5.6 Release Notes
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
New features and major updates
Abstract
Red Hat Enterprise Linux minor releases are an aggregation of individual enhancement, security and bug fix errata. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 Release Notes documents the major changes made to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 operating system and its accompanying applications for this minor release.
1. Installer
The Red Hat Enterprise Linux installer (also known as
anaconda) assists in the installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.
Kickstart retry repository download feature
Kickstart is the automated installation method that system administrators use to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Using kickstart, a single file is created, containing the answers to all the questions that would normally be asked during a typical installation.
Under some circumstances during a kickstart installation, the installer might attempt to download a package from a repository that is temporarily unavailable (e.g. an overloaded Red Hat Network Satellite). Consequently, in previous releases of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, user input was then required to either attempt the download again, or abort. The installer in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 automatically makes several more attempts to connect to the repository and downloads the required package when it is available.
Enhanced Driver Support
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 features improved driver support for devices required during the installation process. Support for the following drivers and devices is added to the installer in this release:
- The Brocade BNA Ethernet Controller driver for Brocade 10G PCIe Ethernet Controllers.
- The
cxgb4driver for Chelsio Terminator4 10G Unified Wire Network Controllers. - The
3w-sasdriver for LSI 3ware 97xx SAS/SATA RAID Controllers.
Other driver updates in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 are discussed in Section 9, “Device Drivers”
Note
The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Installation Guide provides detailed documentation of the installer and the installation process.
