Installation guide

Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 37

Once you have loaded the GRUB boot screen, use the arrow keys to choose a boot label or type

[e] for edit. You are presented with a list of items in the conﬁguration ﬁle for the boot label you have

selected.

Boot loader passwords provide a security mechanism in an environment where physical access to your

server is available.

If you are installing a boot loader, you should create a password to protect your system. Without

a boot loader password, users with access to your system can pass options to the kernel which can

compromise your system security. With a boot loader password in place, the password must ﬁrst be

entered before selecting any non-standard boot options. However, it is still possible for someone with

physical access to the machine to boot from a diskette, CD-ROM, or USB media if the BIOS supports

it. Security plans which include boot loader passwords should also address alternate boot methods.

If you choose to use a boot loader password to enhance your system security, be sure to select the

checkbox labeled Use a boot loader password.

Once selected, enter a password and conﬁrm it.

To conﬁgure more advance boot loader options, such as changing the drive order or passing options

to the kernel, be sure Conﬁgure advanced boot loader options is selected before clicking Next.

4.17.1. Advanced Boot Loader Conﬁguration

Now that you have chosen which boot loader to install, you can also determine where you want the

boot loader to be installed. You may install the boot loader in one of two places:

• The master boot record (MBR) — This is the recommended place to install a boot loader, unless

the MBR already starts another operating system loader, such as System Commander. The MBR

is a special area on your hard drive that is automatically loaded by your computer’s BIOS, and is

the earliest point at which the boot loader can take control of the boot process. If you install it in

the MBR, when your machine boots, GRUB presents a boot prompt. You can then boot Red Hat

Enterprise Linux or any other operating system that you have conﬁgured the boot loader to boot.

• The ﬁrst sector of your boot partition — This is recommended if you are already using another

boot loader on your system. In this case, your other boot loader takes control ﬁrst. You can then

conﬁgure that boot loader to start GRUB, which then boots Red Hat Enterprise Linux.