<& xfsTemplate,top=>1,side=>1 &>

XFS Beta Release

Installing XFS from the RPMs

Red Hat 6.2 RPMs have been provided for Intel architectures. Because these contain a Linux 2.4 kernel, please consult the Linux-2.4 Changes document for minimum system software necessary to support a 2.4 Linux kernel, and where to obtain those upgrades. On a Red Hat 6.2 system, you will need to upgrade the following packages, at a minimum: These three RPMs have been provided for provided for download from oss.sgi.com. Depending on your needs, it would also be wise to upgrade the following packages: After you have upgraded the necessary packages, download the appropriate kernel for your system architecture, and also download the xfs-cmds package.

The next step is to install the new kernel which provides XFS capability. If you need more information on setting up a new kernel, please read the Upgrading the Linux Kernel on Red Hat Linux systems document on Red Hat's support site for general kernel upgrade information.

Install both the kernel and xfs-cmds RPMS using the command 

	rpm -ivh packagename.rpm
(Note that after the kernel RPM installs, modutils may complain about renaming /etc/modules.conf to etc/conf.modules - you can safely ignore this for now, if you wish)

If your root filesystem is supported by driver which resides in a module, (as is the case for most SCSI systems) you will now need to make a new initial ramdisk. If you have files called initrd-XXXX.img in your /boot directory, then this applies to you. To generate the initial ramdisk image, run the command: 

	mkinitrd /boot/initrd-kernelname.img kernelname
where kernelname refers to the new XFS kernel you have just installed - for instance, 
	mkinitrd /boot/initrd-2.4.0-XFS_BETA_2.img 2.4.0-XFS_BETA_2
Finally, you will need to update your /etc/lilo.conf file to tell it about your new kernel. To do this, add the stanza: 
	image=/boot/vmlinuz-kernelname
		label=xfs-beta
		initrd=/boot/initrd-kernelname.img
		read-only
		root=/dev/rootpartition
where again, kernelname is the name of the new XFS kernel you have just installed, and rootpartition is the name of your root partition. Also note that you may not require the initrd line if your system does not need an initial ramdisk. For example, if you have installed an SMP kernel, and your root partition is on /dev/sda1, you would add the stanza: 
        image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.0-XFS_BETA_2smp
                label=xfs-beta
                initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.0-XFS_BETA_2smp.img
                read-only
                root=/dev/sda1
to your /etc/lilo.conf file.

Finally, run /sbin/lilo to finish up. If it completes without errors, locate your boot floppy (just in case), reboot the system, and type xfs-beta at the LILO prompt when it comes up.

If all this goes well, it's time to make a new XFS filesystem!
<& xfsTemplate,bottom=>1 &>