On Thu, 2005-02-10 at 22:52 -0500, Mitchell Laks wrote: > Dear Ron and Alvin, > > Thank you both for the feedback! > > I wonder about what you said. > Ron > >> I assume I will be given drivers as kernel modules and I can just modprobe > >> them and add to them to initrd via mkinitrd. > > >You're going to boot off the SAN? I'd prefer to boot off of DASD. > > Of course I won't boot from the big storage device. Why would I? I am planning > to boot from a separate 40Gb hard drive. > > However, I find that if i have a device mounted, say with an entry such as > /dev/sda1 /bigdevice ext3 defaults 0 2 > in /etc/fstab, > > then during debian initial bootup, while going through /etc/rcS.d, when my > sytem does > S30checkfs.sh, > My system stops to boot and I drop into a error correction shell, requiring > manual intervention (^D) unless I have the device driver for the > device /dev/sda1 inserted into initrd.img-2.6.8-1-386 via mkintrd. > > How would i compile support for the device into the kernel if I just get a > binary driver for modprobing? By altering when you mount sda1. We all know that The Important System Directories need to be around during boot time. So, you mark the relevant partitions as "auto" in /etc/fstab, and either you compile in the fs drivers, or create an initrd, right? Well, your /dev/sda1 is not necessary for boot, right? So, remove the "auto" from sda1's /etc/fstab entry, and add an entry in /etc/init.d (symlinked, of course to rc[26].d) that modprobes for the driver(s) and then mounts /dev/sda1. Simple! ;) > Secondly, I really want to get it working with Debian, because I like debian. > I am tired of redhat. I hate not being able to just pick my packages and hate > just having a broad choice of what works with the redhat workstation or > server categories. I like the power that debian gives me to configure my > system just right! I hear ya. And agree... > As long as I can get the driver to work, I am not worried about later > problems. I am doing a static mirror of my big data collection, so I wont > have issues of later corruption. When it's your money, and Linux is not under scrutiny, and 14TB of company data is not involved, then sure, do what you want. OTOH, when it's *not* your money, and when Linux *is* under scrutiny by people who have drunk the MS Kool-Ade, and 14TB of company data is not involved, use a supported distro. > This will be fun. I appreciate your comments of caution, but we all care about > using debian too much to miss a chance to do this the DEBIAN way! You could always try to convince HDS to support Debian!!! -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Ron Johnson, Jr. Jefferson, LA USA PGP Key ID 8834C06B I prefer encrypted mail. "The mass of ignorant Negroes still breed carelessly and disastrously, so that the increase among Negroes, even more than the increase among whites, is from that portion of the population least intelligent and fit, and least able to rear their children properly." W.E.B. DuBois (co-founder of the NAACP), 1932
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