This section describes considerations and requirements for installing the Subsystem Device Driver (SDD) on an IBM® pSeries™ host running Linux. This section also provides a link for you to use to locate the most current driver and documentation.
You can install and configure the SDD using the instructions found in the IBM System Storage™ Multipath Subsystem Device Driver User's Guide. You can find this guide and the latest driver download at http://www-03.ibm.com/servers/storage/support/software/sdd.
Before you install the SDD on an IBM pSeries host running Linux, review the following considerations and also review "Hardware requirements for the Linux operating system on the pSeries host" .
Many Linux distributions give administrators the ability to configure their systems for automatic system updates. Red Hat provides this in a program called up2date, while SUSE provides it as YaST Online Update. These features periodically query for updates that are available for each host, and they can be configured to automatically install any new updates. This often includes updates to the kernel.
Consider turning off this automatic update feature if you hosts are attached to the DS6000™ series and run the IBM Multipath Subsystem Device Driver (SDD). Some drivers that are supplied by IBM, like the SDD, are dependent an a specific kernel and will cease to function in the presence of a new kernel. Similarly, host bus adapter (HBA) drivers must be compiled against specific kernels to function optimally. By allowing automatic updates of the kernel, you risk unexpectedly impacting your host systems.