the red hat linux boot process
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The Red Hat Linux Boot Process
Understanding the Linux boot process is crucial for being able to effectively troubleshoot a
Linux system, when boot problems occur. For example, someone could have made some
undocumented changes during the previous shift to a critical file that affects the boot process. Now, it's your shift, and you have to bring the machine down for a hardware upgrade. Upon
boot up, the system crashes, and you're stuck there until you solve the issue. Learning the
steps involved in the boot process, and knowing what happens at each phase, will help you
quickly diagnose any problems that come up.
Many current Linux distributions mask the boot process from the user by using a boot splash
screen that can usually be bypassed by pressing the <ESC> key or some key sequence when
the splash screen is being displayed, and may require removing "rhgb quiet" (on Red Hat-
based distributions) from the kernel line in /boot/grub/grub.conf. Because there are so many
different Linux distributions, you will need to check the documentation for your distro for the
splashscreen bypass procedure, if you need one.
This cannot be stressed enough: you need to get familiar with the boot process before
problems arise. There are some key files involved with the boot process; e.g., an error in
/boot/grub/grub.conf, /etc/fstab or /etc/inittab, and you're sure to have problems. So, in
addition to knowing the boot process, it's a good idea to really learn these files.
Caution: if you do anything with /boot/grub/grub.conf, or any critical configuration file, do it
only on a machine that's a practice computer (sandbox), until you fully understand the
process. I use Virtualbox virtualization software, to practice recovering from various self-
inflicted boot problems.
[ When working with critical files - and doubly so when you're not sure what you're doing -
making backups will save you again and again. At the very least, you should make a copy, or
preferably a series of copies of the file before changing it (e.g., "grub.conf.3.orig" for
"grub.conf"); there are times when critical errors can go unnoticed for a while. -- Ben ]
Power-On Self Test
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The first thing to occur in the boot process is the Power-On Self Test (POST) that is
performed by the compter's Basic Input/Output System (BIOS), when it is powered on. Thisself test is just that -- an internal check of the system's internal components. Other
architectures may use different ways to accomplish this, but the purpose is identical. This
checking normally involves the system RAM, CPUs, video card, hard drives, and other
motherboard components. Many other types of internal cards such as RAID cards and various
other types of controller cards perform their own self-testing. If errors occur, some form of
alert will be generated or sent to a panel or console; the POST uses a series of beeps to
indicate the specific error encountered. If all goes well, the BIOS reads the master boot
record on the hard disk and loads the program that is found there into memory.
Master Boot Record
The Master Boot Record (MBR) is the first 512 bytes of the boot drive that is read into
memory by the BIOS. (This is assuming we are using an x86 architecture.) The first 446
bytes of that 512 will normally contain a low-level boot code that points to a boot loadersomewhere else on the disk - it can even point to another hard disk. The next 64 bytes contain
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the partition table for the disk (four 16-byte entries known as the IBM Partition Table
Scheme). Finally, the remaining 2 bytes are the "Magic Number" (used for error detection).
Boot Loader
The purpose of a bootloader is to load the operating system. Many boot loaders are available;however, LILO and GRUB are the most common for Linux. Windows has its own, called the
New Technology Loader (NTLDR). You may have at one time or another seen the message
"NTLDR is missing"; this is a Windows bootloader error.
Regardless of the bootloader being used, it is important to keep in mind that bootloaders are
very complex and easily rendered inoperative by inexperienced users with root access. In my
opinion, the best practice is to explore their workings only on machines you are using as
sandboxes or in virtual machines to sharpen your skills. One slight typographical error while
working with, e.g., grub.conf, and you may be spending more time than you anticipated
trying to fix your error; however, this too, can be a great learning experience, as long as it is
on a sandbox and you can afford the time.
GRUB
The most common bootloader program in use today for modern Linux systems is the GRand
Unified Bootloader (GRUB). This is the bootloader we will be talking about, here. The
GRUB bootloader is a program written to the master boot record and /boot partition of a harddrive that loads the operating system. The bootloader code used to fit in the first 446 bytes of
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the MBR, but, owing to progressively increasing complexity of operating systems and the
need to boot almost any operating system, it has grown in size. Currently, a subset of the
bootloader code is written to the MBRi, and the remainder is written to the /boot partition. In
addition, the GRUB bootloader is modular in design and works in stages which I will only
cover briefly.
The stages of GRUB
GRUB works in stages called Stage1, Stage1_5, and Stage 2. I will give a brief overview of
what each stage does.
Stage1
The stage1 code of GRUB is written within the 512 bytes of the master boot record. Because
of the limited size of the master boot record area, GRUB stage1 will usually point to the next
stage of GRUB, stage1_5 or stage2. GRUB may or may not need to load stage1_5 depending
on the types of filesystems present.
[root@localhost grub]# file stage1stage1: x86 boot sector, code offset 0x48
Stage1_5
Stage1_5 is the intermediate stage between stage1 and stage2. If you look at your /boot/grub
area, you should see various stage1_5 files with names of various types of filesystems.
Stage1_5 deals with specific types of filesystems, and is named after them. This code will
allow the filesystem to be interpreted appropriately.
These are the stage1_5 files located in my /boot/grub directory:
e2fs_stage1_5fat_stage1_5ffs_stage1_5iso9660_stage1_5jfs_stage1_5minix_stage1_5reiserfs_stage1_5ufs2_stage1_5vstafs_stage1_5
xfs_stage1_5
Stage2
This is the main GRUB image, and will usually reside on the filesystem in the /boot partition
at /boot/grub/stage2. It reads the /boot/grub/grub.conf file for configuration information that
details how it will load the kernel. It also has an interactive interface that will allow you to
troubleshoot, re-install, or modify how GRUB works. Stage2 will present the user with a
graphical boot menu entry. If the appropriate key is not pressed in the time allotted to enter
the hidden menu, or nothing is selected in the time frame allowed, GRUB will boot the
default entry.
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GRUB has a really helpful tab-completion feature that you can use to assist you in getting
your system up and running if, for example, you have a non-bootable system due to a
improperly specified line in your grub.conf file. I have used it in this way many times to get
unbootable systems working again.
/boot/grub/grub.conf
This file specifies the kernel to load and the initrd image file with all of the modules to load
for your system.
Here is a typical grub.conf file for Red Hat Linux:
# grub.conf generated by anaconda## Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file# NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
# root (hd0,0)# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hdb9# initrd /initrd-version.img#boot=/dev/hdbdefault=0timeout=5splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gzhiddenmenutitle Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (2.6.18-53.el5)
root (hd0,0)kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-53.el5 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quietinitrd /initrd-2.6.18-53.el5.img
This file is fairly easy to edit; because of this, it is a common location for errors.
GNU GRUB version 0.97 (640K lower / 3072K upper memory)
[Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported. For the first word, TABlists possible command completions. Anywhere else, TAB lists the
possiblecompletions of a device/filename.]
grub>
Nothing but a GRUB prompt - now what do we do? If you're making any changes to this file,
remember to print it out first, and make a backup copy; it may save you if you make a typo.You can use the hardcopy to recall the options necessary to boot your machine and fix your
mistake. There are various errors, and it pays to become familiar with some of the common
ones such as an incorrectly specified kernel name, or a root partition that is improperly
designated in this file. If you do see this GRUB prompt, ask yourself this question, "What do
I do now to recover my system?" If you have no idea at this point, and you are managing
Linux systems, it would probably be a good idea to get on a practice box and create some
errors within the grub.conf, and get to know your bootloader. Here's what could be done in
the above situation - notice where I hit the <TAB> key to view my options.
Booting manually with GRUB tab completion
grub> root (hd0,0)
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Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
grub> kernel / <TAB> Possible files are: lost+found grub initrd-2.6.18-8.el5.img System.map-
2.6.18-8.el5 config-2.6.18-8.el5 symvers-2.6.18-8.el5.gz vmlinuz-2.6.18-8.el5
grub> kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-8.el5 ro root=LABEL=/[Linux-bzImage, setup=0x1e00, size=0x1ad054]
grub> initrd / <TAB> Possible files are: lost+found grub initrd-2.6.18-8.el5.img System.map-
2.6.18-8.el5 config-2.6.18-8.el5 symvers-2.6.18-8.el5.gz vmlinuz-2.6.18-8.el5
grub> initrd /initrd-2.6.18-8.el5.img[Linux-initrd @ 0xfe8a000, 0x15547c bytes]
grub> boot
The "root (hd0,0)" specifies the first drive, and the first partition on that drive. On the
kernel line, you can type '/', hit <TAB>, and view your options; after selecting one, type one
or more letters (whatever's necessary for a unique name) and let GRUB complete it for you.
The additional option of "ro root=LABEL=/" came from my experience of working with Red
Hat systems; yours may be different - so you need to examine the options in your grub.conf
file. The same thing happens on the initrd line: after the /, hit <TAB> and let GRUB do the
work by listing your possible choices. You may also have to further specify modules and
additional options.
Kernel
When GRUB transfers control to the kernel and the kernel is booting, you may see a lot oftext output. On Red Hat-based systems, the line in grub.conf specifying the kernel may have
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an "rhgb quiet" appended to it that prevents this. It stands for "Red Hat graphical boot
quiet" and will suppress kernel boot messages. When I need to see boot messages, I interrupt
the GRUB cycle by hitting the escape key, hitting 'e' for edit (the procedure to modify the
grub kernel arguments is at the bottom of the GRUB screen), and editing the kernel line.
Removing the "rhgb quiet" allows me to see the kernel messages so I can determine if any
of them are relevant to, e.g., a kernel panic or a similar problem.
What is actually going on at this time is that the kernel is probing your hardware and
configuring itself for your hardware. The kernel is also loading modules in the initrd image
that it needs to operate your hardware. Note that the information will scroll very quickly up
your screen - so, if you believe your problem exists at the kernel level, be sure to watch
closely, as this is sure to give you a clue about where your problem lies. Once the kernel is
done with its initialization, it starts the system's first process, which is /sbin/init.
[ Much, but not all, of the boot information is available in the /var/log/dmesg file, once
you've booted. -- Ben ]
INIT
Init is the first process running on your system. It reads the /etc/inittab file, executes
/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit, then boots into the runlevel as defined in /etc/inittab.
Init starts out with a Process ID (PID) of 1. In the image above, there's a line saying "INIT:
version 2.86 booting"; this is /sbin/init taking over at this point in the boot process. On the
line right after that one, you see the messages being displayed by the /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit shell
script; as a matter of fact, the entire screen contains messages from that script, so you can get
an idea of some of the functions it performs. Init will also normally start several instances of
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/sbin/getty or /sbin/mingetty, which are your virtual terminals. This is why you can hit <Ctrl>
+ <Alt> + < F1> through <F6> and come up with a virtual terminal.
Next, we will look at the /etc/inittab file, specifically, at the configuration file for Init:
## inittab This file describes how the INIT process should set up# the system in a certain run-level.## Author: Miquel van Smoorenburg,# Modified for RHS Linux by Marc Ewing and Donnie Barnes#
# Default runlevel. The runlevels used by RHS are:# 0 - halt (Do NOT set initdefault to this)# 1 - Single user mode# 2 - Multiuser, without NFS (The same as 3, if you do not havenetworking)
# 3 - Full multiuser mode# 4 - unused# 5 - X11# 6 - reboot (Do NOT set initdefault to this)#id:5:initdefault:
# System initialization.si::sysinit:/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit
l0:0:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 0l1:1:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 1l2:2:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 2
l3:3:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 3l4:4:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 4l5:5:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 5l6:6:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 6
# Trap CTRL-alt-DELETEca::ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -t3 -r now
# When our UPS tells us power has failed, assume we have a few minutes# of power left. Schedule a shutdown for 2 minutes from now.# This does, of course, assume you have powerd installed and your# UPS connected and working correctly.pf::powerfail:/sbin/shutdown -f -h +2 "Power Failure; System Shutting Down"
# If power was restored before the shutdown kicked in, cancel it.pr:12345:powerokwait:/sbin/shutdown -c "Power Restored; Shutdown Cancelled"
# Run gettys in standard runlevels1:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty12:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty23:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty34:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty45:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty56:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty6
# Run xdm in runlevel 5x:5:respawn:/etc/X11/prefdm -nodaemon
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Depending on what Init is doing, you may see typical Init script verification messages getting
printed to the screen, i.e., [ OK ] or [Failed] to aid in troubleshooting. You may see a message
like "Press 'I' to enter interactive startup" (on Red Hat-based systems); this is an indication of
rc.sysinit executing, and allows the operator a certain level of control over the still-booting
system. rc.sysinit ends with your default runlevel (as defined in /etc/inittab) being started.
This is another common place for errors, because servers will usually have the"id:5:initdefault:" line set to 3, so the machine boots to runlevel 3 instead of runlevel 5.Another common place for errors is the line pertaining to
"ca::ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -t3 -r now" commented out to prevent the 3-finger
salute (<Ctrl> + <Alt> + <Del>) from restarting the server. People are human and make
mistakes; I have seen typographical errors in both places that can cause problems. Unlike the
"mount -a" command, which will alert you if errors exist in your mount points in the
/etc/fstab file, executing the command "init q" will reread your /etc/inittab, but will not
check for errors in the runlevels themselves; the best way to know if errors exist is to learn
this file and to be very, very careful if you decide to modify any of the /etc/rc*/* files.
Runlevels
When you enter your runlevel, you will see further Init messages being printed to the screen
(depending if your machine is configured to do so), again ending with a [ OK ] or [Failed]
depending on whether it started successfully or not. These are your startup services within
your runlevels. When you look at your /etc/inittab file, you will see a line like
"id:5:initdefault:"; this is your default runlevel. The default runlevel on most servers
will be set to 3; on desktops, of course, it's set to 5, so we can have an X Window System
session start as soon as the system boots up.
To get an overview of what processes get started or stopped for any particular runlevel, weshould look within the /etc/rc X .d (where X is your runlevel) directory. Inside these
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directories, you will see symbolic links to the files in your /etc/init.d/ directory. The file
names will be prefixed with either a 'K' or an 'S' (signifying kill or start) for the given daemon
at that runlevel. The number immediately after the letter positions the script in the start order,
because the processes are started alphabetically. With Red Hat-based systems, the
"chkconfig" command will alter the symbolic links to start or stop the daemon in a desired
runlevel; the 'S' or 'K' will change appropriately and the number will most likely change aswell.
Login
That sums up the outline of the boot process for a typical Linux machine. At this point, you
should have a better understanding of what goes on up until the login prompt or dialog on
your screen. Last of all, always pay close attention to the details: the machine will most likely
tell you what is wrong if you're experiencing problems.