Users Guide

DKMS Considerations for Red Hat Linux

Dynamic Kernel Module Support (DKMS) is required on systems where a precompiled binary kernel module is not available, such as on a

system running a custom Linux kernel.

The HIT/Linux installation script will attempt to install all required Linux packages. However, DKMS is not available in the default Red Hat

repositories; extra steps are required to obtain and install DKMS. All other prerequisite packages are installed.

Note the following considerations:

• If your system is configured to use the Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (epel) repository. DKMS is automatically installed by the

HIT/Linux installation script. No further action is needed.

• To install DKMS manually, download the package from https://github.com/dell/dkms. Dell recommends using version 2.2.0.1 or later.

• To verify if your system is using the correct DKMS version or the prebuilt binary version, enter the following command:

# rpm -q equallogic-host-tools-kernel

• If the result shows that the equallogic-host-tools-kernel package is installed, then you are using a DKMS-based installation.

• If DKMS is not installed, entering the ehcmcli status command will produce the following error message:

ERROR: dm-switch kernel module is not present Resolution:

Ensure the kernel module package appropriate for your system is

installed, and use 'modprobe -v dm-switch' to verify the module can

be loaded.

• If DKMS is loaded but contains incompatible module versions (for example, the HIT/Linux dm-switch module is still resident in the

kernel), entering the ehcmcli status command will produce the following error message:

ERROR: Incompatible version of dm-switch kernel module

detected Resolution: Ensure the kernel module package appropriate

for your system is up to date, and that any conflicting versions

of the 'dm-switch' module are removed.

DKMS requires several other packages: kernel-devel, glibc-headers, glibc-devel, libgomp, and gcc. The installation script

automatically installs these packages. No further action is required.

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