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

[Jason Day]

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 ?

Have your tried contacting RedHat?

Have you tried Tom's Root Boot disk?  http://www.toms.net/rb/
It may or may not have the drivers you need.  There is also the linux
bootable business card at http://lnx-bbc.org/ .
> 
> If not, please precisely summarize the most efficient way to create said 
> root floppy.

The tomsrtbt FAQ has a section about customizing.  You might be able to
add your drivers that way.  Or, if you have the source for your drivers,
you could try compiling them after you've booted the system.  The linux
BBC cdrom will setup networking and ssh for you, and installs a ram
disk.  It might be possible to copy the source files over to the ram
disk and build them there.

> 
> Else, what do you recommend ?

Using another system to install RH6.1 and all necessary drivers.  Then
take the hard drive out of that system and put it in the one you're
trying to fix.

HTH,
Jason
-- 
Jason Day                                       jasonday at
http://jasonday.home.att.net                    worldnet dot att dot net
 
"Of course I'm paranoid, everyone is trying to kill me."
    -- Weyoun-6, Star Trek: Deep Space 9
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