R81.10 SMS Open Server .iso not booting

[Daniel_Cimpeanu]

Hi,

I'm tring to set up a new Smart Event Server on a clean Dell server. My access to the Dell server is only remote, through the iDRAC9 interface. I've downloaded the .iso image for Open Server, loaded it as virtual media - but it is not booting. 

Oddly enough, if I get the R81.20 .iso file and follow the exact same steps, I'm welcomed by GRUB and have the possibility to start the Gaia install. I have tried the R81 .iso as well, and that one isn't working either.

One other thing I tried, was creating a bootable USB with Isomorphic, then cloning the USB to an .img file and attempting to load that as Virtual drive - and as well, boot fails. 

What would make the R81 and R81.10 .iso files not be recognized as valid bootable media, and why is the R81.20 working in this case? All .iso images have been downloaded from the official Checkpoint repo. I am restricted to use R81.10 in my envirenment, and cannot just proceed with R81.20 

[Daniel_Cimpeanu]

Hi @Bob_Zimmerman ,

Can you please give me a bit more info on this, I'm not sure I understand why that would be happening? 

Thanks,

Daniel

[Bob_Zimmerman]

Check Point's versions before R81.20 require BIOS boot ROM to be able to boot. They can't work with UEFI.

Almost all servers made in the last decade ship with UEFI boot ROM rather than BIOS. A UEFI system can boot to an EFI blob which emulates an old BIOS, but most don't do this by default. You have to specifically enable an option like "BIOS compatibility" or "legacy boot". Without that option, versions before R81.20 won't boot at all.

The right way to do this depends entirely on the server manufacturer. I don't have any Dell servers, so I don't know what exactly they call it or where they have the option. Their support should be able to point you to it, though.

[Daniel_Cimpeanu]

Hi @Bob_Zimmerman,

Thank you very much for the clarifications, I'll definitely be having this in mind. 

BR,

Daniel

[genisis__]

Silly question:
I have a 5200 appliance, just created a R81.20 USB with latest CPUSE agent and JHFA8, after booting this is what I get after initial menu:

i8042: No controller found
Inserted module sd 0:0:0:0: [sdb] No Caching mode page found
sd 0:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ *** ] A start job is running for Switch Root (32s / no limit)device-mapper: snapshots: Invalidating snapshot: Unable to allocate exception.
Buffer I/O error on device dm-0, logical block 395434
Buffer I/O error on device dm-0, logical block 396714
Buffer I/O error on device dm-0, logical block 396715
Buffer I/O error on device dm-0, logical block 396716
Buffer I/O error on device dm-0, logical block 396717
Buffer I/O error on device dm-0, logical block 396718
Buffer I/O error on device dm-0, logical block 396719
Buffer I/O error on device dm-0, logical block 396720
Buffer I/O error on device dm-0, logical block 396721
Buffer I/O error on device dm-0, logical block 396722
[ *] A start job is running for Switch Root (34s / no limit)Aborting journal on device dm-0-8.
Buffer I/O error on dev dm-0, logical block 262144, lost sync page write
[ *BD2: Error -5 detected when updating journal superblock for dm-0-8.
[1;31m*] A sBuffer I/O error on dev dm-0, logical block 0, lost sync page write
tart job is runnEXT4-fs error (device dm-0): ext4_journal_check_start:56: Detected aborted journal
ing for Switch REXT4-fs (dm-0): Remounting filesystem read-only
oot (34s / no liEXT4-fs (dm-0): previous I/O error to superblock detected
mit)Buffer I/O error on dev dm-0, logical block 0, lost sync page write
EXT4-fs error (device dm-0): ext4_find_entry:1318: inode #18: comm systemd: reading directory lblock 0
EXT4-fs (dm-0): previous I/O error to superblock detected
Buffer I/O error on dev dm-0, logical block 0, lost sync page write
[FAIL/bin/sh: /usr/sbin/sulogin: No sEXT4-fs error (device dm-0): ext4_find_entry:1318: inode #18: comm systemd-fstab-g: reading directory lblock 0
EXT4-fs (dm-0): previous I/O error to superblock detected
Buffer I/O error on dev dm-0, logical block 0, lost sync page write
Buffer I/O error on dev dm-0, logical block 272, lost async page write
Warning: /dev/root does not exisBuffer I/O error on dev dm-0, logical block 537584, async page read
t

Generating Buffer I/O error on dev dm-0, logical block 537584, async page read
"/run/initramfs/rdsosreport.txt"

Entering emergency mode. Exit the shell to continue.
Type "journalctl" to view system logs.
You might want to save "/run/initramfs/rdsosreport.txt" to a USB stick or /boot
after mounting them and attach it to a bug report.

dracut:/#

Anyone seen this before?  If I reboot appliance comes up fine with previous GAIA release.

Builds find with R81.10 ISO on the USB.

Redownloaded R81.20 ISO and checked hash, all good.  Rebuild same USB with R81.20 ISO and got the same issue, so only conclusion is you can't do a clean build of a 5200-appliance using R81.20 ISO utilising the isomorphic to build a USB.

Can someone please test to confirm if this is just isolated to me, or if I'm actually right here.

[babicmilan]

Hello, I have the same problem when trying to boot from bootable USB. I have created a bootable USB using Isomorphic tool (Gaia R81.20, JHF Take 24, deployment agent 2325 release).

How you resolve this problem?
It is written somewhere in this post to make bootable USB with Isomorphic tool without adding JHF and deployment agent.

Have you tried this?

[Dov_Fraivert]

@babicmilan 
You're right,
There is a limitation in R81.20 to install iso + JHF.
In future versions this limitation will be resolved

[the_rock]

As @Dov_Fraivert indicated, it is a limitation...I had 2 customers try the same and TAC also advised R&D confirmed it was a known issue. When will it be fixed, I have no clue and neither did they. I think its simply an assumption with the answer "next jumbo hotfix", but lets hope so : - )

[Dov_Fraivert]

@the_rock 
Unfortunately for R81.20 there will be no fix. This will be fixed in the next version that will be released after R81.20

[the_rock]

Ah ok, TAC told me possibly next jumbo hotfix, but I knew even they did not have much confidence in that answer, so thank you for confirming!

Cheers,

Andy

[Bob_Zimmerman]

Has this feature of IsoMorphic ever worked for jumbos? On versions lower than R81.20, the factory default snapshot is too small to hold the jumbo, so installation fails. Apparently on R81.20, something else is wrong, and installation fails?

At this point, the feature to add packages really should be removed from IsoMorphic. It's broken and wastes a ridiculous amount of time when people try to use it.

[the_rock]

Excellent point actually.

[Daniel_Cimpeanu]

Hi Bob,

Seems like it's failing after fresh install of R81.10 through CPUSE from R81.20 also. Server ends up in a boot loop.