6.1 Managing Device Drivers

PlateSpin Protect ships with a library of device drivers and automatically installs the appropriate ones on target workloads. If some drivers are missing or incompatible, or if you require specific drivers for a target infrastructure, you might need to add (upload) drivers to the PlateSpin ProtectPlateSpin Forge driver database.

The following sections provide more details:

6.1.1 Packaging Device Drivers for Windows Systems

To package your Windows device drivers for uploading to the PlateSpin Protect driver database:

  1. Prepare all interdependent driver files (*.sys, *.inf, *.dll, etc.) for your target infrastructure and device. If you have obtained manufacturer-specific drivers as a .zip archive or an executable, extract them first.

  2. Save the driver files in separate folders, with one folder per device.

The drivers are now ready for upload. See Uploading Drivers to the PlateSpin Protect Device Driver Database.

NOTE:For problem-free operation of your protection job and the target workload, upload only digitally signed drivers for:

  • All 64-bit Windows systems

  • 32-bit versions of Windows Server 2008 systems

6.1.2 Packaging Device Drivers for Linux Systems

To package your Linux device drivers for uploading to the PlateSpin Protect driver database, you can use a custom utility included in your PlateSpin boot ISO image.

  1. On a Linux workstation, create a directory for your device driver files. All the drivers in the directory must be for the same kernel and architecture.

  2. Download the boot image and mount it.

    For example, assuming that the ISO has been copied under the /root directory, issue this command for BIOS firmware-based targets:

    # mkdir /mnt/ps # mount -o loop /root/bootofx.x2p.iso /mnt/ps

    or this command for UEFI firmware-based targets:

    # mkdir /mnt/ps # mount -o loop /root/bootofx.x2p.uefi.iso /mnt/ps

  3. From the /tools subdirectory of the mounted ISO image, copy the packageModules.tar.gz archive into a another working directory and extract it.

    For example, with the .gz file is inside your current working directory, issue this command:

    tar -xvzf packageModules.tar.gz

  4. Enter the working directory and execute the following command:

    ./PackageModules.sh –d <path_to_driver_dir> -o <package name>

    Replace <path_to_driver_dir> with the actual path to the directory where you saved you driver files, and <package name> with the actual package name, using the following format:

    Drivername-driverversion-dist-kernelversion-arch.pkg

    For example, bnx2x-1.48.107-RHEL4-2.6.9-11.EL-i686.pkg

The package is now ready for uploading. See Uploading Drivers to the PlateSpin Protect Device Driver Database.

6.1.3 Uploading Drivers to the PlateSpin Protect Device Driver Database

Use the PlateSpin Driver Manager to upload device drivers to the driver database.

NOTE:On upload, PlateSpin Protect does not validate drivers against selected operating system types or their bit specifications; make sure that you only upload drivers that are appropriate for your target infrastructure.

Device Driver Upload Procedure (Windows)

  1. Obtain and prepare the required device drivers. See Packaging Device Drivers for Windows Systems.

  2. On your PlateSpin Server host, under \Program Files\PlateSpin Protect Server\DriverManager, start the DriverManager.exe program and select the Windows Drivers tab.

  3. Click Upload Drivers, browse to the folder that contains the required driver files, and select applicable OS type, language, and hardware manufacturer options.

    Select Standard as the Hardware Manufacturer option, unless your drivers are designed specifically for any of the target environments listed.

  4. Click Upload and confirm your selections when prompted.

    The system uploads the selected drivers to the driver database.

Device Driver Upload Procedure (Linux)

  1. Obtain and prepare the required device drivers. See Packaging Device Drivers for Linux Systems.

  2. Click Tools > Manage Device Drivers and select the Linux Drivers tab:

  3. Click Upload Drivers, browse to the folder that contains the required driver package (*.pkg), and click Upload All Drivers.

    The system uploads the selected drivers to the driver database.

6.1.4 Using the Plug and Play (PnP) ID Translator Feature

“Plug and Play” (PnP) refers to Windows operating system functionality that supports connectivity, configuration, and management with native plug and play devices. In Windows, the feature facilitates discovery of PnP compliant hardware devices attached to a PnP compliant bus. PnP compliant devices are assigned a set of Device Identification Strings by their manufacturer. These strings are programmed into the device when it is built. These strings are fundamental to how PnP works: they are part of the Windows' information source used to match the device with a suitable driver.

When the PlateSpin Server discovers workloads and their available hardware, the discovery includes these PnP IDs and the storage of that data as part of the workload’s details. PlateSpin uses the IDs to determine which, if any, drivers need to be injected during a failover/failback operation. The PlateSpin Server maintains a database of PnP IDs for the associated drivers of each of the supported operating systems. Because Windows and Linux use different formats for PnP IDs, a Windows workload discovered by the Protect Linux RAM disk contains Linux-style PnP IDs.

These IDs are formatted consistently, so PlateSpin can apply a standard transformation to each of them to determine its corresponding Windows PnP ID. The translation occurs automatically within the PlateSpin product. The feature lets you or a support technician add, edit or remove custom PnP mappings.

Follow these steps to use the PnP ID Translation feature:

  1. Launch the PlateSpin Driver Manager tool and connect to the PlateSpin Server.

  2. In the Driver Manager tool, select the PNP ID Translation tab to open the PNP ID Translation list, which includes the currently known custom PnP ID mappings.

  3. On the list page, click Add to display the Create PNP ID Mapping dialog box.

  4. In the Linux PNP ID field, add a Linux PnP ID.

    1. (Conditional) If you know it, type the Linux PnP ID you want to use.

      or

    2. (Conditional) Select an ID from a previously discovered workload:

      1. Adjacent to the Linux PnP ID field, click Select to open the Select Linux PnP ID dialog box.

      2. On the dialog box, click Select Machine to display a list of the machines previously discovered by the PlateSpin Linux RAM disk.

      3. Highlight one of the devices in the list, then click Select to populate the list in the Select Linux PnP ID dialog box.

      4. Select a device on the list, then click OK to apply the standard transformation to the PnP ID and display it in the Create PnP ID Mapping dialog box.

  5. In the Windows PNP ID field, add a Windows PnP ID:

    1. (Conditional) If you know it, type the Windows PnP ID you want to use.

      or

    2. (Conditional) Adjacent to the Windows PNP ID field, click Select to open a mapping tool that presents three methods for helping you map a the Windows PnP ID:

      • Under the Driver File tab, browse to and select a Windows driver file (that is, a file with the *.inf extension), select the desired PnP ID, then click Modify.

      • Under the Driver Database tab, browse to and select the existing driver database, select the correct PnP ID, then select Modify.

      • Under the Select Machine tab, click Select Machine, then, from the list of Windows machines discovered using live discovery, select a machine, click OK to display its devices, select the desired PnP ID, then click Modify.

      IMPORTANT:Selecting a Windows PnP ID that does not have an associated driver package installed might result in a failure at failover/failback time.

  6. In the Create PnP Id Mapping dialog box, confirm that the correct Linux PnP ID and the correct Windows PnP are selected, then click OK to display the PNP ID Translation page of the PlateSpin Driver Manager.

  7. (Optional) To modify or remove the mapping in the PNP ID Translation list, select the mapping pattern, then click Remove or Modify, depending on the operation you want to perform.

    Remove simply deletes the mapping (after displaying a confirmation dialog box).

    To modify,

    1. Click Modify to open the Create PNP id Mapping dialog box.

    2. Repeat Step 5 to modify the Windows PnP ID.

      NOTE:You cannot select or modify the Linux PnP ID.