Linux Driver & Tool Installation

Intel VROC Linux* release strategy is to upstream code to the open‑source community, enabling OS vendors to include the necessary patches in their distributions for inbox support. Intel may also release out‑of‑box (OOB) packages to support older Linux distributions or to enable new features on certain Intel® Xeon® platforms. This chapter explains how to install Intel VROC OOB packages and configure inbox components.

3.1 Installation of Intel VROC Linux* Update Packages

For certain Linux distributions, Intel provides OOB update packages to enable full Intel VROC functionality. The following sections illustrate how to install these packages in RHEL.

Installing Intel VMD Replacement Driver during OS Installation

The Intel VMD replacement driver is included in the OOB package and replaces the inbox kernel VMD driver to improve Intel VROC functionality on supported Xeon platforms. It can be installed during OS setup.

Steps:

1

Prepare USB drives with the RHEL installation ISO and the Intel VROC OOB driver ISO package.

  • Use the dd command to create a bootable USB with the RHEL installer:

#dd if=/path/to/<RHEL_OS>.iso of=/dev/sdX status=progress

  • Use the dd command to create a bootable USB with the Intel VROC driver:

# dd if=/path/to/<vroc_update_driver>.iso of=/dev/sdX status=progress

  • After the USB drive with the VROC driver is prepared, make sure it has the correct label name “OEMDRV”: 

# lsblk -o name, label 
NAME 	LABEL
sdb	OEMDRV
2

Boot from the prepared media. At the RHEL installation screen, select Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.5 and press E.

3

Append the following to the kernel boot command line:

inst.dd initcall_blacklist=vmd_drv_init

Press Ctrl+X to continue.

4

Select the driver with the label OEMDRV. If the device does not appear, press to refresh and then select it.

After refresh, select the device with label “E”.

5

Toggle the kmod-iavmd package, then press c to return to the main menu.

6

From the main menu, type c to continue with installation.

7

Follow the RHEL installer to complete the OS installation.

8

Reboot the system. Add initcall_blacklist=vmd_drv_init to the boot command line to blacklist the inbox VMD driver and load the Intel replacement driver.

9

Select the “Red Hat Enterprise Linux*” option and press <E>.

10

Add initcall_blacklist=vmd_drv_init in the Linux* boot command line, and then press Ctrl+X to start.

Installing Intel VROC Out-of-Box Drivers in Linux* OS

This section covers installing the Intel VMD replacement driver and other Intel VROC update packages in the Linux* OS.

  1. Copy the Intel VROC update package to the target Linux* OS and mount the ISO image to a directory. Enter that directory; you will typically find three RPM packages, for example:

# ls -l rpms/x86_64/ total 828
-r--r--r--. 1 root root 328776 Apr 4 07:23 kmod-iavmd-1.0.0.1600- rhel_85.x86_64.rpm
-r--r--r--. 1 root root 83860 Apr 4 07:23 ledmon-0.95-
1.Intel®.7468292.el8.x86_64.rpm
-r--r--r--. 1 root root 431924 Apr 4 07:23 mdadm-4.2-
1.Intel®.9009306.el8.x86_64.rpm
dr-xr-xr-x. 2 root root	2048 Apr 4 07:23 repodata

  1. Use rpm -Uvh --force to install the packages. Examples:

  • Intel VMD replacement driver:

warning: kmod-iavmd-1.0.0.1600-rhel_85.x86_64.rpm: Header V4 RSA/SHA256 Signature, key ID c343c1b0: NOKEY
Verifying...  ############################### [100%]
Preparing...  ############################### [100%]
Updating / installing...
1:kmod-iavmd-1.0.0.1600-rhel_85  ############################### [100%]

Check the rpm installation status by running the following command:

# rpm -Uvh --force mdadm-4.2-1.Intel®.9009306.el8.x86_64.rpm 
# mdadm --version
mdadm – v4.2 – 2021-12-30 – Intel®_Build: 1.Intel®.9009306.el8

# rpm -Uvh --force ledmon-0.95-1.Intel®.7468292.el8.x86_64.rpm warning: ledmon-0.95-1.Intel®.7468292.el8.x86_64.rpm: Header V4 RSA/SHA256 Signature, key ID b7accecb: NOKEY 

Verifying... ############################### [100%] 
Preparing... ############################### [100%] 

Updating / installing... 1:ledmon-0.95-1.Intel®.7468292.el8 ############################### [100%]

Check the rpm installation status by running the following command:

Check the rpm installation status by running the following command:
# ledmon --version
Intel(R) Enclosure LED Monitor Service 0.95 Copyright (C) 2009-2021 Intel Corporation.


This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty;
not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

ledmon[41052] : exit status is STATUS_SUCCESS.

  1. Update GRUB so the Intel VMD replacement driver loads instead of the inbox driver.

initcall_blacklist=vmd_drv_init

  • Edit /etc/default/grub and append initcall_blacklist=vmd_drv_init to the end of the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX* line. Example:

# vim /etc/default/grub
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX*=”crashkernel=auto resume=/dev/mapper/rhel-swap rd.lvm.lv=rhel/root rd.lvm.lv=rhel/swap rhgb quiet initcall_blacklist=vmd_drv_init”

  • Regenerate GRUB

# grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/efi/EFI/redhat/grub.cfg

Configuring Intel VROC in Linux* Distributions with Inbox Support

Configuring Intel VROC in SUSE Linux* Enterprise Server (SLES)

Install SLES 15 SP2 on Intel VROC RAID

The SLES 15 SP2 installer does not assemble RAID volumes created in Pre‑OS/UEFI by default. When installing SLES 15 SP2 onto an Intel VROC RAID volume, add the following boot command‑line parameter to enable assembly in the installer:

autoassembly=1

Install ledmon on SLES Family

SLES 15 family OSes do not include the ledmon package in the base installation. Install it manually after the OS installation:

zypper install ledmon

Enable ledmon Service

By default, the ledmon service is disabled in supported Linux* distributions. Enable and start it:

# systemctl enable --now ledmon.service
# systemctl status ledmon.service
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