Building new initrd with dracut-network packages for iscsi boot.

[Vinay Venkataraghavan]

Hi all,

I have a few questions regarding building a new initrd which adds addit=
ional modules to the existing initrd.

The environment that I am working in is as follows:

1. that anaconda has completed the install and I prevent the system fro=
m rebooting.=20

2. Anaconda has installed the OS to an iscsi disk.=20


What I'd like to do now is to add the dracut-network and iscsi modules =
to the initrd so that when the system reboots it will be able to connec=
t to the remote iscsi target and mount the root device.

I have been working through this for about three weeks now and am stuck=
at the phase where I can rebuild the initrd with the network modules a=
nd iscsi modules.=20


The installed system contains all the dependency rpms such as: dracut, =
dracut-kernel, dracut-network, and iscsi-initiator-utils.=A0

While in the anaconda shell I tried the following command:

dracut -v -a iscsi -m network new_initrd.img `uname -r`

Executing this command has two problems:

1. The network option is invalid. I'm wondering if this should be -m dr=
acut-network??

2. This does not add modules to the existing image. But it creates a ve=
ry minimal initrd.=20


What I would like is to add the network boot modules to boot from an is=
csi root device to the existing initrd.=20


I would appreciate any help in this matter. Please let me know if I can=
furnish any further information.

Thanks in advance.
- Vinay

[Harald Hoyer]

Post by Vinay Venkataraghavan
Hi all,
I have a few questions regarding building a new initrd which adds additional modules to the existing initrd.
1. that anaconda has completed the install and I prevent the system from rebooting.
2. Anaconda has installed the OS to an iscsi disk.
What I'd like to do now is to add the dracut-network and iscsi modules to the initrd so that when the system reboots it will be able to connect to the remote iscsi target and mount the root device.
I have been working through this for about three weeks now and am stuck at the phase where I can rebuild the initrd with the network modules and iscsi modules.
The installed system contains all the dependency rpms such as: dracut, dracut-kernel, dracut-network, and iscsi-initiator-utils.
dracut -v -a iscsi -m network new_initrd.img `uname -r`
1. The network option is invalid. I'm wondering if this should be -m dracut-network??
2. This does not add modules to the existing image. But it creates a very minimal initrd.
What I would like is to add the network boot modules to boot from an iscsi root device to the existing initrd.
I would appreciate any help in this matter. Please let me know if I can furnish any further information.
Thanks in advance.
- Vinay

"-m network" is wrong, because all the other modules are not used then. You will
end up only with "network" + "iscsi".

Why don't you just use:

# dracut new_initrd.img

or, if you find that too big, just omit the modules, you don't need.

# dracut --omit "nbd nfs multipath" new_initrd.img