SPlat, oddball hardware and the mythical "custom ISO"

[ulynch]

Silly me, I was unaware of the SPlat hardware compatibility list.

Check Point Software: Hardware Compatibility List -

In my ignorance, I acquired a new Dell Poweredge R200 server to replace an aging R65 SmartCenter install. The system booted to the SPlat 2.6 CD I created from the ISO, but soon asked for the type of CD drive I was using, then requested a driver diskette for it. The Dell PE R200 has no floppy drive and no capability for adding one. The CD drive is SATA.

After some research I found that many folks over the years have discovered the default SPlat distro on the ISO images may be missing drivers for the hardware they're using. Several times I found references to asking Checkpoint support for a custom ISO image compiled with the drivers they need. (References below.)

So I contacted our Checkpoint support provider, who in turn contacted Checkpoint support. After a couple weeks, we received two responses from different Checkpoint divisions:

"The official response is that the drivers are not supported under any of the current builds of SPLAT, and unless an appropriate business case can be supplied, it will not be included in any release for the current versions of SPLAT."

And,

"If this server is not listed, it has not been certified to work, and
therefore if it does not work, there is no way for us to ensure that all
the needed drivers are there to work with the hardware."

Neither had ever heard of Checkpoint creating a custom SPlat ISO image for a customer.

Is the custom ISO a myth? Did we reach the wrong support groups? Have I read the references incorrectly? Did Checkpoint give up this practice in the recent past? Is this only for "large" customers, or for more common requests?

What has been your experience with this issue?

Thanks for any thoughts.

Dan Lynch, CISSP
County of Placer
Auburn, CA

References:

Re: [FW-1] add a driver to a splat iso
"if you have software subscription/support, you can contact TAC
and they should be able to supply you with a new ISO"

Re: [FW-1] Secureplatform on Dell 1750 w/ Raid Controller
"I called tech support, and they have recompiled the R54 version to
include the MEGARAID driver support that PERC uses"

Re: [FW-1] Problem installing SPLAT on Dell servers Poweredge 850 with S
"the driver can be added to the stage2 image"

How does one install add a device driver to SPLAT??
"You will need a new SPLAT ISO to support the Intel "GT" series cards too; one has been created for R60, R61, and R55"

SPLAT on IBM x306m (ICH7 SATA drivers)
"Contact CheckPoint support and most probably you will get a special SPLAT iso image with SATA drivers included."