Installing XFS from the RPM packages

Use the following procedure to install XFS from the RPM packages:

1. On all systems, upgrade these packages for XFS support:
   • xfsprogs

   The userspace RPMs for both x86 and IA-64 architectures are available for download.
2. Download the appropriate kernel for your system architecture. Kernel RPMS for x86 and IA-64 architectures are available.

3. Install the new kernel, which provides XFS capability. For general kernel upgrade information, see the Upgrading the Linux Kernel on Red Hat Linux systems document on Red Hat's support site.

   Install the new RPMs using the following command:

          rpm -ivh packagename.rpm
   

4. The RPM kernels have SCSI support built as modules, so if your system's root filesystem is on a SCSI device, you will need to create an initial ramdisk. To generate the initial ramdisk image, run the following command where kernelname refers to the new XFS kernel you have just installed:

          mkinitrd /boot/initrd-kernelname.img kernelname
   

   For example, to generate a ramdisk for the XFS 1.2 kernel, run the following command:

          mkinitrd /boot/initrd-2.4.18-17SGI_XFS_1.2.img 2.4.18-17SGI_XFS_1.2.img
   

5. Update the bootloader configuration files.

   For the LILO bootloader, edit your /etc/lilo.conf file by adding the following stanza where kernelname is the name of the new XFS kernel you have just installed, and rootpartition is the name of your root partition:

          image=/boot/vmlinuz-kernelname
                   label=xfs
                   initrd=/boot/initrd-kernelname.img
                   read-only
                   root=/dev/rootpartition
   

   For example, if you have installed an SMP kernel, and your root partition is on /dev/sda1, you would add the following stanza to your /etc/lilo.conf file.

           image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.18-17SGI_XFS_1.2
                   label=xfs
                   initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.18-17SGI_XFS_1.2.img
                   read-only
                   root=/dev/sda1
   

   (Note that you will not require the initrd line if your system does not need an initial ramdisk.)

   Finally, run /sbin/lilo. If it completes without errors, locate your boot floppy, reboot the system, and type xfs at the LILO prompt when it comes up.

   For the GRUB bootloader, add the following configuration to /etc/grub.conf:

   title Red Hat Linux with XFS
           root (hd0,0)
           kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.18-17SGI_XFS_1.2
           initrd /initrd-2.4.18-17SGI_XFS_1.2.img
   

   Note that your root hard drive and paths to your initrd and kernel image may differ from this example. Use your existing grub.conf file as a guide.