How to compile kernel in RHEL and CentOS 5?

Here i am compiling Kernel "linux-2.6.36.2" on CentOS 5.3

To create new custom kernel we will follow below steps;


1. Check for essential packages.
2. Find the kernelsource code.
3. Configure the new kernel.
4. Customize the kernel.
5. Build the kernel.
6. Edit entry in "/boot/grub/grub.conf" file.


Steps :

1. Before you start compiling a kernel ckeck following packages are installed or not,

gcc & make

#rpm -qa make gcc


2. You can download latest stable kernel from "Kernel.org", then download and untar "linux-2.6.36.2.tar.bz2" package,

#bunzip2 linux-2.6.36.2.tar.bz2
#tar xvf linux-2.6.36.2.tar



3. Now got to extracted directory of latest kernel

#cd linux-2.6.36.2



4. Copy Kernel source code directory "linux-2.6.36.2"in "/usr/src" directory,

#cp -r linux-2.6.36.2 /usr/src/


5. Go to "/usr/src/linux-2.6.36.2/" and run,

#make menuconfig



        Note : Don't get confuse here, 1st i was logged in the server with Putty, but to show you all the thing graphically i switched on GUI.




This will open Linux Kernel configuration window for you to select & load extra modules. Make selection as below, you can choose something different :)

6. Select modules whatever you want,  Click "Enter" to go to sub menu, & press "Space" to enable , load & disable modules.





Here i am enabling NTFS file system in Linux, to make it enable do like this,







7. Click on exit button twice to come out up to main menu. Press "Esc" twice to get & save configuration.






8. Now execute "make" command in the same folder as above.

#make

It will start compile your brand new kernel with selected modules.



It will take atleast 15 - 20 mins depending upon your server speed. Till that time you can have coffee, and relex :D

As compilation finishes, either you run this command,

#make modules && make modules_install && make install

Or you can execute it one by one like this,

#make modules
#make modules_install
#make install


9. Once the process is done, you will see new kernel entry in "/boot/grub/grub.conf" file.

Now open it in any editor, and replace below line

defualt=1

with,

defualt=0



10. In new kernel 2.6.35 and above we dont need to make "initrd*.img", it will be made automatically when you run "make install" command.

Now reboot & check kernel version by,

#uname -a

If it's booting from new kernel.


Congrats Compilation Finished !!!

Comments

  1. Jars99November 8, 2012 at 12:18 PM

    Thanks for the post - I found it very helpful!

    I think step 3 is unnecessary - you don't want to change into the directory before copying it.

    You might want to mention that when you do the make you can pass in "-j " where is the number of threads you want to use. I just compiled on a 32 thread machine, and it took less than 3 minutes!

    Also, a friend of mine suggested copying your existing kernel config, and then working off that. It's usually in /boot/config- and you copy it to .config in /usr/src//

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jars99November 8, 2012 at 12:20 PM

    My previous comment got mangled a bit. Here it is again, fixed:

    Thanks for the post - I found it very helpful!

    I think step 3 is unnecessary - you don't want to change into the directory before copying it.

    You might want to mention that when you do the make you can pass in "-j NUM" where NUM is the number of threads you want to use. I just compiled on a 32 thread machine, and it took less than 3 minutes!

    Also, a friend of mine suggested copying your existing kernel config, and then working off that. It's usually in /boot/config-KERNEL and you copy it to .config in /usr/src/KERNEL/

    ReplyDelete
  3. SidFebruary 15, 2013 at 2:32 PM

    Hi myself Shraddhesh Rao.I am working as linix admin.I want to do virtualization so how can i go for it?

    how to learn Virtualization (Xen & VMware ESX Server 4.0)

    I have to join classes or Some other...

    Please reply my email -ID = shraddhesh07rao@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Recover or restore initramfs file in RHEL or CentOS 7

Image
What if "initramfs" file is deleted or corrupted on your RHEL or CentOS 7 ? Lets know what is initramfs image ? The INITial RAM Disk (initrd) is an initial root file system that usually get mounted prior to when the real root file system gets available. The "initrd" image is also known as "initramfs (Initial RAM FileSystem)" from RHEL 6.x onwards. The initrd/initramfs gets bound to the kernel and loaded as part of the kernel boot procedure. The kernel then mounts this initrd/initramfs as part of the two-stage boot process to load the modules to make the real file systems available and mount's the real root file system. Initrd/Initramfs image provides the capability to load a RAM disk by the boot loader. This RAM disk can then be mounted as the root filesystem and programs can be run from it. Afterwards, a new root file system can be mounted from a different device. The previous root filesystem which was mounted from initrd/initramfs is then ...
Read more

Space reclamation / UNMAP on RHEL or CentOS 7

What is Space Reclamation? This feature supports Thin Provisioned environment, and it is the process of freeing space from the storage system that has already been freed from the host file system. A host file system contains metadata to keep track to know which blocks are available to store new data and which blocks contain actual data and must not be overwritten. This metadata is stored within the LUN. When a file is deleted in the host file system, the file system metadata is updated to mark that file's blocks as free space. Total file system free space is then recalculated to include the newly-freed blocks. To the storage system, these metadata updates appear no different than any other writes being performed by the host. Therefore, the storage system is unaware that any deletions have occurred. What is Unmapping? Unmapping is a process which de-allocates relationship between LBA and a physical block in a logical unit. Reclamation within RHEL and CentOS: RHEL / Ce...
Read more

How to recover /boot partition on RHEL or CentOS 7?

Image
What if mistakenly you delete all the files from /boot partition or files got corrupted due to some reason ! You will see below error on the screen at the time of system boot. But there is a way to recover /boot partition files :) Follow these steps to recover /boot partition : Step 1 :  Mount RHEL or CentOS 7 ISO image on your physical server and boot from it. In case you are using HPE Prolient server you can mount this ISO image on iLO, if this is virtual environment then mount it accordingly and reboot server or VM from ISO. Once rebooted you will see below options: Step 2 :  Scroll down and select "Troubleshooting" option from menu and PRESS "Enter" Step 3 :  Select "Rescue a CentOS system" and press ENTER: Step 4 :  Press ENTER key again to continue: Step 5 :  To continue, Type "1" and press ENTER, this will bring you to rescue mode, chroot sysimage filesystem using below command: ...
Read more