Adding computer to FOG

george1421

@JimmyJ0516 Well that is disappointing.

First lets make sure the kernel got loaded correctly. Run the uname -r it should be 5.8.17

If that is correct then:
Lets run this command again.
lspci -nn |grep -i net

It will return a value that looks like this

# lspci -nn |grep -i net
0b:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]

Remember the address in the far left column.

Now key in lspci -k | more

That is going to print a bunch of stuff. Look down the list at the far left column until you find that address. Take a screen shot of that line and the one below it. It should look something like this. (for disclosure I ran this command on my fog server that is running on a VM)

0b:00.0 Ethernet controller: VMware VMXNET3 Ethernet Controller (rev 01)
        Subsystem: VMware VMXNET3 Ethernet Controller
        Kernel driver in use: vmxnet3
        Kernel modules: vmxnet3

This command with the -k will list the kernel drivers used for that network adapter.

Stay in debug mode because we will need to look at the system log next on the target computer.

JimmyJ0516

@george1421 Ok I did so. I am still in debug mode as well. here are the screenshots

george1421

@JimmyJ0516 Well on the plus side (not really but is telling) there is no kernel driver loaded for that network adapter. Actually this is better than the kernel driver being loaded and is misbehaving. I see something interesting in the picture could you rerun that last lspci command again lets see if we can get a bit more details.

lspci -nn -k | more Post a picture of that. I only need the network adapter line.

JimmyJ0516

@george1421 I ran the command and cropped out every other network adapter but the 3:00.0 which is the one we are working with. Here you go

george1421

@JimmyJ0516 That didn’t give me the output I expected. It should have given the hardware ID in [xxxx:xxxx] notation.

Can you take another picture and include the wide shot because it should that 03:00 line plus a few lines below lspci -nn -k

My intuition is telling me that we have the correct kernel driver but we may be missing some firmware needed to activate that network adapter. This next part is going to kind of stink but you will need to manually look through the messages file. This contains all of the boot up log messages. What is double bad is that you will need to use vi since there isn’t a nice editor built into the FOS Linux. I’m sure the answer is in that log file.

Lets take the easier of the routes and go with the more command to just display a page at a time of the log messages cat /var/log/messages | more

If you need to use vi you can key in vi /var/log/messages to give you a scrollable text editor. You may be able to use the cryptic commands like / to search so you can use something like /Real or /8169 to search next just key in / and press enter. To leave vi key in ESC:q that is the escape key the colon and q for quit.

Look through that for realtek or 03:00 There will be (I’m guessing) an error message coming from the r8169 driver.

If you have a plugin network adapter we can export that log file to a windows computer so you can use better tools to look for the error too.

JimmyJ0516

@george1421 I am sorry. Looking back I typed nm instead of nn here the correct screenshot output let me know if you still need me to go through the logs messages.

george1421

@JimmyJ0516 Interesting the subsystem has a different ID than the device. Subsystem [1462:7e75]. Let me look that one up.

Yes please look through that log file. It may have it listed as FIRMWARE_8125A_3 or rtl8125a-3

JimmyJ0516

@george1421 I looked for 8169 and 8125. This is what I found

george1421

@JimmyJ0516 OK good that gives me something to chase down. I have a feeling that network adapter is very new and the linux kernel drivers don’t support it just yet. Let me see what I can find out.

george1421

Just a place holder

ref: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1259947/cant-get-rtl8125b-working-on-20-04

JimmyJ0516

@george1421 so support is out for it correct

george1421

@JimmyJ0516 said in Adding computer to FOG:

@george1421 so support is out for it correct

In kernel 5.6 and later (currently supported by FOG as an add on kernel) it should be in there. I’m currently building a one off kernel of 5.6.18 with the rt8125 firmware included. The FOS Linux has the firmware for the 8169 but not the 8125 (complicated BS, just go with it). So the next step as soon as the compile is done is I will give you a new kernel to test it will be bzImage5618RT You will do the same process as with the bzImage5817 from earlier. I don’t know if it will work or not but we will try. If that doesn’t work I should have my 5.8.x and later build environment done by then and we can try the 5.9.x series of kernels. Without having the hardware in my hands we are going to have to hunt and peck to get this. But once we get it we can get it part of the next release of FOG so we don’t have to mess with it again. I’m sure others will have this network adapter in the future too so we need to get it worked out.

JimmyJ0516

@george1421 Of course Thanks for the help. If you need any help from me just let me know.

george1421

@JimmyJ0516 Ok here we go with round 2 5.6.18 with the 8125 firmware: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zcQvZNkick_Q4DyHKL9_X8dSXHjkN_BD/view?usp=sharing

Download this as bzImage5618RT and place it in /var/www/html/fog/service/ipxe directory Then go into FOG Configuration -> FOG Settings and change the default kernel to this one (same as before). Then pxe boot the target computer into debug mode (task should already be running so just reboot) Then once at the fos linux console prompt key in uname -r to make sure it says 5.6.18 again. Once that is done then ip a s confirm it shows the network adapter.

JimmyJ0516

@george1421 sounds good I am doing so now. The last time I did this I used WinSCP and threw it onto the home folder and then moved it to the directory you specified. I tried going directly to the directory but I had a permission error. Once I get the file Copied over I changed its permissions to 755 as all the others have that permission. is that ok before I do it again?

george1421

@JimmyJ0516 Sorry running around a bit.

Yes you can copy to your home directory then use sudo cp bzImage5618RT /var/www/html/fog/service/ipxe that should be good enough, all it needs is world read permissions.

ref: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1854314 Looks like 5.9 will have the fix in it for RTL8125B. Currently building 5.9 now.

JimmyJ0516

@george1421 I did it again. I see it shows 5.6.18 as version but I only see the loopback address when running IP a s Screenshot

george1421

@JimmyJ0516 Ok I did find something in bugzilla (ref in previous post) that the fix will be in 5.9. So here is bzImage593RT kernel. Please do the same as in the past. uname -r should give you 5.9.3

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cUIzafHmLfqyBf1KxF_M-qF00SsArx0N/view?usp=sharing

george1421

@george1421 If this doesn’t work, do you have an add on network card you can temp install in this workstation? if so insert it and then still pxe boot from the onboard nic but have this secondary nic connected. when it starts up in debug mode then ip a and see if you can see the secondary nic. If you can, then give root a password like hello using passwd. This password will be reset when rebooted. Then connect to the target computer with user root and hello with winscp. Copy out /var/log/messages and then upload that to a file share site and post the link here. I want to look through that because there has to be a clue of why even on 5.9.3

JimmyJ0516

@george1421 You’re the man lol. Here I can see that 5.9.3 and I see both the loopback and the NIC.

Adding computer to FOG

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