[lug] Centos 5 RHEL 5 yum / rpm and driver compatibility

[Hugh Brown]

karl horlen wrote:
> I know that CentOS versions are essentially backported
> RHEL versions.  Which would mean that the rpms are mix
> match between the two.  At least in theory.
> 
> If I purchase a Dell that has RHEL5 installed with a 1
> yr subscription, after that year runs out and I don't
> want renew the subscription, could i just continue yum
> updates from CentOS 5 on the factory shipped RHEL5?  
> 
> Or will there be conflicts, naming and otherwise, that
> would prevent this and force me to either renew the
> subscription or reinstall an otherwise working system
> with CentOS to go forward with updates?
> 
> Finally, if Dell ships a system with RHEL5 that
> supports the HW RAID controller they ship it with, can
> I assume that the driver will be present in CentOS 5
> distro at install time?  How do I check?  
> 
> If I was guaranteed this I would just purchase the
> system without the RHEL subscription and install
> CentOS on it myself.  I just don't want to have any
> driver surprises if I take the DIY approach.  I want
> the installer to see the HW RAID at install time and
> know this is "just going to work".
> 
> I'm trying to get somebody at Dell support to try and
> confirm this and get more specifics on the drivers but
> they haven't gotten back to me yet.  Depending on who
> you talk to on what day results in grossly different
> answers on a wide variety of topics which never helps
> the comfort factor.
> 


My understanding of the relationship was that CentOS takes all of the RH 
src rpm's, strips out the artwork and any mention of redhat, rebuilds 
the rpms and out comes CentOS.

If the driver works on RH5 out of the box (w/o a Dell added rpm), then 
it will work on CentOS.  If there is a dell rpm, chances are you can go 
to the support page and download it.

Which raid controller is it?  I think the PERC line of controllers is 
pretty well supported.  We have a dell PowerEdge 6950 which works fine 
under RH5 w/o any added Dell stuff (lspci gives " 22:0e.0 RAID bus 
controller: Dell PowerEdge Expandable RAID controller 5")

Hugh