Red Hat Linux 7.2: The Official Red Hat Linux Alpha Installation Guide
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# Booting Your Machine and Post-Installation Setup

This section describes how to boot your Alpha into Red Hat Linux and how to set your SRM console variables so that Red Hat Linux is automatically booted when the machine is powered on.

## Recommended Boot Method

Once the installation has been completed, your machine should be capable of booting in SRM directly from the hard drive, using a command like the following:

    boot dka0 -fl 0

In this example, dka0 is the hard drive on which the `/boot` partition resides (the SRM device on which the installation program installed the `aboot` secondary boot loader).

### Setting SRM Boot Variables

After you have installed Red Hat Linux, at the SRM prompt, use the `show boot*` command to display the list of devices recognized by SRM. The system hard drive should be displayed as the `bootdef_dev`. If it is not, set `bootdef_dev` to the hard drive with a command like the following:

    set bootdef_dev dka0

In the previous example, `dka0` may be a different value, depending upon your system. Refer to the section called SRM Device Names in Chapter 1 if you need more information on how SRM refers to system devices.

Set the `boot_osflags` SRM console variable with the following command:

    set boot_osflags 0

Unset the `boot_file` variable with the following command:

    set boot_file ""

After setting these variables, your Alpha should then boot Red Hat Linux in response to the command `boot` at the SRM console prompt.

## Alternate Boot Method

If the `boot dka0 -fl 0` command is problematic for your machine, the complete format of the command for booting from SRM is as follows:

    boot <device> -file <boot file> -flags "<boot flags>"

In the above command, `<device>` is the SRM device on which the `aboot` secondary boot loader is installed. `<boot file>` is the uncompressed kernel file that you installed. You should have noted these values during the installation process, as described in the section called Note the Kernel Filename and Partition Number. You will need to preface the kernel filename with the number of the partition where the kernel resides, and include the full path to the kernel.

Also in the above command, `<boot flags>` are the root device (the device mounted as `/`) and any other kernel flags that you need to pass.

For example, if you installed `aboot` on the first SCSI device on the second SCSI bus (dkb0), the root of your Linux filesystem is the third partition of your first SCSI drive (`/dev/sda3`), and you installed version 2.2.17-4 of the Linux kernel, then the boot command to boot your Alpha is:

    boot dkb0 -file 3/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.17-4 -flags "root=/dev/sda3"

### Setting SRM Boot Parameters Using Alternate Boot Method

After you have installed Red Hat Linux, at the SRM prompt, use the `show boot*` to display the list of devices recognized by SRM. Set `bootdef_dev` to the hard drive with a command like the following (note that this is an example; you will need to provide the correct values for your machine):

    set bootdef_dev dkb0

In the previous example, `device` should be set to your hard drive, as recognized by SRM. Refer to the section called SRM Device Names in Chapter1 if you need more information on how SRM refers to system devices.

Set the `boot_osflags` SRM console variable to the boot flags you need with a command like the following:

    set boot_osflags root=/dev/sda3

Set the `boot_file` variable with the following command:

    set boot_file 3/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.17-4

In the above command, you will need to provide the location of the boot file, including the partition and the path to the file.

After setting these variables, your Alpha should then boot Red Hat Linux in response to the command `boot` at the SRM console prompt.

## Booting Red Hat Linux Automatically

After you have set your boot parameters according to either the section called Recommended Boot Method or the section called Alternate Boot Method, and if you have a HALT button on your machine, you can use the `auto_action` variable to automatically boot Red Hat Linux upon power-up.

If you have a HALT button, you can set the SRM console to autoboot using the `auto_action` SRM console variable. The `auto_action` parameter can be set to HALT or BOOT to set the default power-on function of the Alpha machine when it is booted into the SRM console.

If you set `auto_action` to BOOT and your other SRM boot variables are set correctly, your Alpha will automatically boot Red Hat Linux when booted into the SRM console. If you set `auto_action` to halt, your Alpha will stop at the SRM console when it is powered on.

| Does Your Alpha Have a HALT Button?
| When setting the value of the `auto_action` SRM console variable, note that your machine will not be able to return to the SRM console unless you press the HALT button on the machine. Some Alpha machines do not have a HALT button. Do not set the `auto_action` value to BOOT unless your Alpha machine has a HALT button (which will allow you to return to SRM). Other methods for halting your machine may work, depending upon your hardware. You can try pressing [Ctrl]-[c] several times in a row. You can also try the `halt` command in Red Hat Linux to halt your machine and return to the SRM console. Neither of these methods are guaranteed to work on your machine.

If you want to set your machine to automatically boot, and you have a HALT button, use the following command:

    set auto_action BOOT

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