Chapter 1. System Boot, Startup, and Shutdown Issues

There is no question that startup issues can really cause anxiety for system administrators. We reboot a box and anxiously wait to see it respond to ping so we know it is coming up ok. But what do we do if Linux doesn't boot up? Can we resolve the problem, or is it simpler to just reinstall? Reinstalling Linux is easy if we are properly prepared. Yet we sometimes wonder whether we have good backups and contemplate an evening at work reloading the box. Chapter 9, "Backup/Recovery," helps you prepare for the time when Linux must be reinstalled, but hopefully after reading this chapter, you will be able to resolve Linux startup issues with confidence.

Startup issues are difficult to fix because Linux first must be started somehow so that troubleshooting can begin. You must have a good understanding of the Linux three-part boot process to troubleshoot startup problems. The following key topics are discussed in this chapter:

• The bootloaders GRUB and LILO

• The init process

• The startup and shutdown scripts

• Fixing problems with the root filesystem

The bootloader is the first software to execute from disk at boot time. The purpose of the bootloader is to start the Linux kernel. GRUB and LILO are the most common bootloaders, and this chapter only discusses these. Both make it easy to configure boot menu choices of different kernels and boot disks.

The init process is the first process started by the Linux kernel during boot. The init process is responsible for starting processes during boot up and when changing runlevels. The rc subsystem is run by init at each runlevel to start and stop the processes for that runlevel. We examine the concept of runlevels in this chapter. init is the parent of every other process.

Linux starts a lot of services at boot up. Networking services, cron, and syslog are just a few. The rc subsystem starts these services. We look at how the rc scripts work and how to troubleshoot them in this chapter.

This chapter explains all these topics in detail. The examples provided demonstrate solutions for common Linux boot problems. In addition, this chapter covers creating rescue CDs and fixing common problems with the root filesystem that prevent Linux from starting.