Red Hat ENTERPRISE LINUX 5.5 - TECHNICAL NOTES Manual page 15

• the part kickstart command accepts an option called --label that allows a label to be applied
to a disk partition during a kickstart installation. However, the code that implemented this option
was previously missing from anaconda. Any label specified in a kickstart file was therefore ignored.
Anaconda now includes code to transfer the specified label from the kickstart file to the disk
partition. Users can now label disk partitions during kickstart installations.
• when running in rescue mode, anaconda previously lacked the ability to identify partitions on logical
volumes if the partitions were identified in fstab by label rather than by device name. Therefore,
if the root (/) partition were identified in this way, the usefulness of rescue mode would be limited.
Anaconda in rescue mode now uses the getLabels() method to find partitions and therefore
properly detects root partition even if it resides on a logical volume and is identified by label in
(BZ#502178
fstab.
• previously, the help text available while configuring NETTYPE for IBM System z systems did not
mention HiperSockets. Users new to System z might therefore not have known to choose qeth to
configure HiperSocket interfaces on their hardware. The help text has now been updated to indicate
the correct choice and users can select the appropriate option.
• when the RUNKS was set to 0 in the CMSCONFFILE file on IBM System z systems, anaconda should
have performed an installation in interactive mode. However, a rewrite of linuxrc.s390 changed
the behavior of RUNKS and led to anaconda ignoring this variable. Installation would therefore
proceed in non-interactive mode regardless of what value was set in CMSCONFFILE. A new test
is now included in the version of linuxrc.s390 in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5 so that anaconda
honors RUNKS=0 and performs an interactive install if this value is set.
• by design, anaconda recognizes any block device with the label OEMDRV as a driver disc and
searches it for a driver update. However, anaconda previously failed to examine dev nodes and
therefore, it would not recognize this label on USB storage devices mounted as a partitionless block
devices. Anaconda now examines dev nodes for the label OEMDRV and treats them the same
as partitions with this label. It is therefore possible to use a partitionless device as a driver disc.
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(BZ#515437 )
• previously, anaconda did not reinitialize its record of the partition layout on a system when users
clicked the back button from the partitioning screen. Therefore, when a user selected a partition
layout, went back to an earlier screen, and then went forward again to choose a different partition
layout, anaconda would attempt to implement the new partition layout over the previously-selected
partition layout instead of the partition layout actually present on the system. This would sometimes
result in a crash. Now, when users step backwards from the partitioning screen. anaconda
reinitializes its record of the partitions present on the system. Users can therefore change their
minds about partitioning options without crashing anaconda.
• systems store information about iSCSI targets to which they are connected in the iSCSI Boot
Firmware Table (iBFT) in BIOS. Previously, however, when anaconda installed Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 5 from a local installation source such as a CD, DVD, or hard disk, it would not initialize
network connections before asking users to configure storage on the system. Therefore, on systems
with iSCSI storage, users would have to configure a network connection manually before proceding
with installation, even when this information was already available to anaconda in the system BIOS.
Now, when anaconda detects a valid iBFT present on a system, it automatically loads the network
configuration specified there and does not requre users to enter this information. Installation from
local media on systems with iSCSI storage is therefore simpler and more reliable.
• due to faulty logic, anaconda previously did not parse IPv6 addresses correctly and attempted
to read the final byte of the address as a port number. It was therefore not possible, for example,
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RHBA-2010:0194: bug fix and enhancement update
(BZ#511962
(BZ#513951
(BZ#516715
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(BZ#498856 )
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(BZ#517768 )
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