Introduction

The Cavium ThunderX CRB1S is an Ubuntu-certified arm64 server based on the Cavium ThunderX SoC.

Installation Notes

ACPI Mode

By default, Ubuntu will boot using the platform-provided DeviceTree firmware. If you prefer to boot in ACPI mode, you will need to install 16.04 LTS ('XenialXerus') with the Kernel/LTSEnablementStack installation option, or Ubuntu 17.04 ('ZestyZapus') or newer, and append the acpi=force command line argument.

Note: There are no known benefits to running this system in ACPI mode instead of the default DeviceTree mode.

Known Issue w/ KVM Guests

There is a known erratum that can result in KVM guest hangs that is being tracked in LP: #1673564. A fix for this is in place for Ubuntu 17.10 ('ArtfulAardvark'). For Ubuntu 16.04, this is resolved in the HWE Kernel.

Upgrading from AMI UEFI >= 017

If you upgrade the firmware on your system from an AMI UEFI release before 017 to 017 (or later), you need to perform a one-time configuration change to preserve your MAC addresses:

1. Immediately after boot, enter the BDK setup menu.
2. Select option "N" for "Number of MAC Addresses"
3. Enter "3"
4. Select "Save Board Manufacturing Data to Flash"

MAAS Notes

To configure a system for use in a MAAS cluster:

1. When prompted on boot, enter the BIOS Setup menu.
2. Under "Advanced", enable "Network Stack".
3. If "Network Stack" was not already enabled:
   1. Save changes and exit the BIOS Menu. This will cause the system to reboot.
   2. Once again, when prompted on boot, enter the BIOS Setup menu.
4. Under "Boot", disable any non-network options in the "Boot Option Priorities" list, and enable the NIC option(s) you wish to use to PXE boot from the MAAS server.

External Links