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It is possible that the hardware changes with new server models and you cannot boot any more from the RedHat Bootdisk. Then you need to inspect your new hardware and see what new devices are built in and get a driver for it.
For more convenience, I have written some simple scripts, which do the most annoying tasks.
The drivers need to be changed on different locations:
Network drivers must be put on the boot-disk, because all other packages, drivers, etc. are loaded from a network location
Ungzip bootnet.img.gz with:
Mount the Image as a loop filesystem on /mnt/bootimage:
Unpack and mount the inital ramdisk with the following script, give the initrd-file under /mnt/bootimage/ as argument. The inital ramdisk will be mounted under /mnt/initrd:
Unpack the modules with the following script:
Now copy the new driver module(s) to /var/tmp/modules/<kernel-version> directory
Change /mnt/initrd/modules/pcitable and add a new line with the vendor ID, product ID, driver name and description to the file (see example below):
Change the file /mnt/initrd/modules/module-info and add a line for each the driver name, type and description (see the following example):
Add a line for the new driver to the file /mnt/initrd/modules/modules.dep if the new driver module is dependent on othe kernel modules. Mostly not necessary for ethernet adapters.
Re-pack the modules to the archive, kernel-version-directory under /var/tmp/modules as 1st argument, cpio archive file as 2nd argument:
"exit" from the initrd-mount, if you are there, /mnt/initrd or subdirectories of it musn't be your current dir!
If you also need to update the boot-kernel (when used some modules not for acutal kernel version), copy the new vmlinuz kernel image to /mnt/bootimage
Unmount and pack the initial ramdisk, give the initrd-file under /mnt/bootimage to be updated as argument:
Now unmount the bootimage and write it to a boot floppy with this script:
Most other drivers, like for SCSI-Controllers are in the stage2 Image
Mount the Stage 2 image (network-connected part of the installation):
Unpack the modules with the following script:
Now copy the new driver module(s) to /var/tmp/<kernel-version> directory
Important: If the new modules are built for another kernel version as the one on the boodisk, the bootdisk image must be updated with the corresponding kernel image. Further, all modules need to be replaced by one's of the same kernel version as the kernel image!
Change /mnt/image/modules/pcitable and add a new line with the vendor ID, product ID, driver name and description to the file (see example below):
Change the file /mnt/initrd/modules/module-info and add a line for each the driver name, type and description (see the following example):
Add a line for the new driver to the file /mnt/image/modules/modules.dep if the new driver module is dependent on other kernel modules. Example:
Re-pack the modules to the archive, kernel-version-directory under /var/tmp/ as 1st argument (see /var/tmp/modules), cpio archive file as 2nd argument:
Leave the mountpoint of the image (/mnt/image or subdirectories of it musn't be your current dir!)
Unmount the image:
For more convenience, I have written some simple scripts, which do the most annoying tasks.
The drivers need to be changed on different locations:
Network drivers must be put on the boot-disk, because all other packages, drivers, etc. are loaded from a network location
Ungzip bootnet.img.gz with:
gunzip bootnet.img.gz
Mount the Image as a loop filesystem on /mnt/bootimage:
unpack_bootimage.sh bootnet.img
Unpack and mount the inital ramdisk with the following script, give the initrd-file under /mnt/bootimage/ as argument. The inital ramdisk will be mounted under /mnt/initrd:
unpack_initrd.sh initrd.img
Unpack the modules with the following script:
unpack_modules.sh /mnt/initrd/modules/modules.cgz
Now copy the new driver module(s) to /var/tmp/modules/<kernel-version> directory
Change /mnt/initrd/modules/pcitable and add a new line with the vendor ID, product ID, driver name and description to the file (see example below):
0x8086 0x1010 "e1000" "Intel Corporation|PRO/1000"
Change the file /mnt/initrd/modules/module-info and add a line for each the driver name, type and description (see the following example):
e1000
eth
"Intel EtherExpress Pro 1000"
Add a line for the new driver to the file /mnt/initrd/modules/modules.dep if the new driver module is dependent on othe kernel modules. Mostly not necessary for ethernet adapters.
Re-pack the modules to the archive, kernel-version-directory under /var/tmp/modules as 1st argument, cpio archive file as 2nd argument:
pack_modules.sh 2.4.20-18.7BOOT /mnt/initrd/modules/modules.cgz
"exit" from the initrd-mount, if you are there, /mnt/initrd or subdirectories of it musn't be your current dir!
If you also need to update the boot-kernel (when used some modules not for acutal kernel version), copy the new vmlinuz kernel image to /mnt/bootimage
Unmount and pack the initial ramdisk, give the initrd-file under /mnt/bootimage to be updated as argument:
pack_initrd.sh initrd.img
Now unmount the bootimage and write it to a boot floppy with this script:
pack_bootimage.sh bootnet.img
Most other drivers, like for SCSI-Controllers are in the stage2 Image
Mount the Stage 2 image (network-connected part of the installation):
mount -o loop /install/cdrom/RedHat/base/stage2.img /mnt/image
Unpack the modules with the following script:
unpack_modules.sh /mnt/image/modules/modules.cgz
Now copy the new driver module(s) to /var/tmp/<kernel-version> directory
Important: If the new modules are built for another kernel version as the one on the boodisk, the bootdisk image must be updated with the corresponding kernel image. Further, all modules need to be replaced by one's of the same kernel version as the kernel image!
Change /mnt/image/modules/pcitable and add a new line with the vendor ID, product ID, driver name and description to the file (see example below):
0x9005 0x801f "aic79xx" "Adaptec|AIC7902 Ultra 320 SCSI Adapter"
Change the file /mnt/initrd/modules/module-info and add a line for each the driver name, type and description (see the following example):
aic79xx
scsi
"Adaptec AIC79xx Ultra 320 SCSI Host Adapter"
Add a line for the new driver to the file /mnt/image/modules/modules.dep if the new driver module is dependent on other kernel modules. Example:
aic79xx: scsi_mod
Re-pack the modules to the archive, kernel-version-directory under /var/tmp/ as 1st argument (see /var/tmp/modules), cpio archive file as 2nd argument:
pack_modules.sh <kernel-version> /mnt/image/modules/modules.cgz
Leave the mountpoint of the image (/mnt/image or subdirectories of it musn't be your current dir!)
Unmount the image:
umount /mnt/image