How to start a live server installation on IBM Power (ppc64el) with a virtual CD-ROM and Petitboot
Note:
Not all IBM Power machines come with the capability of installing via a virtual CD-ROM! However, it is also possible to boot the installer over the network.
A separate system (ideally in the same network, because of ipmitool) is needed to host the ppc64el ISO image file, which is later used as the virtual CD-ROM.
Install ipmitool and Samba
Log in to this separate host and make sure that the ipmitool package is installed:
$ sudo apt install ipmitool
as well as Samba:
$ sudo apt install samba
Configure Samba
Next, set up and configure Samba:
$ sudo touch /etc/samba/smb.conf && sudo tee -a /etc/samba/smb.conf <<EOF
[winshare]
path=/var/winshare
browseable = yes
read only = no
guest ok = yes
EOF
And do a quick verification that the required lines are present:
$ tail -n 5 /etc/samba/smb.conf
[winshare]
path=/var/winshare
browseable = yes
read only = no
guest ok = yes
Optional step
For downloading the image you may have to use a proxy server:$ sudo touch ~/.wgetrc && sudo tee -a ~/.wgetrc <<EOF use_proxy=yes http_proxy=squid.proxy:3128 https_proxy=squid.proxy:3128 EOF
Download the ISO image
The ISO image needs to be downloaded now:
$ wget http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/releases/focal/release/ubuntu-20.04-live-server-ppc64el.iso --directory-prefix=/var/winshare
The proxy can also be passed over as a wget argument, like this:
$ wget -e use_proxy=yes -e http_proxy=squid.proxy:3128 http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/releases/focal/release/ubuntu-20.04-live-server-ppc64el.iso --directory-prefix=/var/winshare
Change the file mode of the ISO image file:
$ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/winshare/
$ ls -l /var/winshare/
-rwxr-xr-x 1 ubuntu ubuntu 972500992 Mar 23 08:02 focal-live-server-ppc64el.iso
Restart and check Samba
Next we need to restart and check the Samba service:
$ sudo service smbd restart
$ sudo service smbd status
● smbd.service - Samba SMB Daemon
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/smbd.service; enabled; vendor
preset: ena
Active: active (running) since Tue 2020-02-04 15:17:12 UTC; 4s ago
Docs: man:smbd(8)
man:samba(7)
man:smb.conf(5)
Main PID: 6198 (smbd)
Status: "smbd: ready to serve connections..."
Tasks: 4 (limit: 19660)
CGroup: /system.slice/smbd.service
├─6198 /usr/sbin/smbd --foreground --no-process-group
├─6214 /usr/sbin/smbd --foreground --no-process-group
├─6215 /usr/sbin/smbd --foreground --no-process-group
└─6220 /usr/sbin/smbd --foreground --no-process-group
Feb 04 15:17:12 host systemd[1]: Starting Samba SMB Daemon…
Feb 04 15:17:12 host systemd[1]: Started Samba SMB Daemon.
Test Samba share:
ubuntu@host:~$ smbclient -L localhost
WARNING: The "syslog" option is deprecated
Enter WORKGROUP\ubuntu's password:
Sharename Type Comment
--------- ---- -------
print$ Disk Printer Drivers
winshare Disk
IPC$ IPC IPC Service (host server (Samba, Ubuntu))
Reconnecting with SMB1 for workgroup listing.
Server Comment
--------- -------
Workgroup Master
--------- -------
WORKGROUP host
Get the IP address of the Samba host:
$ ip -4 -brief address show
lo UNKNOWN 127.0.0.1/8
ibmveth2 UNKNOWN 10.245.246.42/24
Optional step:
Additional testing to make certain the Samba share is accessible from remote:user@workstation:~$ mkdir -p /tmp/test user@workstation:~$ sudo mount -t cifs -o username=guest,password=guest //10.245.246.42/winshare /tmp/test/ user@workstation:~$ ls -la /tmp/test/ total 1014784 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 0 May 4 15:46 . drwxrwxrwt 18 root root 420 May 4 19:25 .. -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1038249984 May 3 19:37 ubuntu-20.04-live-server-ppc64el.iso
Now use a browser and navigate to the BMC of the Power system, which should be installed (let’s assume the BMC’s IP address is 10.245.246.247):
firefox http://10.245.246.247/
Log into the BMC, then find and select:
Virtual Media → CD-ROM
Enter the IP address of the Samba share:
10.245.246.42
and the path to the Samba share:
\winshare\focal-live-server-ppc64el.iso
Click “Save and Mount”. Make sure that the virtual CD-ROM is really properly mounted!
CD-ROM Image:
This option allows you to share a CD-ROM image over a Windows Share with a
maximum size of 4.7GB. This image will be emulated to the host as USB device.
Device 1 There is an iso file mounted.
Device 2 No disk emulation set.
Device 3 No disk emulation set.
<Refresh Status>
Share host: 10.245.246.42
Path to image: \winshare\focal-live-server-ppc64el.iso
User (optional):
Password (optional):
<Save> <Mount> <Unmount>
Note:
It’s important that you see a status like this:Device 1 There is an iso file mountedThen the virtual CD-ROM is properly mounted and you will see the boot/install from CD-ROM entry in Petitboot:
[CD/DVD: sr0 / 2020-03-23-08-02-42-00] Install Ubuntu Server
Boot into the Petitboot loader
Now use ipmitool to boot the system into the Petitboot loader:
$ ipmitool -I lanplus -H 10.245.246.247 -U ADMIN -P <password> power status
$ ipmitool -I lanplus -H 10.245.246.247 -U ADMIN -P <password> sol activate
$ ipmitool -I lanplus -H 10.245.246.247 -U ADMIN -P <password> power on
Chassis Power Control: Up/On
And reach the Petitboot screen:
Petitboot (v1.7.5-p8f5fc86) 9006-12C BOS0026
─────────────────────────────────────────────
[Network: enP2p1s0f0 / ac:1f:6b:09:c0:52]
execute
netboot enP2p1s0f0 (pxelinux.0)
System information
System configuration
System status log
Language
Rescan devices
Retrieve config from URL
*Plugins (0)
Exit to shell
─────────────────────────────────────────────
Enter=accept, e=edit, n=new, x=exit, l=language, g=log, h=help
Default boot cancelled
Make sure that booting from CD-ROM is enabled:
Petitboot (v1.7.5-p8f5fc86) 9006-12C BOS0026
─────────────────────────────────────────────
[Network: enP2p1s0f0 / ac:1f:6b:09:c0:52]
Execute
netboot enP2p1s0f0 (pxelinux.0)
[Disk: sda2 / ebdb022b-96b2-4f4f-ae63-69300ded13f4]
Ubuntu, with Linux 5.4.0-12-generic (recovery mode)
Ubuntu, with Linux 5.4.0-12-generic
Ubuntu
System information
System configuration
System status log
Language
Rescan devices
Retrieve config from URL
*Plugins (0)
Exit to shell
─────────────────────────────────────────────
Enter=accept, e=edit, n=new, x=exit, l=language, g=log, h=help
[sda3] Processing new Disk device
Petitboot System Configuration
──────────────────────────────────────────────
Autoboot: ( ) Disabled
(*) Enabled
Boot Order: (0) Any CD/DVD device
(1) disk: sda2 [uuid: ebdb022b-96b2-4f4f-ae63-69300ded13f4]
(2) net: enP2p1s0f0 [mac: ac:1f:6b:09:c0:52]
[ Add Device ]
[ Clear & Boot Any ]
[ Clear ]
Timeout: 30 seconds
Network: (*) DHCP on all active interfaces
( ) DHCP on a specific interface
( ) Static IP configuration
─────────────────────────────────────────────
tab=next, shift+tab=previous, x=exit, h=help
Petitboot System Configuration
─────────────────────────────────────────────
Network: (*) DHCP on all active interfaces
( ) DHCP on a specific interface
( ) Static IP configuration
DNS Server(s): (eg. 192.168.0.2)
(if not provided by DHCP server)
HTTP Proxy:
HTTPS Proxy:
Disk R/W: ( ) Prevent all writes to disk
(*) Allow bootloader scripts to modify disks
Boot console: (*) /dev/hvc0 [IPMI / Serial]
( ) /dev/tty1 [VGA]
Current interface: /dev/hvc0
[ OK ] [ Help ] [ Cancel ]
───────────────────────────────────────────
tab=next, shift+tab=previous, x=exit, h=help
Now select the ‘Install Ubuntu Server’ entry below the CD/DVD entry:
[CD/DVD: sr0 / 2020-03-23-08-02-42-00]
* Install Ubuntu Server
And let Petitboot boot from the (virtual) CD-ROM image:
Sent SIGKILL to all processes
[ 119.355371] kexec_core: Starting new kernel
[ 194.483947394,5] OPAL: Switch to big-endian OS
[ 197.454615202,5] OPAL: Switch to little-endian OS
The initial Subiquity installer screen will show up in the console:
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Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome! Добро пожаловать! Welkom
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Use UP, DOWN and ENTER keys to select your language.
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From this point, you can follow the normal Subiquity installation. For more details, refer to the Subquity installer documentation.