RHBA-2014:1492 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated dracut packages that fix several bugs and add one enhancement are now
available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

Description

The dracut packages include an event-driven initramfs generator infrastructure
based on the udev device manager. The virtual file system, initramfs, is loaded
together with the kernel at boot time and initializes the system, so it can read
and boot from the root partition.

This update fixes the following bugs:

• The Anaconda "fcoe=edd:<dcb_setting>" option was introduced to allow systems

in multi-path configuration to boot from the Storage Area Network (SAN).
Previously, the option worked correctly only with the systems that used Enhanced
Disk Drive Services (EDD) BIOS. Consequently, systems that did not use EDD, such
as UEFI-based systems, could fail to boot from SAN. With this update, the option
has been enhanced to work correctly with all systems. (BZ#1022766)

• In FIPS mode, the self checking of binaries is only done if the

/etc/system-fips file is present. The dracut utility did not copy
/etc/system-fips and certain checksum files in the initial ram file system
(initramfs). As a consequence, the self check of the binaries, which was needed
to decrypt a partition, was not done so that the partition could not been
unlocked. Now, dracut copies all the needed files in the initramfs, and systems
with encrypted disks can now boot successfully in FIPS mode. (BZ#1026302)

• The dracut(8) manual page did not describe certain new features. With this

update, the missing information has been added to the manual page. (BZ#1033784)

• The nvme driver was missing from the initrd images. Consequently, when Red Hat

Enterprise Linux was installed on a non-volatile memory express (NVMe) storage,
the post-installation reboot failed. This update adds the missing driver and Red
Hat Enterprise Linux can be installed on NVMe storages as expected. (BZ#1041484)

• Only the plymouth module was responsible for creating the initramfs

/emergency/ directory. When the module was omitted during the installation,
/emergency/ was not created. This behavior caused errors to be returned because
other modules required /emergency/ too. With this update, /emergency/ is created
regardless of loaded modules. (BZ#1051448)

• The /dev/btrfs-control device node is only created, after the btrfs kernel

module is loaded. Previously, utilities that attempted to access the node prior
to the module was loaded terminated unexpectedly. Now, the dracut initramfs
environment statically creates the device node. As a result, when a utility
tries to access the node, the kernel loads btrfs automatically so that the
utility no longer fails in the described scenario. (BZ#1070676)

• The iscsistart utility, which is used for adding iSCSI disks, could be

executed only when network interfaces had been brought up successfully. When the
interfaces had not been correctly specified on the kernel command line, it was
not possible to run the utility and boot the system from iSCSI disks. Now, when
iSCSI disks are requested on the kernel command line, the dracut initramfs
environment runs iscsistart even if no network interface is properly specified,
thus allowing the system to boot from iSCSI disks. (BZ#1099603)

• With the iSCSI server not being available, the iscsistart utility took a very

long time to connect to it, which slowed the boot process. With this update,
iscsistart is now launched in the background, thus connecting to the iSCSI
server as soon as it is available. As a result, booting no longer takes enormous
amount of time. (BZ#1126346)

In addition, this update adds the following enhancement:

• This update enables the server to boot from a secondary device in case the

primary device fails. The new "rootfallback=<secondary_device>" parameter has
been added to the dracut parameters. This parameter is used when the primary
device specified with the "root=<primary_device>" parameter cannot be found.
(BZ#737687)

Users of dracut are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which fix
these bugs and add this enhancement.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata
relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via the Red Hat Network. Details on how to
use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at
https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 6 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 6 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Scientific Computing 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support (for IBM z Systems) 6 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension (for IBM z Systems) 6 s390x

Fixes

• BZ - 1033784 - dracut.conf man page not updated along with dracut in RHEL 6.5
• BZ - 1070676 - btrfs - missing /dev/btrfs-control causes btrfsck to taint and crash the kernel - please include correct dracut module

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)