Boel initrd files are actually compressed cramfs files. This is a menuscript for authoring and modifying these files, if needed. Assume the file in question is /tftpboot/install-initrd-i386.img: cp /tftpboot/install-initrd-i386.img /tmp/ cd /tmp/ gzip -S .img -d install-initrd-i386.img mount -o loop install-initrd-i386 /mnt mkdir initrd cd /mnt/ tar cf – . | (cd /tmp/initrd/ ; tar…
Kickstart is a great method of hands-free installation of RHEL/Centos (and other derived systems). Its power is in its easy interface and rather powerful %post scripting directives. Its weakness is in its lack of flexibility where it comes to package selection and various custom actions. On some cases, companies use web interface (usually home-made) which…
If it works, don’t touch it. This is one of my mottoes. I have broken this rule just yesterday when I decided that I was too lazy to install Pidgin from source, and decided I wanted it to be installed directly from deb. Unfortunately, there was no pidgin deb for Edgy. None that I was…
As an administrator, I am responsible for many setups and configurations, sometimes hand tailored to supply an answer to a set of given demands. As a human, I err, and the common method of verifying that you have avoided error is by answering this simple rule: “Does it work after these changes?” In the world…
Recently I have installed several Redhat systems on IA64 platforms. Since it required only slight adjustments, and since there were two sets of systems, RHEL3 Update2 and RHEL4 Update3, I have decided to use Kickstart for both, each with his own ks.cfg file. For lack of any other explanation at the moment, I can only…
Cluster fencing – Unlike many common thoughts, high-availability is not the highest priority of an high-availability cluster, but only the 2nd one. The highest priority of an high-availability cluster is maintenance of data integrity by prevention of multiple concurrent access of nodes to the shared disk. On different cluster, depending on the vendor, this can…
