L2beta Online information

This page contains general information related to configuring the L2beta CPUs at D-Zero.

Configuring a new Board

Upon arrival at D-Zero there are several steps necessary to configure a beta before it can be used in the experiment.


  1. install a hard drive on the 9U card, if is it not already done. Hard drives should be marked with the following label:
    L2b2.4.10-9

  2. All new hard drives should have the serial port configured for console access when the board is shipped from UVa. The network may be configured by connecting a serial terminal to com1 on the SBC. Alternately, attach the monitor/keyboard near L3/L2Teststand and power-up the card. If you don't hear a beep after power-up w/in ~5 seconds power down!

  3. If the serial port has not been enabled for consoles access, follow these instructions AFTER the configuration steps below.

  4. On the very 1st boot, you may see a “System shutdown uncleanly” message. This can be ignored. If you are prompted for a configuration change, remove the mouse configuration (this will save ~30 seconds at boot time)

  5. Reset the password to the online password


  1. Update the network configuration files ( use pico or vi, etc to edit files):
    - replace /etc/resolve.conf with this file
    - replace /etc/sysconfig/network with this file , replace 'X' in d0l2betaX w/ the proper number for the CPU
    (see spreadsheet below for naming information)
    - replace /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 with this file, replace 131.225.xxx.xxx with the proper IP address for the CPU
    (see spreadsheet below for configuration information)
    Plug an ethernet cable into the connector labeled lan2 (the top connector) and restart networking using:
    service network restart
    now you can ssh into the Beta from the online network

  2. Configure ntp
    - replace /etc/ntp.conf with this file
    - replace /etc/ntp/step-tickers with this file
    - cd /etc/ntp, then rm ntpservers
    - run timeconfig and select “America/Chicago” for your timezone (Do this in an x-terminal, some serial terminal emulators do not handle the ascii graphics well)


  1. make the following directories:
    mkdir /common
    mkdir -p /d0dist/dist
    mkdir -p /online/products/l2crates

  2. add the following lines to /etc/fstab
    d0l2bs:/common /common nfs rw 0 0
    d0ol-nfs-2:/export/d0dist /d0dist nfs rw,bg,rsize=8192,wsize=8192 0 0
    d0ol-nfs-2:/export/online /online nfs rw,bg,rsize=8192,wsize=8192 0 0

    NOTE: Remove any lines beginning with the name d0olcluster:

  3. Note: If the /common directory is not empty when the beta arrives from Virginia, do a rm -rf /common/* before trying to mount the /common area from d0l2bs

  4. On the secure network, you may disable iptables to allow the nfs access as follows:
    cd /etc/sysconfig
    mv iptables iptables~


      Boards shipped after September 2003 will have no limits on core dump file sizes. Earlier boards should be configured as follows:
      In /etc/profile:
      Change the lines:
      # No core files by default

      ulimit -S -c 0 > /dev/null 2>&1


      To:
      # No core files by default

      #ulimit -S -c 0 > /dev/null 2>&1

      #change to no limit.

      ulimit -S -c unlimited > /dev/null 2>&1

Spreadsheet for Beta information (now just a text file)

Back to main L2beta page