Linux Storage - GRUB menu.lst stanza for the MPP initrd
Linux Storage Solution · Config document · referenced from RDAC installation and operation
menu.lst (the default, timeout and splashimage lines and the stock Red Hat stanza) is not in the notes, so the new entry had to be chosen in the GRUB menu by hand or made the default; the notes do not say which.The boot entry added to /boot/grub/menu.lst on mppsrv01 after the RDAC driver was built and installed. It boots the same kernel as the stock entry, 2.6.9-89.0.9.ELsmp, with a different initrd, mpp-2.6.9-89.0.9.ELsmp.img, which loads mppUpper before the QLogic driver so that the HBAs do not publish the LUNs on their own. The file was immutable (chattr +i) on this host, so the attribute was taken off before the edit and put back after it.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| File | /boot/grub/menu.lst |
| Host | mppsrv01, Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 4 |
| Edited with | chattr -i /boot/grub/menu.lst, nano /boot/grub/menu.lst, chattr +i /boot/grub/menu.lst, as root |
| Kernel | /vmlinuz-2.6.9-89.0.9.ELsmp, unchanged |
| Initrd | /mpp-2.6.9-89.0.9.ELsmp.img, the MPP initrd; mppUpdate rebuilds it ("Creating new MPP initrd image...") |
| Root file system | the logical volume /dev/VG_ROOT/LV_ROOT |
| Activated with | reboot |
| Driver version | RDAC 09.03.0B05.0331 |
The file
title Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS (2.6.9-89.0.9.ELsmp) with MPP support root (hd0,0) kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-89.0.9.ELsmp ro root=/dev/VG_ROOT/LV_ROOT rhgb quiet initrd /mpp-2.6.9-89.0.9.ELsmp.img
| Line | Meaning |
|---|---|
title … with MPP support | the menu text; the notes call it the entry for the "new" kernel, but the kernel is the old one and only the initrd is new |
root (hd0,0) | GRUB's root: the first partition of the first disk, where /boot lives, so the kernel and initrd paths below are relative to /boot |
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-89.0.9.ELsmp ro root=/dev/VG_ROOT/LV_ROOT rhgb quiet | the stock kernel with the stock parameters: read-only root at first, root on the LVM volume LV_ROOT in VG_ROOT, graphical boot, quiet |
initrd /mpp-2.6.9-89.0.9.ELsmp.img | the initrd the RDAC installation created; as I understand it, this is what makes the entry different, because the MPP initrd loads mppUpper ahead of qla2xxx |
Where the mpp-…img file came from is not spelled out in the notes: it exists after make install, and every later mppUpdate prints "Creating new MPP initrd image...", so I take it that make install ran the same step. Whether GRUB's default was moved to the new entry is not recorded either; after the reboot the modules were loaded (lsmod shows mppVhba and mppUpper), so the new entry is what booted. The commands around this edit are in RDAC installation commands.
Checked against Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 and the RDAC package readme
| As built | Today |
|---|---|
GRUB legacy, /boot/grub/menu.lst, a stanza typed by hand | GRUB 2 with boot loader specification entries in /boot/loader/entries/, edited with grubby, the configuration regenerated with grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg |
initrd /mpp-2.6.9-89.0.9.ELsmp.img | The readme of the same build names the initrd mpp-<uname -r>.img, so the name was the driver's, not the author's |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 4, kernel 2.6.9-89.0.9.ELsmp | 2.6.9-89 is Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Update 8 (May 2009) and 2.6.9-89.0.9.EL the security erratum RHSA-2009:1223 of August 2009. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 was retired on 29 February 2012 and its extended life-cycle support ended on 31 March 2017 |
the RDAC driver 09.03.0B05.0331 | Released 15 June 2010 for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Update 7 and 8 and SLES 9 and 10; discontinued by NetApp with SANtricity OS 11.25 |