Changing lpfc version: is my plan ok?

[mightyscotchpine]

Hello. I am planning to downgrade the lpfc driver on a Red Hat box at work. I have to downgrade in order to stay on the compatibility list for our SAN.
I am a relative newb to Linux on SANs, and I'm concerned that I'm missing something in my plan of attack. Would someone take a look?

Info:
================================================== =============
OS: RHEL 5.2
Kernel: 2.6.18-92.1.6.el5
scsi_transport_fc module (from lsmod): lpfc
current lpfc version (from modinfo): 0:8.2.0.22_p1
rpm -qa|grep lpfc:

hp-lpfc-8.2.0.22_p1-3

lpfcdriver_2.6-8.0.16.40-1

lpfc version to be installed: 8.1.10.12-1

I'm using LVM for all filesystems, including the SAN LUNs.

I don't know how I wound up with two lpfc driver on the system, but the lsmod info says to me that only the 8.2.0.22 version is being used.
================================================== =============

My plan:

1. Reboot the box into single-user mode (I'm hoping that the SAN volumes don't get mounted at run-level 1).
2. Run the lpfc-install script, which is supposed to install driver sources, build the driver for my kernel, install the driver in the right directory, and create a new ramdisk image.
3. Reboot into multi-user mode and test everything.


Should I run rpm -e on those other two listed rpms first? Or is my above plan ok?

Thanks very much for reading & for any advice you can give.

[waterhead]

If you are installing from a rpm, you may need to use the --force option. This is from the rpm man pages:

--force
Same as using --replacepkgs, --replacefiles, and --oldpackage.

There is a chance that things will no longer work after doing this, so back everything up first. You can also test the install with the --test option. For more info, read the rpm man pages.

man rpm

Rpm will not install older packages over a newer version, by default. That is why you need to force it. By the way, I don't have a clue what lpfc is.

[HROAdmin26]

As always, step 1 is build/get a test system - *especially* if you don't know what you're doing.

Assuming you are booting from an internal HDD and the SAN LUN's are only data storage, my process would be:

- Boot to single user mode
- Unmount any volumes sitting on SAN LUN's
- Unload the existing lpfc module
- rpm -qa to find all lpfc drivers...remove them all.
- Install the new driver - preferably as an rpm package...

You may want to review the info in this thread about HBA info in Linux.

I don't have a clue what lpfc is

Emulex HBA driver

[mightyscotchpine]

Thanks waterhead and HROAdmin26.

I basically used the same process you suggested, HRO:

- Boot to single user mode
- Unmount any volumes sitting on SAN LUN's
- Unload the existing lpfc module <<< couldn't get this to work.
- rpm -qa to find all lpfc drivers...remove them all.
- Install the new driver - preferably as an rpm package...

I tried using modprobe -r to remove the lpfc module, and it wouldn't allow me to. But I was still able to remove the rpm, and install the new driver, using the lpfc-install script provided with the driver. It handled the install of the rpm correctly. It built a new initrd image (which I verified by the date on the .img file). When I rebooted, modinfo lpfc shows the new version is running.

THANKS!!