Reboot Linux Faster Using kexec

Posted by timothy on Wednesday May 5, 2004 @01:46AM from the recurse-yourself dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Even if your work doesn't require you to reboot your Linux machine several times a day, waiting for a system to reboot can be a real drag. Enter kexec. Essentially, kexec is a fast reboot feature that lets you reboot to a new Linux kernel -- without having to go through a bootloader. Faster reboot is a benefit even when uptime isn't mission-critical -- and a lifesaver for kernel and system software developers who need to reboot their machines several times a day. Kexec is currently available on the x86 32-bit platform only."

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BIOS by ggeens · 2004-05-05 02:20 · Score: 4, Informative

The boot loader spends most of its time waiting for the user to press a key, so they can enter custom boot parameters. If you set the timeout to 0 in LILO or GRUB, loading the kernel happens almost instantly.

The BIOS startup routine is longer, especially if you have a SCSI card. (I have 2 of those in my machine, and they account for most of the wait during startup.)

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