[NBLUG/talk] Need help with booting Linux system

[Scott Doty]

On 03/16/2011 10:08 AM, Todd Cary wrote:
> I did what probably rates as the dumbest thing possible with my Linux 
> server (Centos 4): deleted the boot files.  However, I caught the 
> error *before* doing a reboot and found many (I hope all) of the 
> files, but due to my limited Linux admin experience, I have concern 
> about rebooting without having someone with more expertise than I have 
> to be present at that moment.
>
> I downloaded the latest version of Centos 4.8 and have it on disks, so 
> the repair program is present.  This server is quite simple: just use 
> it to share images, test php applications and to ftp work to others.  
> For this reason, it only gets touched by me to back up data 
> (unfortunately, not the system) and to do yum updates.  As a result, I 
> do not have occasion to use Linux often enough to keep my skill set up.
>

Someone else can confirm if this helps or not, but I ran this on a 
CentOS release 5.5 (Final) system:

find /boot | xargs -l rpm --query -v --whatprovides | sort -u

Which yields:

file /boot/grub/device.map is not owned by any package
file /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 is not owned by any package
file /boot/grub/fat_stage1_5 is not owned by any package
file /boot/grub/ffs_stage1_5 is not owned by any package
file /boot/grub/grub.conf is not owned by any package
file /boot/grub/iso9660_stage1_5 is not owned by any package
file /boot/grub/jfs_stage1_5 is not owned by any package
file /boot/grub/menu.lst is not owned by any package
file /boot/grub/minix_stage1_5 is not owned by any package
file /boot/grub/reiserfs_stage1_5 is not owned by any package
file /boot/grub/stage1 is not owned by any package
file /boot/grub/stage2 is not owned by any package
file /boot/grub/ufs2_stage1_5 is not owned by any package
file /boot/grub/vstafs_stage1_5 is not owned by any package
file /boot/grub/xfs_stage1_5 is not owned by any package
filesystem-2.4.0-3.el5
grub-0.97-13.5
kernel-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5
kernel-2.6.18-194.8.1.el5
kernel-xen-2.6.18-128.el5
kernel-xen-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5
kernel-xen-2.6.18-194.8.1.el5
redhat-logos-4.9.99-11.el5.centos

So I'd recommend (and please, someone confirm this):

# yum install yum-utils # unless you already have this
# mkdir temp ; cd temp
# yumdownloader kernel grub # or kernel-xen, if that's what you're using
# rpm -ivh --force *.rpm

...then check under /boot that all your necessary files are there.  I've 
appended a list of what is under /boot on my system to this message...

  -Scott

/boot
/boot/initrd-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.img
/boot/xen.gz-2.6.18-194.8.1.el5
/boot/config-2.6.18-194.8.1.el5xen
/boot/System.map-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5
/boot/xen.gz-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5
/boot/System.map-2.6.18-194.8.1.el5
/boot/initrd-2.6.18-128.el5xen.img
/boot/symvers-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5xen.gz
/boot/.vmlinuz-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5xen.hmac
/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5
/boot/.vmlinuz-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.hmac
/boot/config-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5
/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-194.8.1.el5
/boot/config-2.6.18-128.el5xen
/boot/symvers-2.6.18-194.8.1.el5xen.gz
/boot/System.map-2.6.18-128.el5xen
/boot/System.map-2.6.18-194.8.1.el5xen
/boot/initrd-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5.img
/boot/symvers-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5.gz
/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-128.el5xen
/boot/.vmlinuz-2.6.18-194.8.1.el5xen.hmac
/boot/config-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5xen
/boot/.vmlinuz-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5.hmac
/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-194.8.1.el5xen
/boot/.vmlinuz-2.6.18-194.8.1.el5.hmac
/boot/config-2.6.18-194.8.1.el5
/boot/symvers-2.6.18-194.8.1.el5.gz
/boot/xen-syms-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5
/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5
/boot/xen.gz-2.6.18-128.el5
/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5xen
/boot/xen-syms-2.6.18-128.el5
/boot/xen-syms-2.6.18-194.8.1.el5
/boot/grub
/boot/grub/iso9660_stage1_5
/boot/grub/menu.lst
/boot/grub/stage1
/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
/boot/grub/reiserfs_stage1_5
/boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5
/boot/grub/vstafs_stage1_5
/boot/grub/ufs2_stage1_5
/boot/grub/grub.conf
/boot/grub/xfs_stage1_5
/boot/grub/ffs_stage1_5
/boot/grub/fat_stage1_5
/boot/grub/jfs_stage1_5
/boot/grub/device.map
/boot/grub/minix_stage1_5
/boot/grub/stage2
/boot/symvers-2.6.18-128.el5xen.gz
/boot/System.map-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5
/boot/initrd-2.6.18-194.8.1.el5xen.img
/boot/symvers-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.gz
/boot/message
/boot/initrd-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5xen.img
/boot/initrd-2.6.18-194.8.1.el5.img
/boot/config-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5
/boot/System.map-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5xen

/sd