System initialization

Unit objectives
 Outline steps necessary to boot a
Course ILT

Linux system, configure LILO and

GRUB boot loaders, and dual boot
Linux with Windows
 Understand how the init daemon
initializes the system at boot time
 Understand keyboard map files and
use them to change key sequences
 Topic A
 Topic A: Booting and boot loaders
 Topic B: Runlevels
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 Topic C: Defining and changing key

sequences
 The boot process
 Bios functions
– Power-on self test (POST)
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 Tests hardware components

 Searches for boot device
 Master boot record (MBR)
– Located on the first sector of the first hard
disk drive
– Used to define partitions and a boot loader
 Boot loader
– Program used to load an operating system
 Init (initialize daemon)
– Loads other system daemons
Course ILT The boot process
Course ILT Activity A-1

Discussing the boot process

 Boot loaders
 Loads the Linux kernel into memory
 May perform other functions
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– Pass system configuration to kernel

– Select different kernel versions
– Boot other OSs
 The two most common boot loaders
– LILO
– GRUB
Course ILT LILO boot loader screen
 Common LILO keywords
 /etc/lilo.conf
– The LILO configuration file
Course ILT

continued
Course ILT Common LILO keywords, continued

continued
Course ILT Common LILO keywords, continued
Course ILT LILO error codes
Course ILT Activity A-2

Configuring LILO
 GRUB
 GRand Unified Bootloader (GRUB)
– Resembles common UNIX boot loaders
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– Newer than LILO

– First major part typically resides on the
MBR
– Remaining parts reside in the /boot/grub
directory
Course ILT GRUB boot loader screen
 GRUB configuration boot loader screen
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 GRUB prompt boot loader screen
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Course ILT GRUB boot loader help screen
Course ILT Activity A-3

Installing and configuring GRUB

 Dual booting
 Dual boot
– Configuration in which two or more
Course ILT

operating systems exist on the hard disk

 Using LILO or GRUB, it is easiest if
Linux is installed after the other
operating system has been installed
Course ILT Partitioning for a dual boot system
 Choosing boot loader for a dual boot system
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 FIPS
 First non-destructive Interactive
Partition Splitter (FIPS)
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– Program used to create a new partition

out of the free space on an existing
FAT16 or FAT32 partition
– Resizing the Windows partition using
FIPS will preserve the Windows
operating system on the Windows
partition yet allow for free space to install
Linux
 Using FIPS
 Guidelines/limitations to using FIPS:
– Version 2.0 supports the FAT16 and
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FAT32 filesystems only

– Will work only with primary Windows
partition
– Will not resize logical drives within
extended partitions
– Works by splitting the Windows partition
into two primary partitions
– There must be sufficient free space
within the existing Windows to allow for
the installation of Linux
Course ILT Activity A-4

Resizing a Windows partition by

using FIPS
 Topic B
 Topic A: Booting and boot loaders
 Topic B: Runlevels
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 Topic C: Defining and changing key

sequences
 Linux initialization
 init
– The first daemon process on the system
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– Starts the other daemons

– Stops daemons at shutdown
 /etc/inittab
– The configuration file for the init daemon
 Runlevels
 Runlevel
– Defines the type and number of
Course ILT

daemons started
– Runlevels are often called initstates
Course ILT Linux runlevels

continued
Course ILT Linux runlevels, continued
 Runlevel commands
 runlevel command
– Used to display the current and most
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recent previous runlevels

 init command
– Used to change from one runlevel to
another
 telinit command
– An alias to the init command
 The /etc/inittab file
 Defines the daemons that run at each
runlevel
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 /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit
– The first script executed during system
startup
 Initializes the hardware
 Sets environment variables such as PATH
and HOSTNAME
 Checks filesystems
 Performs system tasks needed for daemon
loading
Course ILT Startup using /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit
Course ILT Startup using /etc/rc.d/rc*.d
 The /etc/inittab file, continued
 Mingetty
– Program used to display a login prompt
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on a character-based terminal
 /etc/rc.d/rc.local
– Final script executed during system
startup
Course ILT Linux initialization process
Course ILT Activity B-1

Exploring runlevels and changing

runlevels
 Configuring daemon startup
 /etc/rc.d/rc*.d
– The directories used to start and kill
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daemons in each runlevel

 /etc/rc.d/init.d
– The directory in which most daemons are
located
 Results of the ntsysv—level 5 command
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Course ILT Activity B-2

Starting fake daemons

 Topic C
 Topic A: Booting and boot loaders
 Topic B: Runlevels
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 Topic C: Defining and changing key

sequences
 Defining and changing key sequences

 The keyboard map is a text file that

has a standard format
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 There are many keyboard map files

 Each file is for a different physical
keyboard layout
Course ILT Activity C-1

Modifying Ctrl + Alt + Del

Course ILT Activity C-2

Changing key sequences

 Unit summary
 Learned about the boot sequence,
configured LILO and GRUB boot
Course ILT

loaders, and learned about dual boot

configurations
 Learned about how the init daemon
initializes the system at boot time, and
different runlevels
 Learned about keyboard map files and
used them to change keyboard key
sequences