<HTML ><HEAD ><TITLE >Select boot disk</TITLE ><META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7"><LINK REL="HOME" TITLE="Remote Serial Console HOWTO" HREF="index.html"><LINK REL="UP" TITLE="Upgrading Red Hat Linux from a serial console" HREF="rhl.html"><LINK REL="PREVIOUS" TITLE="Upgrading Red Hat Linux from a serial console" HREF="rhl.html"><LINK REL="NEXT" TITLE="Configure the BIOS to use the serial port" HREF="rhl-biosserial.html"></HEAD ><BODY CLASS="SECTION" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#840084" ALINK="#0000FF" ><DIV CLASS="NAVHEADER" ><TABLE SUMMARY="Header navigation table" WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" ><TR ><TH COLSPAN="3" ALIGN="center" >Remote Serial Console HOWTO</TH ></TR ><TR ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="bottom" ><A HREF="rhl.html" ACCESSKEY="P" >Prev</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="80%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="bottom" >Appendix C. Upgrading <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >Red Hat Linux</SPAN > from a serial console</TD ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="bottom" ><A HREF="rhl-biosserial.html" ACCESSKEY="N" >Next</A ></TD ></TR ></TABLE ><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"></DIV ><DIV CLASS="SECTION" ><H1 CLASS="SECTION" ><A NAME="RHL-SELECTBOOT" ></A >C.1. Select boot disk</H1 ><P >The key to a remote upgrade is to be able to boot from floppy disk to perform the upgrade, and then to reboot from the hard disk. The possibilities are:</P ><P ></P ><OL TYPE="1" ><LI ><P >Most <SPAN CLASS="ACRONYM" >BIOSs</SPAN > allow the boot disk order to be controlled through the <SPAN CLASS="ACRONYM" >BIOS</SPAN >' configuration. If the <SPAN CLASS="ACRONYM" >BIOS</SPAN > supports a serial console then the machine can be upgraded whilst leaving the floppy disk in the drive. No one need attend the site to upgrade the operating system</P ></LI ><LI ><P >Someone can insert a floppy disk before the upgrade and remove it afterwards. Most co-location sites will provide this level of <SPAN CLASS="QUOTE" >"board-swap"</SPAN > technical support.</P ></LI ><LI ><P >Two records of the CMOS memory which stores the <SPAN CLASS="ACRONYM" >BIOS</SPAN > configuration can be made: one for booting from floppy and another for booting from hard disk. Unfortunately the nvram device driver does not yet work on a wide enough variety of machines for this HOWTO to pursue this option further.</P ></LI ></OL ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="NAVFOOTER" ><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"><TABLE SUMMARY="Footer navigation table" WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="rhl.html" ACCESSKEY="P" >Prev</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="index.html" ACCESSKEY="H" >Home</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="rhl-biosserial.html" ACCESSKEY="N" >Next</A ></TD ></TR ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" >Upgrading <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >Red Hat Linux</SPAN > from a serial console</TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="rhl.html" ACCESSKEY="U" >Up</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" >Configure the <SPAN CLASS="ACRONYM" >BIOS</SPAN > to use the serial port</TD ></TR ></TABLE ></DIV ></BODY ></HTML >