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13.2.3. Preparing an Initial RAM Disk Update

Important

This is an advanced procedure that you should consider only if you cannot perform a driver update with any other method.
The Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation program can load updates for itself early in the installation process from a RAM disk — an area of your computer's memory that temporarily behaves as if it were a disk. You can use this same capability to load driver updates. To perform a driver update during installation, your computer must be able to boot from a yaboot installation server, and you must have one available on your network. Refer to Chapter 30, Setting Up an Installation Server for instructions on using a yaboot installation server.
To make the driver update available on your installation server:
  1. Place the driver update image file on your installation server. Usually, you would do this by downloading it to the server from a location on the Internet specified by Red Hat or your hardware vendor. Names of driver update image files end in .iso.
  2. Copy the driver update image file into the /tmp/initrd_update directory.
  3. Rename the driver update image file to dd.img.
  4. At the command line, change into the /tmp/initrd_update directory, type the following command, and press Enter: 
    find . | cpio --quiet -o -H newc | gzip -9 >/tmp/initrd_update.img
  5. Copy the file /tmp/initrd_update.img into the directory the holds the target that you want to use for installation. This directory is placed under the /var/lib/tftpboot/yaboot/ directory. For example, /var/lib/tftpboot/yaboot/rhel6/ might hold the yaboot installation target for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.
  6. Edit the /var/lib/tftpboot/yaboot/yaboot.conf file to include an entry that includes the initial RAM disk update that you just created, in the following format: 
    image=target/vmlinuz
label=target-dd
initrd=target/initrd.img,target/dd.img
    Where target is the target that you want to use for installation.
Refer to Section 13.3.4, “Select an Installation Server Target That Includes a Driver Update” to learn how to use an initial RAM disk update during installation.

Example 13.1. Preparing an initial RAM disk update from a driver update image file

In this example, driver_update.iso is a driver update image file that you downloaded from the Internet to a directory on your installation server. The target on your installation server that you want to boot from is located in /var/lib/tftpboot/yaboot/rhel6/
At the command line, change to the directory that holds the file and enter the following commands: 
$ cp driver_update.iso /tmp/initrd_update/dd.img
$ cd /tmp/initrd_update
$ find . | cpio --quiet -c -o -H newc | gzip -9 >/tmp/initrd_update.img
$ cp /tmp/initrd_update.img /tftpboot/yaboot/rhel6/dd.img
Edit the /var/lib/tftpboot/yaboot/yaboot.conf file and include the following entry: 
image=rhel6/vmlinuz
label=rhel6-dd
initrd=rhel6/initrd.img,rhel6/dd.img