SUSE Linux Enterprise Server allows setting several parameters during boot, for example choosing the source of the installation data or setting the network configuration.
Using the appropriate set of boot parameters helps simplify your installation
procedure. Many parameters can also be configured later using the linuxrc
routines, but using the boot parameters is easier. In some automated setups,
the boot parameters can be provided with initrd
or an
info
file.
The way the system is started for the installation depends on the architecture—system start-up is different for PC (AMD64/Intel 64) or mainframe, for example. If you install SUSE Linux Enterprise Server as a VM Guest on a KVM or Xen hypervisor, follow the instructions for the AMD64/Intel 64 architecture.
The terms Boot Parameters and Boot Options are often used interchangeably. In this documentation, we mostly use the term Boot Parameters.
The boot parameters are described in detail in Chapter 8, Installation Steps. Generally, selecting starts the installation boot process.
If problems occur, use Chapter 12, Troubleshooting.
or . For more information about troubleshooting the installation process, refer toThe menu bar at the bottom of the screen offers some advanced functionality needed in some setups. Using the function keys (F1 ... F12), you can specify additional options to pass to the installation routines without having to know the detailed syntax of these parameters (see Chapter 7, Boot Parameters). A detailed description of the available function keys is available in Section 7.2.1, “The Boot Screen on Machines Equipped with Traditional BIOS”.
This section describes changing the boot parameters for AMD64, Intel 64, and Arm AArch64.
The boot screen displays several options for the installation procedure. Enter to boot it. The relevant options are:
boots the installed system and is selected by default, because the CD is often left in the drive. Select one of the other options with the arrow keys and pressThe normal installation mode. All modern hardware functions are enabled. In case the installation fails, see F5 for boot parameters that disable potentially problematic functions.
Perform a system upgrade. For more information refer to Chapter 1, Upgrade Paths and Methods.
Starts a minimal Linux system without a graphical user interface. For more information, see Section 44.5.2, “Using the Rescue System”.
Boot a Linux system that is already installed. You will be asked from which partition to boot the system.
This option is only available when you install from media created from downloaded ISOs. In this case it is recommended to check the integrity of the installation medium. This option starts the installation system before automatically checking the media. In case the check was successful, the normal installation routine starts. If a corrupt media is detected, the installation routine aborts. Replace the broken medium and restart the installation process.
Tests your system RAM using repeated read and write cycles. Terminate the test by rebooting. For more information, see Section 12.4, “Boot Failure”.
Use the function keys shown at the bottom of the screen to change the language, screen resolution, installation source or to add an additional driver from your hardware vendor:
Get context-sensitive help for the active element of the boot screen. Use the arrow keys to navigate, Enter to follow a link, and Esc to leave the help screen.
Select the display language and a corresponding keyboard layout for the installation. The default language is English (US).
Select various graphical display modes for the installation. By
“Kernel Mode Setting”). If this setting does not
work on your system, choose and, optionally,
specify vga=ask
on the boot command line to get
prompted for the video resolution. Choose
if the graphical installation causes problems.
Normally, the installation is performed from the inserted installation medium. Here, select other sources, like FTP or NFS servers. If the installation is deployed on a network with an SLP server, select an installation source available on the server with this option. Find information about setting up an installation server with SLP at Chapter 16, Setting Up a Network Installation Source.
If you encounter problems with the regular installation, this menu offers to disable a few potentially problematic functions. If your hardware does not support ACPI (advanced configuration and power interface) select
to install without ACPI support. disables support for APIC (Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controllers) which may cause problems with some hardware. boots the system with the DMA mode (for CD/DVD-ROM drives) and power management functions disabled.If you are not sure, try the following options first:
or . Experts can also use the command line ( ) to enter or change kernel parameters.Press this key to notify the system that you have an optional driver update for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. With or , load drivers directly before the installation starts. If you select , you are prompted to insert the update disk at the appropriate point in the installation process.
Driver updates for SUSE Linux Enterprise are provided at http://drivers.suse.com/. These drivers have been created via the SUSE SolidDriver Program.
UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is a new industry standard which replaces and extends the traditional BIOS. The latest UEFI implementations contain the “Secure Boot” extension, which prevents booting malicious code by only allowing signed boot loaders to be executed. See Chapter 13, UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) for more information.
The boot manager GRUB 2, used to boot machines with a traditional BIOS,
does not support UEFI, therefore GRUB 2 is replaced with GRUB 2 for EFI. If
Secure Boot is enabled, YaST will automatically select GRUB 2 for EFI for
installation. From an administrative and user perspective, both
boot manager implementations behave the same and are called
GRUB 2
in the following.
When installing with Secure Boot enabled, you cannot load drivers that are not shipped with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. This is also true of drivers shipped via SolidDriver, because their signing key is not trusted by default.
To load drivers not shipped with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, do either of the following:
Before the installation, add the needed keys to the firmware database via firmware/system management tools.
Use a bootable ISO that will enroll the needed keys in the MOK list on the first boot.
For more information, see Section 13.1, “Secure Boot”.
The boot screen displays several options for the installation procedure. Change the selected option with the arrow keys and press Enter to boot it. The relevant options are:
The normal installation mode. All modern hardware functions are enabled. In case the installation fails, see F5 for boot parameters that disable potentially problematic functions.
Perform a system upgrade. For more information refer to Chapter 1, Upgrade Paths and Methods.
Starts a minimal Linux system without a graphical user interface. For more information, see Section 44.5.2, “Using the Rescue System”.
Boot a Linux system that is already installed. You will be asked from which partition to boot the system.
This option is only available when you install from media created from downloaded ISOs. In this case it is recommended to check the integrity of the installation medium. This option starts the installation system before automatically checking the media. In case the check was successful, the normal installation routine starts. If a corrupt media is detected, the installation routine aborts.
GRUB 2 for EFI on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server does not support a boot prompt or function keys for adding boot parameters. By default, the installation will be started with American English and the boot media as the installation source. A DHCP lookup will be performed to configure the network. To change these defaults or to add boot parameters you need to edit the respective boot entry. Highlight it using the arrow keys and press E. See the on-screen help for editing hints (note that only an English keyboard is available now). The entry will look similar to the following:
setparams 'Installation' set gfxpayload=keep echo 'Loading kernel ...' linuxefi /boot/x86_64/loader/linux splash=silent echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...' initrdefi /boot/x86_64/loader/initrd
Add space-separated parameters to the end of the line starting with
linuxefi
. To boot the edited entry, press
F10. If you access the machine via serial console, press
Esc–0. A
complete list of parameters is available at
http://en.opensuse.org/Linuxrc.
This section contains a selection of important boot parameters.
autoyast=
URL
The autoyast
parameter specifies the location of the
autoinst.xml
control file for automatic
installation.
manual=<0|1>
The manual
parameter controls whether the other
parameters are only default values that still must be acknowledged by
the user. Set this parameter to 0
if all values
should be accepted and no questions asked. Setdeploy your instancesting
autoyast
implies setting manual
to
0
.
Info=
URL
Specifies a location for a file from which to read additional options.
IBM Z
This helps to overcome the limitations of 10 lines (and 80 characters
per line under z/VM) for the parmfile. More documentation on the Info
file can be found in Section 6.3.3, “Combining the linuxrc
info
File with the AutoYaST Control File”. Since
the Info file can typically only be accessed through the network on
IBM Z, you cannot use it to specify options required to set up the
network (these options are described in
Section 7.3.2, “Configuring the Network Interface”). Also other linuxrc specific
options such as for debugging need to be specified in the parmfile to be
effective.
upgrade=<0|1>
To upgrade SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, specify Upgrade=1
.
IBM Z A custom parmfile is required for upgrading an existing installation of SUSE Linux Enterprise. Without this parameter, the installation provides no upgrade option.
dud=
URLLoad driver updates from URL.
Set dud=ftp://ftp.example.com/PATH_TO_DRIVER
or dud=http://www.example.com/PATH_TO_DRIVER
to load drivers from a URL. When dud=1
you will
be asked for the URL during boot.
language=
LANGUAGE
Set the installation language. Some supported values are
cs_CZ
, de_DE
,
es_ES
, fr_FR
,
ja_JP
, pt_BR
,
pt_PT
, ru_RU
,
zh_CN
, and zh_TW
.
acpi=off
Disable ACPI support.
noapic
No logical APIC.
nomodeset
Disable KMS.
textmode=1
Start installer in text mode.
console=
SERIAL_DEVICE[,MODE]
SERIAL_DEVICE can be an actual serial or parallel
device (for example ttyS0
) or a virtual terminal
(for example tty1
). MODE
is the baud rate, parity and stop bit (for example 9600n8
).
The default for this setting is set by the mainboard firmware. If you do
not see output on your monitor, try setting console=tty1
.
It is possible to define multiple devices.
The settings discussed in this section apply only to the network interface used during installation. Configure additional network interfaces in the installed system by following the instructions given in Section 19.5, “Configuring a Network Connection Manually”.
The network will only be configured if it is required during the installation.
To force the network to be configured, use the netsetup
parameter.
netsetup=VALUE
netsetup=dhcp
forces a configuration via DHCP.
Set netsetup=-dhcp
when configuring the network
with the boot parameters hostip
,
gateway
and nameserver
.
With the option
netsetup=hostip,netmask,gateway,nameserver
the
installer asks for the network settings during boot.
ifcfg=INTERFACE[.VLAN]=SETTINGS
INTERFACE can be *
to
match all interfaces or, for example, eth*
to match
all interfaces that start with eth
. It is also
possible to use MAC addresses as values.
Optionally, a VLAN can be set behind the interface name, separated by a period.
If SETTINGS is dhcp
, all
matching interfaces will be configured with DHCP. It is possible to
set static parameters. With static parameters, only the first matching
interface will be configured. The syntax for the static configuration is:
ifcfg=*="IPS_NETMASK,GATEWAYS,NAMESERVERS,DOMAINS"
Each comma separated value can in turn contain a list of space character
separated values. IPS_NETMASK is in the
CIDR notation, for example
10.0.0.1/24
. The quotes are only needed when using
space character separated lists. Example with two name servers:
ifcfg=*="10.0.0.10/24,10.0.0.1,10.0.0.1 10.0.0.2,example.com"
The ifcfg
boot parameter is very powerful and allows
you to set almost all networking parameters. In addition to the
parameters mentioned above, you can set values for all configuration
options (comma separated) from
/etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg.template
and
/etc/sysconfig/network/config
. The following
example sets a custom MTU size on an interface otherwise configured via
DHCP:
ifcfg=eth0=dhcp,MTU=1500
hostname=host.example.com
Enter the fully qualified host name.
domain=example.com
Domain search path for DNS. Allows you to use short host names instead of fully qualified ones.
hostip=192.168.1.2[/24]
Enter the IP address of the interface to configure. The IP can contain
the subnet mask, for example hostip=192.168.1.2/24
.
This setting is only evaluated if the network is required during the
installation.
gateway=192.168.1.3
Specify the gateway to use. This setting is only evaluated if the network is required during the installation.
nameserver=192.168.1.4
Specify the DNS server in charge. This setting is only evaluated if the network is required during the installation.
domain=example.com
Domain search path. This setting is only evaluated if the network is required during the installation.
If you are not using the DVD for installation, specify an alternative installation source.
install=SOURCE
Specify the location of the installation source to use. Possible
protocols are cd
, hd
,
slp
, nfs
, smb
(Samba/CIFS), ftp
, tftp
http
, and https
. Not all source
types are available on all platforms. For example
IBM Z does not support cd
and
hd
.
The default option is cd
.
If an ftp
, tftp
or
smb
URL is given, specify the user name and password
with the URL. These parameters are optional and anonymous or guest login
is assumed if they are not given. Example:
install=ftp://USER:PASSWORD@SERVER/DIRECTORY/DVD1/
To install over an encrypted connection, use an
https
URL. If the certificate cannot be verified, use
the sslcerts=0
boot parameter to disable certificate
checking.
In case of a Samba or CIFS installation, you can also specify the domain that should be used:
install=smb://WORKDOMAIN;USER:PASSWORD@SERVER/DIRECTORY/DVD1/
To use cd
, hd
or slp
,
set them as the following example:
install=cd:/ install=hd:/?device=sda/PATH_TO_ISO install=slp:/
Only one of the different remote control methods should be specified at a time. The different methods are: SSH, VNC, remote X server. For information about how to use the parameters listed in this section, see Chapter 11, Remote Installation.
display_ip=
IP_ADDRESS
Display_IP
causes the installing system to
try to connect to an X server at the given address.
The direct installation with the X Window System relies on a primitive authentication mechanism based on host names. This mechanism is disabled on current SUSE Linux Enterprise Server versions. Installation with SSH or VNC is preferred.
vnc=1
Enables a VNC server during the installation.
vncpassword=
PASSWORDSets the password for the VNC server.
ssh=1
ssh
enables SSH installation.
ssh.password=
PASSWORDSpecifies an SSH password for the root user during installation.
To configure access to a local RMT or
supportconfig
server for the installation, you can
specify boot parameters to
set up these services during installation. The same applies if you need IPv6 support
during the installation.
By default, updates for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server are delivered by the SUSE Customer Center. If your network provides a so called RMT server to provide a local update source, you need to equip the client with the server's URL. Client and server communicate solely via HTTPS protocol, therefore you also need to enter a path to the server's certificate if the certificate was not issued by a certificate authority.
Providing parameters for accessing an RMT server is only needed for non-interactive installations. During an interactive installation the data can be provided during the installation (see Section 8.7, “Registration” for details).
regurl
URL of the RMT server. This URL has a fixed format of
https://FQN/center/regsvc/
.
FQN needs to be a fully qualified host name
of the RMT server. Example:
regurl=https://smt.example.com/center/regsvc/
Make sure the values you enter are correct. If regurl
has not been specified correctly, the registration of the update source
will fail.
regcert
Location of the RMT server's certificate. Specify one of the following locations:
Remote location (HTTP, HTTPS or FTP) from which the certificate can
be downloaded. In case regcert is not specified, it will default to
http://FQN/smt.crt
with
FQN
being the name of the RMT server. Example:
regcert=http://rmt.example.com/smt-ca.crt
Absolute path to the certificate on the local machine. Example:
regcert=/data/inst/smt/smt-ca.cert
Use ask
to open a pop-up menu during the
installation where you can specify the path to the certificate. Do
not use this option with AutoYaST. Example
regcert=ask
Use done
if the certificate will be
installed by an add-on product, or if you are using a certificate
issued by an official certificate authority. For example:
regcert=done
supportconfig
#Edit sourceThe data that supportconfig (see Chapter 43, Gathering System Information for Support for more information) gathers is sent to the SUSE Customer Center by default. It is also possible to set up a local server to collect this data. If such a server is available on your network, you need to set the server's URL on the client. This information needs to be entered at the boot prompt.
supporturl
.
URL of the server. The URL has the format
http://FQN/Path/
, where
FQN is the fully qualified host name
of the server and Path is the location on the
server. For example:
supporturl=http://support.example.com/supportconfig/data/
By default you can only assign IPv4 network addresses to your machine. To enable IPv6 during installation, enter one of the following parameters at the boot prompt:
ipv6=1
ipv6only=1
In networks enforcing the usage of a proxy server for accessing remote Web sites, registration during installation is only possible when configuring a proxy server.
To use a proxy during the installation, press F4 on the boot screen and set the required parameters in the dialog.
Alternatively, provide the kernel parameter proxy
at the
boot prompt:
On the installation screen, press e to open the editor of boot parameters.
Add a new line with the following syntax:
proxy=http://USER:PASSWORD@proxy.example.com:PORT
Specifying USER and PASSWORD is optional—if the server allows anonymous access, the following data is sufficient:
http://proxy.example.com:PORT
The outcome will be similar to the following:
Press F10 to boot with the new proxy setting.
Enabling SELinux upon installation start-up enables you to configure it after the installation has been finished without having to reboot. Use the following parameters:
security=selinux selinux=1
During installation and upgrade, YaST can update itself as described
in Section 8.2, “Installer Self-Update” to solve potential bugs
discovered after release. The self_update
parameter can
be used to modify the behavior of this feature.
To enable the installer self-update, set the parameter to
1
:
self_update=1
To use a user-defined repository, specify a URL:
self_update=https://updates.example.com/
If your screen uses a very high DPI, use the boot parameter
QT_AUTO_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTOR
.
This scales font and user interface elements to the screen DPI.
QT_AUTO_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTOR=1
The boot parameter mitigations
lets you control mitigation
options for side-channel attacks on affected CPUs. Its possible values are:
auto
.
Enables all mitigations required for your CPU model, but does
not protect against cross-CPU thread attacks. This setting may impact
performance to some degree, depending on the workload.
nosmt
.
Provides the full set of available security mitigations. Enables all
mitigations required for your CPU model. In addition, it disables
Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) to avoid side-channel attacks across
multiple CPU threads. This setting may further impact performance,
depending on the workload.
off
.
Disables all mitigations. Side-channel attacks against your CPU
are possible, depending on the CPU model. This setting has no impact
on performance.
Each value comes with a set of specific parameters, depending on the CPU architecture, the kernel version, and on the vulnerabilities that need to be mitigated. Refer to the kernel documentation for details.
For IBM Z platforms, the system is booted (IPL, Initial Program Load) as described in Section 5.3.4, “IPLing the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Installation System”. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server does not show a splash screen on these systems. During the installation, load the kernel, initrd, and parmfile manually. YaST starts with its installation screen when a connection has been established to the installation system via VNC, X, or SSH. Because there is no splash screen, kernel or boot parameters cannot be entered on screen, but must be specified in a parmfile (see Section 5.4, “The Parmfile—Automating the System Configuration”).
InstNetDev=osa
Enter the type of interface to configure. Possible values are
osa
, hsi
, ctc
,
escon
, and iucv
(CTC, ESCON, and
IUCV are no longer officially supported).
For the interfaces of type hsi
and
osa
, specify an appropriate netmask and an optional
broadcast address:
Netmask=255.255.255.0 Broadcast=192.168.255.255
For the interfaces of type ctc
,
escon
, and iucv
(CTC, ESCON, and
IUCV are no longer officially supported), enter the IP address of the
peer:
Pointopoint=192.168.55.20
OsaInterface=<lcs|qdio>
For osa
network devices, specify the host interface
(qdio
or lcs
).
Layer2=<0|1>
For osa
QDIO Ethernet and hsi
devices, specify whether to enable (1
) or disable
(0
) OSI Layer 2 support.
OSAHWAddr=02:00:65:00:01:09
For Layer 2-enabled osa
QDIO Ethernet devices, either
specify a MAC address manually or state OSAHWADDR=
(with trailing white space) for the system default.
PortNo=<0|1>
For osa
network devices, specify the port number
(provided the device supports this feature). The default value is 0.
Each of the interfaces requires certain setup options:
Interfaces ctc
and escon
(CTC and
ESCON are no longer officially supported):
ReadChannel=0.0.0600 WriteChannel=0.0.0601
ReadChannel
specifies the READ channel to use.
WriteChannel
specifies the WRITE channel.
For the ctc
interface (no longer officially
supported), specify the protocol that should be used for this interface:
CTCProtocol=<0/1/2>
Valid entries would be:
|
Compatibility mode, also for non-Linux peers other than OS/390 and z/OS (this is the default mode) |
|
Extended mode |
|
Compatibility mode with OS/390 and z/OS |
Network device type osa
with interface
lcs
:
ReadChannel=0.0.0124
ReadChannel
stands for the channel number used in this
setup. A second port number can be derived from this by adding one to
ReadChannel
. Portnumber
is used to specify
the relative port.
Interface iucv
:
IUCVPeer=PEER
Enter the name of the peer machine.
Network device type osa
with interface
qdio
for OSA-Express Gigabit Ethernet:
ReadChannel=0.0.0700 WriteChannel=0.0.0701 DataChannel=0.0.0702
For ReadChannel
, enter the number of the READ channel. For
WriteChannel
, enter the number of the WRITE channel.
DataChannel
specifies the DATA channel. Make sure that the
READ channel carries an even device number.
Interface hsi
for HiperSockets and VM guest LANs:
ReadChannel=0.0.0800 WriteChannel=0.0.0801 DataChannel=0.0.0802
For ReadChannel
, enter the appropriate number for the READ
channel. For WriteChannel
and DataChannel
,
enter the WRITE and DATA channel numbers.
You can find more information about boot parameters in the openSUSE wiki at https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Linuxrc#Parameter_Reference.