topic Re: linux boot question in Operating System - Linux

linux boot question

MSwift — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 13:22:31 GMT

RHEL 5, I have a question. One of our boxes booted and i did not notice a /boot mount point. is it possible to boot a RHEL 5 box without a /boot?

Thanks

Mike.

Re: linux boot question

FLQ — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 13:50:05 GMT

Hi Mike,

yes, you dont need /boot to boot. Grub always finds a way ;-)

Since grub doesn't know about the filesystem layout, it uses offset on the device to find the kernel.

HTH

Re: linux boot question

Matti_Kurkela — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 14:01:54 GMT

It is not mandatory to have /boot as a separate partition: it can also be just a sub-directory on the root filesystem.

In fact, if you customize your bootloader configuration, you can put the kernel and initrd files anywhere the bootloader can access. Of course, RedHat's kernel update RPMs will always place new kernels to /boot: if you've moved your actual boot files somewhere else, you'll have to do extra work each time you install a kernel update.

MK