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