Applies to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP1

B Advanced Linuxrc Options

Linuxrc is a program used for setting up the kernel for installation purposes. It allows the user to load modules, start an installed system, a rescue system or an installation via YaST.

Linuxrc is designed to be as small as possible. Therefore, all needed programs are linked directly into one binary. So there is no need for shared libraries in the initdisk.

Note
Note: Running Linuxrc on an Installed System

If you run Linuxrc on an installed system, it will work slightly differently so as not to destroy your installation. As a consequence you cannot test all features this way.

B.1 Passing parameters to Linuxrc

Unless Linuxrc is in manual mode, it will look for an info file in these locations: first /info on the flash disk and if that does not exist, for /info in the initrd. After that it parses the kernel command line for parameters. You may change the info file Linuxrc reads by setting the info command line parameter. If you do not want Linuxrc to read the kernel command line (for example because you need to specify a kernel parameter that Linuxrc recognizes as well), use linuxrc=nocmdline.

Linuxrc will always look for and parse a file /linuxrc.config. Use this file to change default values if you need to. In general, it is better to use the info file instead. Note that /linuxrc.config is read before any info file, even in manual mode.

B.2 info file format

Lines starting with # are comments, valid entries are of the form:

key: value

Note that value extends to the end of the line and therefore may contain spaces. key is matched case-insensitive.

You can use the same key-value pairs on the kernel command line using the syntax key=value. Lines that do not have the form described above are ignored.

The table below lists Valid keys. The given values are only examples.

Table B.1: Advanced linuxrc keywords

Keyword/Value

Description

AddSwap: 0|3|/dev/sda5

If 0, never ask for swap; if the argument is a positive number n, activate the n'th swap partition; if the argument is a partition name, activate this swap partition

AutoYaST: ftp://autoyastfile

Location of the auto installation file; activates auto installation mode

BOOTPTimeout: 10

10 seconds timeout for BOOTP requests

BOOTPWait: 5

Sleep 5 seconds between network activation and starting bootp

DHCPTimeout: 60

60 seconds timeout for DHCP requests

Display: Color|Mono|Alt

Set the menu color scheme

DHCP: 0|1

Start the DHCP daemon now>, but see UseDHCP

Domain: example.com

Set domain name (used for name server lookups)

Exec: command

Run command

ForceInsmod: 0|1

Use -f option when running insmod

ForceRootimage: 0|1

Load the installation system into RAM disk

Gateway: 10.10.0.1

Gateway

HostIP: 10.10.0.2

The client ip address

Insmod: module params

Load this module

Install: nfs://SERVER/install/8.0-i386

Install via NFS from SERVER (note: you can specify user name, password etc. in the URL, too)

InstallDir: /suse/inst-sys

Installation system

InstMode: cd|hd|nfs|smb|ftp|http|tftp

Set installation mode

Keytable: de-lat1-nd

Load this key table

Language: de_DE

Set the language

Loghost: 10.10.0.22

Enable remove logging via syslog

Manual: 0|1

Start Linuxrc in manual mode

MemLoadImage: 50000

Load installation system into RAM disk if free memory is above 50000 KB

MemLimit: 10000

Ask for swap if free memory drops below 10000 KB

MemModules: 20000

Delete all modules before starting YaST if free memory is below 20000 KB

MemYaST: 20000

Run YaST in text mode if free memory is below 20000 KB

MemYaSTText: 10000

Ask for swap before starting YaST if free memory is below 10000 KB

Nameserver: 10.10.0.1

Name Server

Netdevice: eth0

Network interface to use

Netmask: 255.255.0.0

Network mask

NoPCMCIA: 0|1

Do not start card manager

Partition: hda1

Partition with install sources for hard disk install

Password: password

Set password (for example for an FTP installation)

Proxy: 10.10.0.1

Proxy (either FTP or HTTP)

ProxyPort: 10.10.0.1

Proxy port

Rescue: 1|nfs://server/dir

Load rescue system; the URL variant specifies the location of the rescue image explicitly

RescueImage: /suse/images/rescue

Rescue system image

RootImage: /suse/images/root

Installation system image

Server: 10.10.0.1

Installation server address

Serverdir: /install/8.0-i386

Base directory of the installation sources

SSHPassword: password

Sets SSH server password (this will not be the final root password!)

Textmode: 0|1

Start YaST in text mode

TFTPTimeout: 10

10 seconds timeout for TFTP connection

USBWait: 4

Wait 4 seconds after loading USB modules

UseDHCP: 0|1

Use DHCP instead of BOOTP (DHCP is default)

Username: name

Set user name (for example for an FTP installation)

UseSSH: 0|1

Setup SSH server

vlan: VLANID

Set a VLANID to enable 802.1q tagged VLAN support

VNC: 0|1

Setup VNC server

VNCPassword: password

Sets VNC server password

WorkDomain: domain

Set work domain for SMB install

y2confirm

Overrides the confirm parameter in a control file and requests confirmation of installation proposal

B.3 Advanced Network Setup

The netsetup keyword allows advanced network configurations and enables dialogs to set up the network where required.

  • netsetup=1

    the normal network setup questions

  • netsetup=xxx,yyy

    only xxx and yyy

  • netsetup=+xxx,-yyy

    default, additionally xxx, but not yyy

netsetup can have the following values: dhcp, hostip, gateway, netmask, name server. nameserverN asks for N name servers (max. 4).

For example, the following can be entered on the command line:

netsetup=-dhcp,+nameserver3
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