Intel AMT/vPro and IDE-R support

[kobuki]

I have a short question: is Intel's Advanced Management Technology (AMT) IDE-R support included in the stock Proxmox installer kernel? I need it to install Proxmox on a server remotely via the mentioned feature, using local media redirection. The functionality is supposedly included in kernels starting from 2.6.37 and there's a patch available for the earlier ones.

 

[dietmar]

Documentation claims that you can simply use VNC (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Active_Management_Technology). But I never tested that.

 

[kobuki]

Documentation claims that you can simply use VNC (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Active_Management_Technology). But I never tested that.

Yes, that's correct. But my question pertains specifically to IDE-R or IDEr, AKA redirected IDE support. Before 2.6.37 it requires a kernel patch to make the kernel recognise the virtual IDE devices (it actually just patches PCI ID tables, not code). I suppose then, that it's not included in the Proxmox kernels. Would it be possible to integrate this feature? The patch can be found here: http://openamt.svn.sourceforge.net/....6.25.rc8-ider.patch?revision=120&view=markup

 

[dietmar]

OK, support for that is included in the latest 2.6.32-35 kernel. But we do not release that specific kernel because of some major bugs. Anyway, the next kernel will include that patch.

 

[kobuki]

OK, support for that is included in the latest 2.6.32-35 kernel. But we do not release that specific kernel because of some major bugs. Anyway, the next kernel will include that patch.

That's nice to hear, thanks!

 

[kobuki]

Today I tried installing Proxmox using the remote IDER feature of an Intel DQ67SW motherboard, unfortunately, without success. I'm facing the following screen after a kernel boot:



Am I missing a kernel option at boot? Using proxmox-ve_1.9-6542-6.iso for remote installation.

 

[kobuki]

Dietmar, any news on this? Is the patch needed to recognise IDEr devices is included in the new kernel as you hinted? Please let me know if I can help with testing this, it'd be really cool if Proxmox was able to be installed on such HW remotely. Unfortunately all new Linux distros I tried to install as testing failed after loading the kernel in a similar way which is a shame. Windows installers don't suffer from the same problem, apparently.

 

[dietmar]

Dietmar, any news on this?.

I just back-ported the patches to our new kernel:

ftp://download1.proxmox.com/debian/...4/pve-kernel-2.6.32-6-pve_2.6.32-46_amd64.deb

Please can you test if that works? Or do you need a installation CD to test?

 

[kobuki]

Thanks for the quick reaction. The original request was the ability to install the Proxmox box remotely, so yes, if it is possible, it would be nice to have an installation CD image instead.

 

[kobuki]

I can guess that in preparation for the upcoming 2.0 beta you have a lot more work at hand, but would it be possible to push out a test cd? Or if there's a guide or howto on building a test cd for Proxmox, or just a short description about what to replace on the current installer cd, that would also suffice for now, and i can test and prepare for a remote installation.

 

[kobuki]

OK, since we have no installer and the configuration to produce a PVE install CD is unavailable, I've experimented a bit. I was able to replace the kernel and initrd on a standard Debian installer on an USB stick, and it was able to find the IDEr CD-rom, mount it and start the installation. However, this is just a test and defeats the purpose of the ability to install a system remotely. I also tried reconstructing the install CD from the ISO but I'm fairly inexperienced with making Debian installers so it didn't work. It booted, but the CD was twice the size (copied stuff over for cdrecord in a directory and replaced the kernel files) so obviously something is missing. An installer CD image of the configuration to produce one would really be helpful. I'm willing to test if the Proxmox team can provide those.

 

[tom]

a new ISO image for 1.9 is on our todo list for this week.

 

[kobuki]

Great. I'll check it out when available.

 

[kobuki]

I've just tried out the newest ISO image. Unfortunately this emulation still doesn't work tho in theory it should. The problem appears is the same as for other debian-based distros.

 

[tom]

thanks for feedback. we have no such hardware combination here, so its impossible to test this in our lab.

 

[kobuki]

Alright, I understand. But if you have any idea, I can try. I'de like to have it working anyway. My biggest problem is that I can't produce a Proxmox installer CD for testing. If you could provide me to the right direction on how to make one I would take my time and test this. If i find the solution, are you willing to patch or update a subsequent kernel for others to benefit from it in the future?

 

[tom]

If its important for your you should think of donating a test server to our labs, so we can include these tests in our build/quality testing and hopefully get it running.

 

[kobuki]

Yes, it's important for me but I'm not in a situation that affords me to spend money on donations at the moment. I will, however, I've decided that, but not now and not for this purpose. So in the meantime, I'd like some pointers to the right direction for building an installer, if that is possible without donating. Apart from that all I ask is you consider integrating the solution if you find it feasible. Is that OK with you?

 

[tom]

no, we do not publish a howto build the ISO image. but if you get it running with a plain Debian Squeeze you are almost on a good way.

 

[kobuki]

OK, fine, I'll figure it out on my own. What about the other part of my question? Will you consider integrating the solution if there will be one or I can present one? I guess you will though since you integrated the IDEr patch.