/boot directory and kernel version question
 

I am very new to Linux, I have a SuSe 10 sp2 box to administer. Can some one explain the significance of the /Boot and how to use the different kernel versions, any best practices and any good to know 'How to's' are greatly appreciated
Thanks,
Squidy

total 11418
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 944543 Aug 15 2009 System.map-2.6.16.60-0.42.4-smp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1488163 Aug 15 2009 vmlinuz-2.6.16.60-0.42.4-smp
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1788436 Aug 15 2009 vmlinux-2.6.16.60-0.42.4-smp.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 60952 Aug 15 2009 config-2.6.16.60-0.42.4-smp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 93822 Aug 15 2009 symvers-2.6.16.60-0.42.4-smp.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 339039 Aug 15 2009 symtypes-2.6.16.60-0.42.4-smp.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 145839 Aug 15 2009 symsets-2.6.16.60-0.42.4-smp.tar.gz
drwx------ 2 root root 12288 Feb 2 15:35 lost+found
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 1 Feb 2 15:38 boot -> .
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 28 Feb 2 15:39 vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-2.6.16.60-0.42.4-smp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 133120 Feb 2 15:40 message
-rw------- 1 root root 512 Feb 2 15:40 backup_mbr
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3310633 Feb 2 15:45 initrd-2.6.16.60-0.42.4-smp
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 27 Feb 2 15:45 initrd -> initrd-2.6.16.60-0.42.4-smp
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 Feb 2 15:45 grub
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3310633 Feb 2 19:09 initrd-2.6.16.60-0.42.4-smp.bak

Grub (your bootloader) makes some assumptions about where things it needs are - /boot being the starting point. Have a look in that grub (sub-)directory.
What you see as a menu on boot is in the file /boot/grub/menu.lst - new entries can be added to this for new kernels in need, however this is usually managed for you by the SuSE package manager. Even at SLES10, I'd imagine you could manipulate it (the boot menu) from yast.

You appear to have only one kernel there - were you planning on installing others ?.
I'll see what I can find on handy tutorials.

Thank you for the reply, a tutorial would be great. I don't seem to be able to access the LQ tutorial section do I need a different account with more privileges?
Thanks
Squidy

Hi,

Welcome to LQ!

The tutorials are accessible to every LQ member. Please make sure that you do not have blocks enabled for your browser, NoScript or Adblock. If so then enable/allow the site as trusted. You should be able to click on this Tutorials link or the Menu bar Tutorials link above. Look at the Main Menu: Linux Tutorials to see if that works for you.

If you have problems then contact LQ Admin or even LQ Suggestions & Feedback may be of help.