[CentOS] [OT] 3Ware 9.2.1.1 firmware for 9000 series released ...

[Bryan J. Smith]

Remco Barendse <redhat at barendse.to> wrote:  
> OK, thanks. Sorry for my next question, how do I create the
> new initrd

# mkinitrd (options) /boot/initrd-`uname -r`-(tag) `uname -r`

[ The `uname -r` returns the kernel revision ]

> and how do i specify which drivers to (not) include in the
> new initrd?

The mkinitrd binary is pretty smart at what to and what to
not include.  E.g., it figures Ext2/3 if the root is Ext2/3
(and Ext2/3 is a filesystem driver), if scsi_hostadapter is
defined in modprobe.conf, then the base scsi, that driver,
plus sd (SCSI disk) drivers, etc...

In the case of 3Ware, you'll have something like:
  alias scsi_hostadapter 3w-xxxx (3w-9xxx for 9000)
In /etc/modprobe.conf (/etc/modules.conf for 2.4/CentOS3)

You can manually force things with "--with" and "--preload"
(to load before the "--with" or other things automagically
included).

In the "old days" I used to manually define the load order of
the SCSI core, 3Ware driver and SCSI disk modules.  But
nowdays, the "alias scsi_hostadapter" ensures all 3 are built
into the initrd.

> This is still blackmagic to me. I have an ISDN PRI card in
> the system for which I need a specific driver. There is a
> driver included with the kernel which kudzu always wants to
> install but I don't want initrd to include that driver.

If it's _not_ required to mount the root (/) filesystem, then
it doesn't go into the initrd.  E.g., filesystem, disk
device, SAN (and any networking required), network (if thin
client/NFS mounted root), etc... are typically loaded as
necessary (NOTE: disk label support is never modular, always
static in vmlinuz itself).

An ISDN card driver shouldn't be put in the initrd.

> My current workaround is to pull the card from the box
> before any upgrades, not ideal at all

Ouch.  You shouldn't have to do that.



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