[ale] CRISIS -> boot/root floppy needed..........

[Geoffrey]

Get the 2nd edition...

Courtney Thomas wrote:
> Bob,
> 
> Thank you for writing.
> 
> I have your book and have not needed it in so long that I mislaid it but 
> thanks to your message have taken the time to dig it out and will heed 
> your advice.
> 
> I have the 2001 edition. Has much changed ?
> 
> Cordially,
> Courtney
> 
> 
> 
> Transam wrote:
> 
>> On Mon, Mar 03, 2003 at 08:27:14AM -0500, Courtney Thomas wrote:
>>
>>> Good Morning !
>>>
>>
>>> I am running RH6.1 because of an Oracle installation and need to 
>>> leave it alone for now, however, any guidance regarding SPECIFICS of 
>>> upgrading the OS and Oracle would be appreciated.
>>>
>>
>>> Setup:
>>>     bootup uses dpt_i2o        <- OS hard drive scsi driver
>>>     oracle uses eata        <- scsi raid driver for oracle
>>>     tape drive uses dc390x_ncr    <- scsi tape driver
>>>
>>
>>> Dilemma:
>>>     no boot/root floppy, other than a custom one, is going to have 
>>> the dpt_i2o & dc390x_ncr drivers, since they are non-standard scsi 
>>> drivers. So, the boot floppy must afford the opportunity to install 
>>> dpt_i2o at bootup, which is done by mkbootdisk under RH6.1.
>>>
>>
>>> And, once the OS hard drive is up, the eata & dc390x_ncr modules must 
>>> be installed before unmounting the OS hard drive, to provide 
>>> quiescent OS and raid hard drives for tape backup. This assumes, of 
>>> course, these modules would remain available after OS hard drive 
>>> unmounting.
>>>
>>
>>> But, the aforedescribed boot floppy asks for a root floppy, which is 
>>> not provided AFAIK by RH6.1. I have more pressing needs than spending 
>>> unknown hours whittling away on such a root floppy.
>>>
>>
>>> Is there a 'downloadable' root floppy that can meet these requirements ?
>>>
>>
>>> If not, please precisely summarize the most efficient way to create 
>>> said root floppy.
>>>
>>
>> Keep in mind that your Rescue boot floppy or Rescue boot and root 
>> floppies
>> or Rescue CD does NOT have to be the same distribution as what is on disk
>> nor does it need to be the same version nor even close.
>>
>> The only requirement is that it has the drivers for the devices and
>> file systems you need to access (e.g., disk, tape if tape restore is 
>> needed,
>> ext2 and/or ext3, etc).
>>
>> There are a few ways to deal with this:
>>
>> 1. Build a kernel with these devices built-in (not as loadable modules).
>>    Be sure to include the RAMDISK file system type.  If you are building
>>    for a Rescue boot and root floppy pair, be sure to include:
>>
>>         rdev -r /dev/fd0 49152
>>
>>    so that a RAMDISK will be set up and the process will prompt you
>>    to change floppies.
>>
>>    Copy that kernel to a floppy to be your boot kernel.
>>
>> 2. Use tar to write the device drivers to a separate floppy, boot from
>>    Rescue media, use tar to load the device drivers to RAMDISK and
>>    use insmod to load to memory.
>>
>> 3. Build a custom Rescue root floppy that contains the device driver 
>> modules
>>    and a rc.local to load them.  Building a custom Rescue root floppy
>>    is explained in "Real World Linux Security"; check the index under
>>    "Rescue Disks, custom".
>>
>>
>>> Else, what do you recommend ?
>>>
>>
>>> Appreciatively,
>>> Courtney
>>>
>>
>> Bob Toxen
>> bob at verysecurelinux.com               [Please use for email to me]
>> http://www.verysecurelinux.com        [Network&Linux/Unix security 
>> consulting]
>> http://www.realworldlinuxsecurity.com [My book:"Real World Linux 
>> Security 2/e"]
>> Quality Linux & UNIX security and SysAdmin & software consulting since 
>> 1990.
>>
>> "Microsoft: Unsafe at any clock speed!"
>>    -- Bob Toxen 10/03/2002
>> _______________________________________________
>> Ale mailing list
>> Ale at ale.org
>> http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
>>
>>
> 
> 

-- 
Until later: Geoffrey		esoteric at 3times25.net

The latest, most widespread virus?  Microsoft end user agreement.
Think about it...

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