Hi all,
What kernel image should I run on a Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5100 (Dell PowerEdge 2950) based machine?
Am I right to assume it would be em64t-p4-smp from AMD64 version of etch?
Also is etch stable enough to use on a production server? This "box" will be the hart of my office so I am quite paranoid

apt-cache search linux-image.

em64t-p4-smp sounds about right, I don't have one so not sure.

Etch is planned to become Stable sometime in December (this year ) If you start from scratch (which I presume you do) with a Etch net-install CD you have to change the settings in your /etc/apt/sources.list from testing to stable when this memorable event happens

The em64t-p4-smp kernel-flavour suits your hardware best. Keep in mind that on Etch, the installer by default doesn't include ssh, which can be a pain in the *** (as I discovered ) Even more so on a server w/o direct local access

December? wow didn't know it was that soon nice...
Well I seem to have installed Etch and no probs so far. Only thing is I was not asked by the installer wich version of the kernel I want so I got "2.6.17-2-amd64 #1 SMP x86_64 GNU/Linux". Than I remembered, I should have typed 'expert' at boot
So before I install the rest of the software I would like to change the kernel. Anyway to do this without a reinstall?

I recently deployed Debian Etch on 2x Dell PE1850 servers (running 64-bit dual Xeons), and used the snapshot DVD, in advanced mode. I then used the testing APT sources, and removed/installed packages required, compiling from source certain packages. The servers were basically a high load LAMP and database configuration, with some advanced routing and additional cryptography functionality, but the Debian ones I built made the previous RHEL ones running 2.4 kernel look truely dire, as expected

It then took me about 4 kernel recompiles to get everything and LVM spot on with all the right drivers, bear in mind i'd never installed any Linux on a Dell before (although had administered some in the past). I used a combination of the dmesg output and what hardware I knew was in the beasty, and had a full requirements specification from the company as to what they wanted them to do.

After that hust downloaded the latest kernel from kernel.org, compiled as required, updated the initramfs (which is definetely required if your running SCSI/LVM) and job done. Obviously with the help of the google and some kind souls on here (had never played with LVM until then, and had to learn quick after breaking one of the logical volumes!)

Etch is definetely stable enough to run as a production server, the servers I built were mission-critical to the company and as I said, eat the previous RHEL version on the PE750's and the RHEL version installed as standard (By Dell lol).

I have had previous kernel compilation experience through 2.2, 2.4/2.5, 2.6 on various arch, and although I certainly wouldnt call myself a "Master of the Kernel" or any sort of Dev, playing with different kernel setups on the various arch certainly helped a lot.

I'm not willing to send you the kernel image/config/initramfs for 2.6.18.1 (which was latest at the time), mainly because you will learn nothing from it, and it would be doing your job for you But I am more than willing to give you some pointers in the right direction if your having troubles. Feel free to e-mail!

:whimper: this is not the answer I was hoping for, but I guess the time has come for me to really seriusly start doing this kernel stuff.
Ok so, I know how to recompile the kernel, in general, the specifics will be figured out eventually. Just one question though.
What is initramfs? And do I need to worry about it since I'm not using LVM (should I be)?

Some linkys would be great

And a big thanks to all for some great advice.

I've used this page for some kernel-building: http://www.digitalhermit.com/linux/K...ild-HOWTO.html However, you need to make one addition to it. When building the initrd image, add the -o flag to the mkinitrd command, like thisif you're using the 2.6.18.3 kernel. Omitting this flag means the mkinitrd command revert to default behavior and thus directing it's output to /dev/null

Forgive me if i'm wrong, but isn't initrd deprecated? The version of Etch you installed almost certainly ships with initramfs, the sucessor of initrd which is much nicer and easier to play with than initrd, and can be updated once you have the kernel image and config in /boot with the update-initramfs command.

If you man update-initramfs and google it you should get an understanding of exactly what the initramfs does. I will send you some links later when I dig them out! I've also asked me previous company to forward me on the HOWTO docs I wrote for them for server build, so can send you some help from that if needbe.

LVM probably gets a mixed response for yes/no on this forum, I wouldn't be sure. If you read this it will tell you about LVM. To summarise it quickly, LVM is a way of creating higher level partitions. Partitions in the sense of the word are low level divides which split up the hard disk. LVM uses higher level groups and volumes to create logical partitions which can be extended/reduced on the fly. HD access is also increased, but their are detrements aswell.

As you haven't used LVM, don't worry about it for now, once you have got to grips with kernel rebuilds, and have another system to play with, you can mess about with LVM then!

Again thanks for the advice.