Novell LINUX ENTERPRISE SERVER 11 - ADMINISTRATION Administration Manual page 80

7.2.1 Runlevels
In Linux, runlevels define how the system is started and what services are available in
the running system. After booting, the system starts as defined in /etc/inittab in
the line initdefault. Usually this is 3 or 5. See
(page 66). As an alternative, the runlevel can be specified at boot time (by adding the
runlevel number at the boot prompt, for instance). Any parameters that are not directly
evaluated by the kernel itself are passed to init. To boot into runlevel 3, just add a the
single number 3 to the boot prompt.
Table 7.1
Runlevel
0
S or 1
2
3
4
5
6
IMPORTANT: Avoid Runlevel 2 with a Partition Mounted via NFS
You should not use runlevel 2 if your system mounts a partition like /usr via
NFS. The system might behave unexpectedly if program files or libraries are
missing because the NFS service is not available in runlevel 2 (local multiuser
mode without remote network).
66 Administration Guide
Available Runlevels
Description
System halt
Single user mode
Local multiuser mode without remote network (NFS, etc.)
Full multiuser mode with network
User Defined, this is not used unless the administrator config-
ures this runlevel.
Full multiuser mode with network and X display manag-
er—KDM, GDM, or XDM
System reboot
Table 7.1, "Available Runlevels"