               Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 Update 9 Release Notes

   Copyright (c) 2007 Red Hat, Inc. and others. This material may be
   distributed only subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Open
   Publication License, v1.0, available at
   [1]http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/.

   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Introduction

   The following topics are covered in this document:

     o Maintenance Phase Announcement

     o Installation-Related Notes

     o General Information

   Some updates on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 Update 9 may not appear in this
   version of the Release Notes. An updated version of the Red Hat Enterprise
   Linux 3 Update 9 Release Notes may also be available at the following URL:

   [2]http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/

Maintenance Phase Announcement

   This is the final scheduled update for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3. With
   this release, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 now enters its maintenance phase.
   Note that while Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 is now in its maintenance
   phase, Red Hat will continue to provide fixes for critical functional and
   security issues until the end of the product lifecycle.

Installation-Related Notes

   The following section includes information specific to the Red Hat
   Enterprise Linux installation program, Anaconda.

  Note

   In order to upgrade an existing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 installation to
   Update 9, you must use Red Hat Network to update those packages that have
   changed. The use of Anaconda to upgrade to Update 9 is not supported.

   Use Anaconda only to perform a fresh install of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3
   Update 9.

     o If you are copying the contents of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3
       Update 9 CD-ROMs (in preparation for a network-based installation, for
       example) be sure you copy the CD-ROMs for the operating system only.
       Do not copy the Extras CD-ROM, or any of the layered product CD-ROMs,
       as this will overwrite files necessary for Anaconda's proper
       operation.

       These CD-ROMs must be installed after Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3
       Update 9 has been installed.

     o Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 Update 9 for the 64-bit Intel(R) Itanium
       2(R) architecture includes runtime support for 32-bit applications
       through the use of Intel's IA-32 Execution Layer.

       The IA-32 Execution Layer is provided on the Extras disc for the Intel
       Itanium 2 architecture. In addition, a set of 32-bit libraries and
       applications are provided on the main discs of the installation. The
       IA-32 Execution Layer and 32-bit compatibility packages together
       provide a runtime environment for 32-bit applications on the 64-bit
       native distribution.

       To install the IA-32 Execution Layer and required 32-bit compatibility
       packages, follow these steps:

       NOTE: If you are sure that your Itanium processors have hardware
       emulation of IA-32, only steps 2-3 are required. If you are unsure,
       follow all the steps.

         1. During the installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 for the
            Intel Itanium 2 Architecture, be sure to exclude the
            compatibility packages. Choose "Customize the set of packages to
            be installed" and then make these changes to the default packages
            before continuing. You should not add or remove any other
            packages at this time.

               o Deselect the Graphical Internet checkbox under the
                 Applications category.

               o Deselect the Compatibility Arch Support checkbox under the
                 System category.

               o Select the MySQL Database checkbox under the Servers
                 category.

            Click Next and complete the installation up to the reboot.

         2. Next, install the ia32el package using either procedure 2a or 2b:

              a. After the first reboot during installation, the graphical
                 FirstBoot wizard is displayed for final configuration and
                 customization. On the last screen of the wizard (the screen
                 with the Extras... button), insert the Red Hat Enterprise
                 Linux 3 Update 9 Extras CD, which contains the ia32el
                 package. Click the Extras... button and follow the pop-up
                 wizard to install the ia32el package from the Misc category.

              b. Alternately, after completing the installation, mount the
                 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 Update 9 Extras CD and manually
                 install the ia32el package. For example:

 cd /mnt/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS/
 rpm -ivh ia32el-<version>.ia64.rpm

                 where <version> is the version of the ia32el package to be
                 installed.

         3. Start the ia32el service with this command (you must be logged in
            as root):

 service ia32el start

         4. Verify that ia32el is running with this command:

 service ia32el status

         5. Uninstall the aspell and aspell-config packages, which will
            otherwise conflict with the compatibility version of aspell:

  rpm -e aspell aspell-config

         6. Next, install the compatibility packages manually. Copy all the
            .i386.rpm and .i686.rpm packages from the base installation CDs
            to a local directory. Also copy over the following three ia64
            RPMs (which some i386 RPMs depend on) to the same local directory
            and install them all together.

 aspell-<version>.ia64.rpm
 aspell-config-<version>.ia64.rpm
 umb-scheme-<version>.ia64.rpm

            At the time these notes were written, the aspell and
            aspell-config RPMs were located on disc 2, umb-scheme was on disc
            3, and all of the i386 and i686 RPMs were on discs 2 and 3. So,
            in order to copy the files to the local drive and install them,
            perform the following steps:

              a. Create a directory to copy the packages:

 mkdir ~/rpms
 eject

              b. Insert Disc 2 of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 Update 9
                 disc (mount if necessary) and copy the packages to the
                 newly-created directory:

 cp -v /mnt/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS/aspell*ia64.rpm ~/rpms
 cp /mnt/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS/*.i?86.rpm ~/rpms
 eject

              c. Insert Disc 3 of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 Update 9
                 disc (mount if necessary) and copy the packages to the
                 newly-created directory:

 cp -v /mnt/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS/umb-scheme* ~/rpms
 cp /mnt/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS/*.i?86.rpm ~/rpms
 eject

              d. Install the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 Update 9 packages:

 cd ~/rpms
 rpm -ivh *

         7. To verify the installation of the 32-bit compatibility layer and
            libraries after installation, check that the /emul directory has
            been created and contains files.

         8. Install any additional ia64 packages needed, either using the
            redhat-config-packages graphical tool or manually using the rpm
            command.

General Information

   HS20 Reboot Freeze

           IBM HS20 blades may freeze during reboot with an error stating:

 NET4: Frame Diverter 0.46

           To prevent further reboot freezes, add the parameters usb-handoff
           and noapic to the kernel command line.

   Rollbacks Using up2date

           The up2date options --undo and list-rollbacks are now deprecated.
           Currently, the recommended method in performing a rollback is to
           use the Multi-state Rollback feature provided by the Provisioning
           entitlement on Red Hat Network. For more information about this,
           refer to [3]http://www.redhat.com/rhn/rhndetails/provisioning/.

           Alternatively, you can also downgrade an RPM manually. To do this,
           obtain the old RPM and run the following command:

           rpm -Uvh --oldpackage --nosignature --nodigest <filename of old
           RPM>

   noacl Security Issue

           A bug in the noacl NFS mount option can potentially grant a
           process unauthorized read access to cached data. This is because
           noacl prevents a process from consulting the server by disabling
           ACCESS calls on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3. As a result, the
           kernel has to rely on the file mode bits, which in turn can allow
           an open call to succeed inappropriately. This can ultimately
           result in unauthorized read access to cached data.

           This issue will not be fixed since some customers use noacl to
           boost NFS performance. Testing has shown that all fixes proposed
           to this bug negatively affect systems that use noacl. Users
           concerned with this potential security issue are advised not to
           use the noacl NFS mount option.

   nfsstat man Page Error

           The man page for the nfsstat utility incorrectly references the -z
           option, which is not supported in this release.

   gaim Rename

           gaim has been renamed to pidgin.

   ConnectTech WhiteHeat USB Serial Ports

           A kernel panic may occur when a ConnectTech WhiteHeat USB Serial
           Port adapter is connected at boot time. As such, to use this
           device, you should disconnect it during boot up and reconnect it
           once the boot process has completed.

   kernel.shmall

           When configuring shared memory, kernel.shmall needs to be 1 higher
           than the amount of shared memory you want to use. This can be set
           in /etc/sysctl.conf.

   ( ia64 )

References

   Visible links
   1. http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/
   2. http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/
   3. http://www.redhat.com/rhn/rhndetails/provisioning/
