploy Linux Image jobs. When using this parameter, the operation will take significantly longer. You must also ensure that enough free space is available on the target location to save the images.

VMware 4 installations using Altiris fail

The computername variable used in VMware installations must contain only letters, digits, and hyphens. If any other characters are detected, the installation will halt.

By default, the Altiris Console supplies the compname variable used by the console as the computername variable for VMware installations. Therefore to successfully use Altiris to install VMware, you must ensure that the compname variable used by the Altiris console is allowable as the VMware computername variable.

ServeRAID BR10i adapter not supported on iDataPlex dx360 M2 with 12 Bay Storage Chassis (Machine type 7321)

The ServeRAID BR10i adapter is not supported on the iDataPlex dx360 M2 with 12 Bay Storage Chassis, machine type 7321.

RAID configuration fails for LSI SATA RAID

When performing RAID configuration to configure an LSI 1064/1064e SATA controller, you might receive error code 7 or 11. This error is caused when the cfggen utility is unable to remove or create a configuration on SATA drives larger than 250 GB.

To avoid this problem, remove any logical volumes, including RAID arrays, on the adapters by using the Ctrl + C menu on system POST prior to using Linux Scripting Toolkit.

Incorrect association of OS unattended files for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server x64

During the OS Install step in the workflow creation process, the operating system repositories for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10x64 and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11x64 are associated with the 32–bit versions of the unattended files by default. This can either cause the installation to fail or cause the operating system to installed without the correct packages.

To avoid this potential problem, you must manually associate the correct operating system unattended files with the operating system repositories when creating a workflow to install SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 x64 or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 x64. The correct file associations are shown below.

Operating System	Unattended File Name
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 x64	sles10x64.xml
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 x64 with Xen	sles10x64_xen.xml
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 x64	sles11x64.xml
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 x64 with Xen	sles11x64_xen.xml

Default Fibre Configurations not supported on Emulex Fibre HBAs

The Target WWNN, Target WWPN and LUN number on the Fibre HBA Toolkit variables need to be set to configure the Primary, Alternate 1, Alternate 2 and Alternate 3 boot device settings. The default settings will not work on Emulex Fibre HBA adapters.

All values are case sensitive. You must ensure that the configured values are identical to the adapter values with regard to case.

ASU configuration fails for Load Defaults

When performing ASU configuration to load the system defaults, you might receive an error code of 45. This error is caused when the ASU utility is unable to load defaults for the ISCSI.InitiatorName setting. This limitation affects the following systems:

System x3200 M3, types 7327 and 7328
System x3250 M3, types 4251, 4252, and 4261
System x3400 M2, types 7836 and 7837
System x3500 M2, type 7839
System x3550 M2, types 7946 and 4198
System x3650 M2, types 7947 and 4199
System x iDataPlex dx360 M2 types 7321, 7323 and 6380
BladeCenter HS22, types 7870 and 1936

To avoid this problem, create a new asu.ini file with the following contents:

	loaddefault uEFI
	loaddefault SYSTEM_PROD_DATA  
	loaddefault BootOrder
   loaddefault IMM

VMware ESX 4 installation requires a minimum of 4 GB of memory

When performing an installation of VMware ESX 4, ensure that the target system has a minimum of 4 GB of memory.

PXE will not bind to port 4011 on a Windows 2008 server

When Altiris Deployment Server is installed on a Windows 2008 server, you might encounter this problem with PXE-E55 on the target system. Instructions for avoiding the problem are included in this document:Altiris Deployment Solution from Symantec 6.9 SP2 Release Notes

Altiris clone of image only supports ext2/ext3 file system

Altiris RapiDeploy only supports the cloning of the ext2/ext3 file system, which means that the job Capture Linux Image or Capture RAID Configuration and Linux Image may fail for a Linux operating system with a non-ext2/ext3 file system.

Altiris deployment of clone image fails on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10.x and 11.x

When using the Toolkit for Altiris to run either Deploy Linux Image or Deploy RAID Configuration and Linux Image to deploySUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10.x or11.x, you may see an error message similar to the following:

Waiting for device  /dev/disk/by-id/xxxxxxxx to appear:
    ..................................... not found
    --exiting to  /bin/sh

To avoid the problem, before running Capture Linux Image or Capture RAID Configuration and Linux Image to capture the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10.x or 11.x, you need to boot into the system that you want to capture and perform the following steps:

Call up YaST2 > System > Partitioner.
Type yast bootloader (or yast2 bootloader for the graphical version).
For every boot menu entry, change the root device to match what was put into /etc/fstab by YaST Partitioner.
Reboot the system to see if it boots properly. If so, the system should be ready for cloning.

If you would rather make the changes manually instead of by using YaST, follow these steps:

From the root directory, open the files /etc/fstab and /etc/zipl.conf in a text editor.
Replace all entries, such as root=/dev/disk/by-id/[partition] with root=/dev/disk/by-path/[partition]. If you are unsure about the existing partitions, use the ls -l command to view the directory entries in /dev/disk/by-path.
After making the changes to /etc/fstab and /etc/zipl.conf, run the commands mkinitrd and zipl. If you do not, the system will not boot.

For more details, refer to the Novell Knowledgebase document 3580082 athttp://www.novell.com/support/kb/doc.php?id=3580082.

VMware ESX requires that NUMA system memory be balanced

VMware installations may fail to load the VMkernel when Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) is enabled and each processor does not have memory in its adjoining memory banks.

VMware ESX Server 4.1 installation hangs at "Starting vmkernel initialization"

When installing VMware ESX Server 4.1 on a system with a MAX5 memory expansion module, the installation might hang on this screen. This issue can occur on the following systems:

BladeCenter HX5, type 7872
System x3690 X5, types 7148, 7149
System x3850 X5, type 7145

To avoid this problem, add the kernel parameter allowInterleaveNUMAnodes=TRUE during the Workflow Creation and OS installation task phases.

This deployment requires a new kickstart file. Create the new file by following these steps:

Create a new OS installation task based on the esx4.ks kickstart file.

Modify the new task to add the necessary kernel parameter:

Modify the line:

bootloader --location=mbr

to be:

bootloader --location=mbr --append="allowInterleavedNUMAnodes=TRUE"

In the OS installation section of the workflow, a field is provided for optional kernel parameters. Add the following value to this field:
```
allowInterleavedNUMAnodes=TRUE
```

VMware ESX Server 4.1 installation hangs at "Starting vmkernel initialization"

When installing VMware ESX Server 4.1 on a system with a MAX5 memory expansion module, the installation might hang on this screen. This issue can occur on the following systems:

BladeCenter HX5, type 7872
System x3690 X5, types 7148, 7149
System x3850 X5, type 7145

To avoid this problem, add the kernel parameter allowInterleaveNUMAnodes=TRUE to the kickstart file and the Altiris job.

To update the kickstart file, follow these steps:

Navigate to ..sgdeploy\sgtklinux\altiris\answerfiles\ and make a copy of the existing esx4.ks kickstart file.

Edit esx4.ks to modify the line:

bootloader --location=mbr

to be:

bootloader --location=mbr --append="allowInterleavedNUMAnodes=TRUE"

To modify the Altiris job, follow these steps:

In the Customize Job Variables task of the Altiris job, click Modify to edit the task.
Edit the line:
```
#TK_DISTRO_KPARAM=
```
by uncommenting it and adding the kernel parameter allowInterleavedNUMAnodes=TRUE so that the line is now:
```
TK_DISTRO=KPARAM="allowInterleavedNUMAnodes=TRUE"
```
Save your changes.

uEFI operating system installations do not boot from hard drive

During native uEFI operating system installations, the target system might fail to boot from the hard drive after Linux Scripting Toolkit processes are complete. This can occur if the target system does not automatically boot the .efi file (bootx64.efi for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 or elilo.efi for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11) from the drive.

The solution to this problem is dependent upon the operating system. Consult the operating system information for instructions about adding a new boot option entry for the .efi file.

For example, to correct this problem on most IBM systems, you can create a new boot entry for the .efi file and continue the installation using that option. Follow these steps to create a new boot entry for the .efi file:

Power on the system, and, press F1 to enter setup.
Select Boot Manager.
Select Add Boot Option.
Select the boot entry that includes the string "*.efi"
Enter the description as OS_Install, and select Commit Changes.

Follow these steps to continue the installation:

Power on the system, and press F1 to enter setup.
Select Boot Manager.
Select Boot from File.
Select the GUID Partition Tables (GPT) System Partition with the name OS_Install.
Select EFI.
Select Boot.
Select efi file.

Note: If the installation completes and the system does not boot to the operating system, go to the Start Options section of the setup menu and select the boot entry for the operating system