Archive for August, 2008

Debian Linux on a pSeries 610 (7028 – 6C1)

Friday, August 15th, 2008

After a couple of tries I got debian installed on an IBM pSeries 610 (7028-6C1). I got the machine through my work and it is also hosted there. I will write a short descripton on how to do it and more important what pitfalls to avoid. The server is named after a famous inventor. The name is a spin of the fact that I work as a Unix Administrator in a large Telco Company in denmark.

Enough of me talking. Some juicy details:

zensonic@bell:~$ uname -a
Linux bell 2.6.18-6-powerpc64 #1 SMP Wed Jun 18 06:03:18 UTC 2008 ppc64 GNU/Linux

zensonic@bell:~$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
cpu : POWER3 (630+)
clock : 375.000000MHz
revision : 1.4 (pvr 0041 0104)

processor : 1
cpu : POWER3 (630+)
clock : 375.000000MHz
revision : 1.4 (pvr 0041 0104)

timebase : 93746809
platform : pSeries
machine : CHRP IBM,7028-6C1

zensonic@bell:~$ top | head -5
top – 12:26:38 up 3:00, 1 user, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
Tasks: 35 total, 1 running, 34 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu(s): 0.1%us, 0.2%sy, 0.0%ni, 99.6%id, 0.1%wa, 0.1%hi, 0.1%si, 0.0%st
Mem: 8108636k total, 51796k used, 8056840k free, 6712k buffers
Swap: 1502036k total, 0k used, 1502036k free, 9372k cached

zensonic@bell:~$ dmesg | grep -i bogo
Calibrating delay loop… 186.88 BogoMIPS (lpj=373760)

zensonic@bell:~$ more /proc/rtas/sensors
RTAS (RunTime Abstraction Services) Sensor Information
Sensor Value Condition Location
********************************************************
Key switch: Normal (read ok) —
Power source: AC (read ok) —
EPOW Sensor: EPOW Reset (read ok) —
Temp. (C/F): 29 / 84 (normal) Planar #1
Surveillance: 0 (read ok) —
Fan (rpm): 2070 (normal) Fan #1
Fan (rpm): 2820 (normal) Fan #2
Fan (rpm): 3210 (normal) Fan #3
Fan (rpm): 3000 (normal) Fan #4
Voltage (mv): 5129 (normal) Planar #1
Voltage (mv): 3129 (normal) Planar #1
Voltage (mv): 5161 (normal) Planar #1
Voltage (mv): 12077 (normal) Planar #1
Powersupply: 3 (normal) Planar #3 at Voltage #1
Powersupply: 3 (normal) Planar #3 at Voltage #2
Powersupply: 0 (non existent) Planar #3 at Voltage #3