Kernel update on RHEL 6.9+ generates the error "emcpmgr create_db command failed for mkinitrd failed", leading to kernel panic on reboot

Solution Verified - Updated -

Issue

  • During the kernel update, when yum is installing the kernel, generating the initramfs fails with the following message:

        Usage: emcpmgr  [options]
    
        cmd: create_db [pseudo_name] [bfs_db_directory_name]
        config [-p] [-e dpm]
        help
        list [-p] [-e dpm|mp|mpc]
        map [-p] [-e dpm|mp|mpc]
        startup_cfg_done
        unmap [-e dpm|mp|mpc]
        unconfig [-e dpm]
        version
    
        Warning: this is an internal EMC PowerPath command!
        emcpmgr create_db command failed for 
        mkinitrd failed
        warning: %posttrans(kernel-2.6.32-696.23.1.el6.x86_64) scriptlet failed, exit status 1
        Non-fatal POSTTRANS scriptlet failure in rpm package kernel-2.6.32-696.23.1.el6.x86_64
    
  • This message can be easily missed as yum reports no errors at the end and marks the kernel as installed:

        Verifying : kernel-2.6.32-696.23.1.el6.x86_64           1/1 
        Installed:
        kernel.x86_64 0:2.6.32-696.23.1.el6            
    
  • This can lead to kernel panic if the system is rebooted after the kernel update, as the initramfs image for the kernel is missing.

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.x
  • Kernel 2.6.32-696.23.1 or newer
  • EMC PowerPath 6.0 SP1

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