what is pckbc0 ? installing netbsd of HP DL140G3

[Philip]

I tried to install NetBSD 4 on a HP DL140 G3 today at work (and failed).
I want to use it as a firewall in front of a Linux server that has some rather sensitive stuff on it.
The DL140 G3 is the cheapest rack mount server that HP do and it comes with iLo and mine has a RAID
controller too, great stuff.

The install kernel hung for a long time and the keyboard didn't work.
According to this doc
http://maciejewski.org/?cat=8
if I recompile the kernel with pckbc0 support then it will work okay

so some questions...
What's pckbc0 ?
without pckbc0 is it just picking up keyboard input from the bios rather than directly from the
keyboard or something ?
How do I compile an install kernel without it and boot it ?
or can I some way to redirect to serial port and install from there ?
is there a better way ?
I think if I can get netbsd actually installed and running then I can then access it over ssh and
compile a custom kernel and use that, it's just the initial install that's defeating me

I'm using the standard NetBSD 4 ISO install CD

should I register failure to install on a HP DL140 G3 as a bug or something?

thanks for any help, Philip

[Manuel Bouyer]

Post by Philip
I tried to install NetBSD 4 on a HP DL140 G3 today at work (and failed).
I want to use it as a firewall in front of a Linux server that has some rather sensitive stuff on it.
The DL140 G3 is the cheapest rack mount server that HP do and it comes with iLo and mine has a RAID
controller too, great stuff.
The install kernel hung for a long time and the keyboard didn't work.
According to this doc
http://maciejewski.org/?cat=8
if I recompile the kernel with pckbc0 support then it will work okay

I guess you mean 'without'; the kernel already has -c

Post by Philip
so some questions...
What's pckbc0 ?

The keyboard controller

Post by Philip
without pckbc0 is it just picking up keyboard input from the bios rather than directly from the
keyboard or something ?

I guess there's a USB keyboard, isn't it ?

Post by Philip
How do I compile an install kernel without it and boot it ?

At first you can interrupt the boot countown an type 'boot -c'.
Then type
disable pckbc
quit

and it should boot with pckbc disabled.

Post by Philip
or can I some way to redirect to serial port and install from there ?

You can, there's a boot-com.iso iso image (with only the installer, you'll
have to swap in your full 4.0 CD to install the sets once the kernel is
loaded).

[Philip]

Sorry, I meant with pckbc disabled.
I just tried your instructions (disable pckbc) on an old Pentium 3 at home
it killed the PS2 keyboard, but a USB keyboard still works (once the kernel picks it up)
The HP DL140 G3 has a PS2 keyboard connector, but of I don't yet know whether it's really PS2 or USB
inside (it might be just converted to USB on the motherboard).
Anyway that doesn't matter as the firewall will be in a rack on a remote site. A dead keyboard might
even be a security feature :-)
Is there a way to disable pckbc for the standard kernel once the machine is successfully booting
from harddisk? some kind of boot loader option maybe?
would selecting serial bootblocks instead of bios bootblocks do it?
or do I really have to recompile the kernel?
thanks

Philip

Post by Manuel Bouyer

Post by Philip
I tried to install NetBSD 4 on a HP DL140 G3 today at work (and failed).
I want to use it as a firewall in front of a Linux server that has some rather sensitive stuff on it.
The DL140 G3 is the cheapest rack mount server that HP do and it comes with iLo and mine has a RAID
controller too, great stuff.
The install kernel hung for a long time and the keyboard didn't work.
According to this doc
http://maciejewski.org/?cat=8
if I recompile the kernel with pckbc0 support then it will work okay

I guess you mean 'without'; the kernel already has -c

Post by Philip
so some questions...
What's pckbc0 ?

The keyboard controller

Post by Philip
without pckbc0 is it just picking up keyboard input from the bios rather than directly from the
keyboard or something ?

I guess there's a USB keyboard, isn't it ?

Post by Philip
How do I compile an install kernel without it and boot it ?

At first you can interrupt the boot countown an type 'boot -c'.
Then type
disable pckbc
quit
and it should boot with pckbc disabled.

Post by Philip
or can I some way to redirect to serial port and install from there ?

You can, there's a boot-com.iso iso image (with only the installer, you'll
have to swap in your full 4.0 CD to install the sets once the kernel is
loaded).

[Manuel Bouyer]

Post by Philip
Sorry, I meant with pckbc disabled.
I just tried your instructions (disable pckbc) on an old Pentium 3 at home
it killed the PS2 keyboard, but a USB keyboard still works (once the kernel picks it up)
The HP DL140 G3 has a PS2 keyboard connector, but of I don't yet know whether it's really PS2 or USB
inside (it might be just converted to USB on the motherboard).
Anyway that doesn't matter as the firewall will be in a rack on a remote site. A dead keyboard might
even be a security feature :-)
Is there a way to disable pckbc for the standard kernel once the machine is successfully booting
from harddisk? some kind of boot loader option maybe?
would selecting serial bootblocks instead of bios bootblocks do it?
or do I really have to recompile the kernel?

You have to rebuild a kernel in both cases

[Manuel Bouyer]

I tried this procedure on the DL140G3
interrupt the boot countown and type 'boot -c'.
Then type
disable pckbc
quit
the problem is that when I typed "boot -c"
the system locks up before I can type "disable pckbc"
I don't know what happens when I type "boot -c" but I'm guessing that it starts loading the kernel and one of the first things it does is to connect itself to the keyboard, or something...

Do you see the copyright banner ? I don't think -c should change anything
before the banner is printed.

[Philip]

I tried this procedure on the DL140G3

interrupt the boot countown and type 'boot -c'.
Then type
disable pckbc
quit

the problem is that when I typed "boot -c"
the system locks up before I can type "disable pckbc"
I don't know what happens when I type "boot -c" but I'm guessing that it starts loading the kernel and one of the first things it does is to connect itself to the keyboard, or something...

regards, Philip

Post by Manuel Bouyer

Post by Philip
I tried to install NetBSD 4 on a HP DL140 G3 today at work (and failed).
I want to use it as a firewall in front of a Linux server that has some rather sensitive stuff on it.
The DL140 G3 is the cheapest rack mount server that HP do and it comes with iLo and mine has a RAID
controller too, great stuff.
The install kernel hung for a long time and the keyboard didn't work.
According to this doc
http://maciejewski.org/?cat=8
if I recompile the kernel with pckbc0 support then it will work okay

I guess you mean 'without'; the kernel already has -c

Post by Philip
so some questions...
What's pckbc0 ?

The keyboard controller

Post by Philip
without pckbc0 is it just picking up keyboard input from the bios rather than directly from the
keyboard or something ?

I guess there's a USB keyboard, isn't it ?

Post by Philip
How do I compile an install kernel without it and boot it ?

At first you can interrupt the boot countown an type 'boot -c'.
Then type
disable pckbc
quit
and it should boot with pckbc disabled.

Post by Philip
or can I some way to redirect to serial port and install from there ?

You can, there's a boot-com.iso iso image (with only the installer, you'll
have to swap in your full 4.0 CD to install the sets once the kernel is
loaded).

[David Laight]

Post by Philip
I tried to install NetBSD 4 on a HP DL140 G3 today at work (and failed).
I want to use it as a firewall in front of a Linux server that has some rather sensitive stuff on it.
The DL140 G3 is the cheapest rack mount server that HP do and it comes with iLo and mine has a RAID
controller too, great stuff.

Does it have an option for using a serial console (in the bios) ?
or for pxeboot ?

You might find that you can network boot the install kernel.
If the bios doesn't have serial console redirection then you'll
need to use 'installboot -e' to modify the console settings for
pxeboot_ia32.bin.
(even if you don't you'll need to do consdev=com0 so the kernel uses
the serial port.)

Once installed you probably want the serial boot code options throughout.

David

[James K. Lowden]

Post by Philip
What's pckbc0 ?

It's the first device of provided by pckbc(4). See "man pckbc" for
details.

I'm sure Manuel's answer is more helpful. I just wanted to point out the
taxonomy and documentation, in case you weren't aware of them.

Post by Philip
How do I compile an install kernel without it and boot it ?

Extensive docs for building your own kernel are on the website. I'm no
expert, so I won't try to explain them. But I will point you to "man
boot", because it really helps to understand that you can have lots of
kernels in your root. boot(8) can boot any file on any device it knows
about; the only reason you're normally not involved is that it defaults to
"netbsd".

So: build your kernel, plop in / as, say, netbsd.nopckbc, and reboot.
Bring boot(8) into interactive mode and boot your new kernel. If you like
what it does, rename it to 'netbsd', and you're good to go.

HTH.

--jkl