[TriLUG] Speeding up the boot process of a Linux box

[Steve Litt]

On Tuesday 27 March 2007 10:06, Sean Myers wrote:
>  >  Why are people rebooting so much that any of this is worth spending
>  > time on?
>  >
>  > --Jeremy
>
> Not everyone uses Linux as a server, and not everyone leaves their
> computers on all the time. Take, for example, my Ubuntu system at home.
> At actually takes longer to Hibernate the machine than to simply turn it
> off at night and back on the next afternoon.
>
> That said, why would you ever *not* want the system to boot faster? Even
> if it is in a 24/7 server environment, should a catastrophic failure
> occur and high-availability DR not be an affordable option, a quicker
> boot doesn't sound like a bad plan.

Here's a reason I might not want a machine to boot faster...

The boot procedures on my Mandriva machine are made to accommodate a wide 
variety of situations. They include hardware and network detection. They've 
encountered thousands of hours of testing, and are proven. It takes less than 
5 minutes to boot, and I boot usually only once a day, in the morning when I 
begin work.

So I boot my box, go and do a few things, come back, fire up fetchmail, do a 
few more things, then come back and go to work.

Less than 5 minutes, during which I can do other stuff anyway, is a tiny price 
to pay for the privelege of having rugged, tested and versatile boot code.

Of course, everyone else's mileage is sure to vary.

SteveT

Steve Litt
Author: Universal Troubleshooting Process books and courseware
http://www.troubleshooters.com/