C.9. Create boot disk for serial console
Once the upgrade has been sucessfully done create a boot
floppy which has serial console support. This is most simply done
by creating a boot disk, as done by the
anaconda installer or as described in
Section 2.1; modifying the configuration
file \SYSLINUX.CFG to configure the boot
loader to use the serial console, as described in Section 4.3; and finally configuring
the kernel to use the serial console, as described in Section 5.3.
An alternative is to create your own
mkbootdisk RPM
package containing a modified copy of the shell script
/sbin/mkbootdisk.
The \SYSLINUX.CFG file on the boot
floppy is written by mkbootdisk using the code
in Figure C-3. We alter this
code to use the serial console; the result is shown in Figure C-4.
Created boot floppies will now use the serial console.
By far the best alternative would be the addition of
parameters to mkbootdisk to allow the kernel
parameters and serial port, speed and flow control to be given when
the boot floppy is created. For this enhancement request see Red
Hat Bugzilla entry 59351.