# Trouble installing 9-RC1 over IPMI Virtual CD



## half (Oct 26, 2011)

Hi guys, I'm relatively new to FreeBSD and am trying to install a new machine with 9.0-RC1 over Supermicro IPMI Virtual CD-ROM device. After I load the installer disc and boot into it the FreeBSD installer starts up and starts to boot the kernel successfully but quickly fails after that. A screen capture of the output is here:





It fails somehow, but I'm not sure exactly what or where since it happens very quickly, though I see a "mountprompt>" prompt. Anyone have an idea about what could be wrong and/or confirm that installing a FreeBSD system over IPMI/Virtual CD actually works?

Thanks!


----------



## dave (Oct 26, 2011)

I think you are still at the mountroot> prompt and that other output is just console output overlapping.  Confusing to be sure.  Try typing *?* and *ENTER* to see a list of potential boot devices.  You probably want something like *ufs:/dev/cd0*.


----------



## gkontos (Oct 26, 2011)

I have similar issues here:


```
ugen0.4: <vendor 0x0ea0> at usbus0
umass1: <vendor 0x0ea0 product 0x2222, class 0/0, rev 2.00/2.00, addr 4> on usbus0
umass1:  SCSI over Bulk-Only; quirks = 0x0000
umass1:3:1:-1: Attached to scbus3
umass2: <vendor 0x0ea0 product 0x2222, class 0/0, rev 2.00/2.00, addr 4> on usbus0
umass2:  8070i (ATAPI) over Bulk-Only; quirks = 0x0000
umass2:4:2:-1: Attached to scbus4
(probe0:umass-sim1:1:0:0): TEST UNIT READY. CDB: 0 0 0 0 0 0 
(probe0:umass-sim1:1:0:0): CAM status: SCSI Status Error
(probe0:umass-sim1:1:0:0): SCSI status: Check Condition
(probe0:umass-sim1:1:0:0): SCSI sense: No sense data present
(probe0:umass-sim1:1:0:0): TEST UNIT READY. CDB: 0 0 0 0 0 0 
(probe0:umass-sim1:1:0:0): CAM status: SCSI Status Error
(probe0:umass-sim1:1:0:0): SCSI status: Check Condition
(probe0:umass-sim1:1:0:0): SCSI sense: No sense data present
(probe0:umass-sim1:1:0:0): TEST UNIT READY. CDB: 0 0 0 0 0 0 
(probe0:umass-sim1:1:0:0): CAM status: SCSI Status Error
(probe0:umass-sim1:1:0:0): SCSI status: Check Condition
(probe0:umass-sim1:1:0:0): SCSI sense: No sense data present
(probe0:umass-sim1:1:0:0): TEST UNIT READY. CDB: 0 0 0 0 0 0 
(probe0:umass-sim1:1:0:0): CAM status: SCSI Status Error
(probe0:umass-sim1:1:0:0): SCSI status: Check Condition
(probe0:umass-sim1:1:0:0): SCSI sense: No sense data present
```

I will post an update after and if it is resolved.


----------



## Terry_Kennedy (Oct 27, 2011)

half said:
			
		

> It fails somehow, but I'm not sure exactly what or where since it happens very quickly, though I see a "mountprompt>" prompt. Anyone have an idea about what could be wrong and/or confirm that installing a FreeBSD system over IPMI/Virtual CD actually works?


I haven't tried the Supermicro virtual CD, but normally the problem of the boot device vanishing (and the user thus getting the mountroot prompt) once the kernel loads is due to the device not actually being hardware-compatible with the device it claims to be. Everything before mountroot uses motherboard BIOS functions to access the device (otherwise the bootstraps would be huge, needing drivers and probe routines for all supported boot devices).

Thus, as soon as the kernel starts using its own routines instead of the BIOS, the device is either not detected or doesn't work properly.

Having said all that...

The fact that the cd0 device doesn't appear until after the mountroot prompt may mean that it was just slow to show up. Use the "?" key at the mountroot prompt to see if any of the candidate devices are the virtual CD, and if so, try to select it and see if it works.

If none of that gets you going, you'll probably want to do a boot with verbose logging (menu option on the initial FreeBSD splash screen) and see if you can find any other open-source OS where the virtual CD boots properly. Then you can file a PR (bug report) and hopefully there's a hint in the other OS' source explaining what the quirk is and how to work around it.


----------



## half (Oct 29, 2011)

Thanks for the advice guys.. I can see the devices, but I'm not sure exactly what to enter at the mountroot prompt now:





If I enter something like [cmd=]ufs:/dev/da0[/cmd] or [cmd=]ufs:/dev/cd0[/cmd] the system just seems to reboot.. the hard drives actually contain an OpenIndiana installation (which incidentally installs fine over IPMI  which is probably the other partitions that are being picked up.


----------



## Terry_Kennedy (Oct 29, 2011)

half said:
			
		

> Thanks for the advice guys.. I can see the devices, but I'm not sure exactly what to enter at the mountroot prompt now:
> 
> If I enter something like [cmd=]ufs:/dev/da0[/cmd] or [cmd=]ufs:/dev/cd0[/cmd] the system just seems to reboot.. the hard drives actually contain an OpenIndiana installation (which incidentally installs fine over IPMI  which is probably the other partitions that are being picked up.



I'm not sure of the exact syntax, but it might be something like:

[cmd=]cd9660:/dev/iso9660/FREEBSD_INSTALL[/cmd]


----------



## gkontos (Oct 30, 2011)

PR PR162160


----------



## Terry_Kennedy (Oct 31, 2011)

gkontos said:
			
		

> PR PR162160


I'm not sure that's the same problem. The original poster has a mountroot> prompt and a detected cd0 device, while the example you posted here and in the PR have neither.


----------



## half (Oct 31, 2011)

Terry_Kennedy said:
			
		

> I'm not sure of the exact syntax, but it might be something like:
> [cmd=]cd9660:/dev/iso9660/FREEBSD_INSTALL[/cmd]


Thanks.. that worked perfectly. It managed to resume the install process and I got to the normal FreeBSD Live CD menu. I haven't had a chance to actually perform the installation since I tested it on a different machine.



			
				 gkontos said:
			
		

> PR162160





			
				Terry_Kennedy said:
			
		

> I'm not sure that's the same problem. The original poster has a mountroot> prompt and a detected cd0 device, while the example you posted here and in the PR have neither.


Yeah I'm not sure if this is the same issue either.

Should I make a separate bug report about this? It seems like something that should be fixed.. the reality is that Supermicro IPMI is pretty ubiquitious now (built into most server motherboards) and I've successfully installed OpenIndiana 151, Ubuntu 11.10 and CentOS 6 onto these exact systems (SuperMicro X9 series) using the Virtual CDROM functionality. Would love to know if anyone else has been able to install without issue and if it's just isolated to my machines..


----------



## gkontos (Oct 31, 2011)

Terry_Kennedy said:
			
		

> I'm not sure that's the same problem. The original poster has a mountroot> prompt and a detected cd0 device, while the example you posted here and in the PR have neither.



The folks at the datacenter where the server is located were kind enough to attach an external USB CDROM so I managed to install from there.
After that I tried to mount a virtual ISO and got the same messages.


----------



## Terry_Kennedy (Oct 31, 2011)

half said:
			
		

> Yeah I'm not sure if this is the same issue either.
> 
> Should I make a separate bug report about this? It seems like something that should be fixed..


I'd suggest filing a PR on it and mentioning in the text that it may or may not be related to PR162160. I would also suggest emphasizing that the problem being reported is the fact that the install drops to the mountroot prompt because of the delay in detecting the cd0 device - I think the other umass messages are unimportant unless you also see them during normal operation (they should be hidden by the installer splash screen if the virtual cd gets mounted automatically).


----------



## wblock@ (Oct 31, 2011)

While I have no experience with IPMI, it might be worth pointing out that on real USB devices, adding
/boot/loader.conf

```
kern.cam.boot_delay=10000
```
sometimes cures problems.

There was also a recent message on the freebsd-stable mailing list which indicated a similar variable:

```
kern.cam.scsi_delay=10000
```


----------



## Terry_Kennedy (Oct 31, 2011)

wblock@ said:
			
		

> While I have no experience with IPMI, it might be worth pointing out that on real USB devices, adding
> /boot/loader.conf
> 
> ```
> ...


The OP's issue is that he's running into this when booting from installation media.

I agree that this would be a worthwhile thing to try if it happened during normal operation. However, I think that in this case (IPMI CD), the user would probably just wait for the cd0 message lines to appear if they attached a virtual CD to an already-running system.


----------



## gkontos (Nov 1, 2011)

half said:
			
		

> Should I make a separate bug report about this? It seems like something that should be fixed.. the reality is that Supermicro IPMI is pretty ubiquitious now (built into most server motherboards) and I've successfully installed OpenIndiana 151, Ubuntu 11.10 and CentOS 6 onto these exact systems (SuperMicro X9 series) using the Virtual CDROM functionality. Would love to know if anyone else has been able to install without issue and if it's just isolated to my machines..


I think it is better if you could add a follow up to this PR with the symptoms that you experienced. The bug should be related and the only difference from me is that you got to the "mountfrom >" while I ended up in an endless loop. Also, if you finally get to perform that installation try mounting your ISO and see if you get the messages I did.

George


----------



## half (Nov 10, 2011)

Just to update, I found some time to complete the FreeBSD install over IPMI Virtual CDROM. After the initial failure to detect the CD filesystem using "\[cmd=]cd9660:/dev/iso9660/FREEBSD_INSTALL[/cmd] at the mountroot> prompt was enough to successfully get the installer up and running. After that I could complete a full install without issue, so this workaround will suffice.

I still think this problem needs to be addressed as this is the only OS that I've had difficulty with. I will update the bug report George filed and make a new one since I wouldn't be able to say they are the same problem.


----------



## gkontos (Nov 10, 2011)

half said:
			
		

> Just to update, I found some time to complete the FreeBSD install over IPMI Virtual CDROM. After the initial failure to detect the CD filesystem using "cd9660:/dev/iso9660/FREEBSD_INSTALL" at the mountroot> prompt was enough to successfully get the installer up and running. After that I could complete a full install without issue, so this workaround will suffice.
> 
> I still think this problem needs to be addressed as this is the only OS that I've had difficulty with. I will update the bug report George filed and make a new one since I wouldn't be able to say they are the same problem.



Thank you for the update. It would be very helpful if you could post the new PR number. I have the feeling that our problems are related and for the sake of consistency maybe it would be better if I close my PR and merge it with yours.

Regards,

George


----------



## cronfy (Dec 24, 2011)

I have this problem too with 9.0-RC3 (mountroot> prompt) and 8.2 (Install launches, but partitioning says "no disks discovered"). FreeBSD 7.4 and Debian Squeeze have no problems while installing from virtual CD-ROM.

With 9.0-RC3, I do not have cd9660: filesystem right after mountroot> shell appears, so I can not coutinue install as described above. But if I wait about couple of minutes, kernel reports that is has discovered cd0:







and I can continue installation by specifying 
	
	



```
cd9660:/dev/iso9660/FREEBSD_INSTALL
```
 at mountroot.

I suspect that time required for cd0 to be discovered is the time required for CD image to be uploaded into server memory. In my case it took about 2 minutes for 612M image and direct 100Mbit connection.

Looks like install was broken in FreeBSD 8, so possibly it is not required to look into other OS'es source code to find a trick, it should be already there in 7.4?


----------



## gkontos (Jan 29, 2012)

A quick update. I have faced the same issue with 2 new HP servers that I tried to install via an external DVD USB drive. 

I also successfully recreated the problem by attaching an external  drive to my desktop. 

The PR has been updated.


----------



## frijsdijk (Feb 2, 2012)

Same issue here, 9.0-R with SuperMicro, iso mounted via IPMI. Tried both the disc1 as the bootonly iso's. 8.2 Works fine.


----------

