Re: [xcat-user] Installing IBM HPC software in stateless image

[Jing C. S. <sj...@cn...>]

Hello Jason,

Please see my responses below for your each questions, any other questions 
please feel free to let me know.

> 1) The IBM HPC software bits to include should not go in the regular 
> pkglist, but in
> /install/custom/netboot/rh/compute.rhels6.ppc64.*/otherpkgs/*.pkglist

1) Correct, xCAT ships two kinds of "pkglist" for HPC software, one is 
"pkglist", it's used to specify the OS related packages, it's installed 
into the OS rootimage during genimage; the other is "otherpks.pkglist", 
it's used to specify the customized software(e.g. HPC software), it's also 
installed during genimage but after the OS related packages are installed. 
So we put the HPC software's dependencies in "pkglist", while put the HPC 
software in "otherpkgs.pkglist".

The corresponding statement has already been included in the HPC 
integration documentation, please reference to the section "Add to 
pkglist: " and "Add to otherpkgs: "

> 2) You need to run createrepo in each of the package directories (loadl, 

> pe, etc.) as mentioned, AND ALSO run, e.g.  "createrepo 
> /install/post/otherpkgs/rhels6/ppc64/"

2) Normally it's enough to just run createrepo for each of the package 
directories. You should not have to run createrepo for 
/install/post/otherpkgs/rhels6/ppc64/, except you have put some packages 
that you want to be installed under this directory, e.g 
/install/post/otherpkgs/rhels6/ppc64/a.rpm. Could you please help to 
check?

> 3) The PE installation process (during genimage) required me to hit yes 
> to the yum installation.

3) Correct.

> 4) The "error" of "Nothing to do" on an rpm installation isn't always an 

> error.  This was particularly encountered in the rsct_install script.  I 

> worked around this once with adding another package on the command line 
> in the script, but need to find a lasting solution for the future.

4) You are correct, but this message is reported by yum directly, but not 
indicate an "error". that might be caused by the packages you required to 
install has already been installed, so yum would tell you nothing to do.

> 5) uuid-runtime package is referenced by rsct, but is not available in 
> RHEL6.

5) uuid-runtime is listed in rsct.pkglist, it's only used for SLES, not 
for RedHat. You can check 
/opt/xcat/share/xcat/IBMhpc/compute.rhels6.ppc64.pkglist, it does not 
include rsct.pkglist; while in 
/opt/xcat/share/xcat/IBMhpc/compute.sles11.ppc64.pkglist, it's included. 
Below is an example from my system.

[root@ca4lpar03 rsct]# cat 
/opt/xcat/share/xcat/IBMhpc/compute.rhels6.ppc64.pkglist 
#INCLUDE:/opt/xcat/share/xcat/IBMhpc/IBMhpc.rhels6.ppc64.pkglist#
#INCLUDE:/opt/xcat/share/xcat/IBMhpc/pe/pe.rhels6.pkglist#
#INCLUDE:/opt/xcat/share/xcat/IBMhpc/compilers/compilers.rhels6.pkglist#
[root@ca4lpar03 rsct]# 
[root@ca4lpar03 rsct]# cat 
/opt/xcat/share/xcat/IBMhpc/compute.sles11.ppc64.pkglist 
#  Sample package list for installing all IBM HPC products in a
#  SLES11 ppc64 diskless image

#INCLUDE:/opt/xcat/share/xcat/IBMhpc/IBMhpc.sles11.ppc64.pkglist#
#INCLUDE:/opt/xcat/share/xcat/IBMhpc/compilers/compilers.pkglist#
#INCLUDE:/opt/xcat/share/xcat/IBMhpc/essl/essl.pkglist#
#INCLUDE:/opt/xcat/share/xcat/IBMhpc/pe/pe.pkglist#
#INCLUDE:/opt/xcat/share/xcat/IBMhpc/rsct/rsct.pkglist#