Linux Miscellany
Entitlements comparison – http://www.redhat.com/rhn/compare/#module
To reload inittab (following changes so the kernel is aware) without a reboot
init q
Changing locales edit /etc/sysconfig/i18n
Documentation – /usr/share/doc/MAKEDEV/devices
Linux - GRUB
GRUB VGA modes
Colors(bits) | 640×480 | 800×600 | 1024×768 | 1280×1024 | 1600×1200 |
256(8) | 769 | 771 | 773 | 775 | 796 |
32768(15) | 784 | 787 | 790 | 793 | 797 |
65536(16) | 785 | 788 | 791 | 794 | 798 |
16,8M(24) | 786 | 789 | 792 | 795 | 799 |
NOTE:
- For normal kernels this is implemented by appending
vga=<mode>
(e.g vga=791) to the kernel line in grub.conf. - For XEN kernels the same is implemented by appending
vga=gfx-<vesa mode>
(e.g. vga=gfx-1024x768x16) to the kernel line in grub.conf
GRUB commands
displaymem - show system memory boot - boot OS root - sets and mount root partition kernel - set kernel location and parameters initrd - set initrd location rootnotify - set root location, no mount
Kickstart
Consoles during text install:
- tty1 = text install
- tty2 = shell
- tty3 = anaconda messages
- tty4 = dmesg (as far as I can tell)
- tty5 = disk messages (as far as I can tell)
RHEL Swap Recommendations
Recommended Swap Space for RHEL
The amount of swap recommended for RHEL depends on a number of factors including the amount of memory in the system and the workload imposed on that memory. The current guidelines for Red Hat Enterprise Linux swap space are as follows:
- 4GB of RAM requires a minimum of 2GB of swap space
- 4GB to 16GB RAM requires a minimum of 4GB of swap space
- 16GB to 64GB of RAM requires a minimum of 8GB of swap space
- 64GB to 256GB of RAM requires a minimum of 16GB of swap space
Multicast
To check if MULTICAST is enabled:
$ ifconfig (look for MULTICAST in output)
To enable MULTICAST routing:
# route add -net 224.0.0.0 netmask 240.0.0.0 dev bondN
Testing multicast
- Copy swdepot:/software/linux/scripts/multicast.py to server(s)
- On server(s) run
multicast.py -h
to get syntax - Start one server instance on one server and one client instance on another server
- If multicast is working you will see output
Build Tricks
Error: unable to contact NFS server
For servers with multiple NICs eth0 may not be the correct one for the build as it may not be on the corporate network. For example, clustered servers, eth0 may be the heartbeat – all depending on how the server was cabled and ports configured.
You can get around this and find the “correct” NIC by editing the Kickstart file while running build.sh – simply change the network line. Instead of ”–device=eth0” replace with ”–device”. The kickstart process will stop and ask which device you want to use, you can scroll through the list until you find the one that works (a reboot is required following a failure).