[rhelv6-list] initrd and kickstarting

[Darren Patterson]

On Jan 24, 2011, at 8:12 PM, Eugene Vilensky wrote:

> On Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 9:07 PM, Darren Patterson
> <darren.patterson at stanford.edu> wrote:
>> Since rhel3 I have been making custom initrd files by removing hba drivers to ensure a SAN safe pxe/kickstart build.  It used to be that a race condition could make a SAN presented device /dev/sda, instead of the first local scsi drive, and thus the OS would install there.
>> 
>> Does anyone know if I should continue this practice with rhel6 initrd files or has this problem been resolved?
> 
> 
> The Storage Administration Guide continues to read:
> ------
> 21.3. Persistent Naming
> The operating system issues I/O to a storage device by referencing the
> path that is used to reach it. For SCSI devices, the path consists of
> the following:
> PCI identifier of the host bus adapter (HBA)
> channel number on that HBA
> the remote SCSI target address
> the Logical Unit Number (LUN)
> This path-based address is not persistent. It may change any time the
> system is reconfigured (either by on-line reconfiguration, as
> described in this manual, or when the system is shutdown,
> reconfigured, and rebooted). It is even possible for the path
> identifiers to change when no physical reconfiguration has been done,
> as a result of timing variations during the discovery process when the
> system boots, or when a bus is re-scanned.
> -----
> 
> The "race condition" "problem" you are describing is more like a feature.

Well, since it is documented it must be a feature.  Thanks for the gentle reminder to RTFM.

-darren