On Mon, 2003-12-01 at 10:49, Rex Johnston wrote: > Jim Cheetham wrote: > > I've got a couple of kernel-related questions ... > > > > In a server environment, for drivers that are not essential for booting > > (i.e. scsi or ide), do you think kernel modules are preferable to > > built-in drivers? > > Yes, you can load/unload/rebuild them on the fly. Handy for experimentation, but not necessarily a compelling argument for a server that's supposed to be stable :-)
I was considering banning loadable modules, to increase protection against r00tkits ... However, just this morning I identified the cause of a transient problem by identifying a troublesome driver (i.e. rtl8139 as opposed to 8139too) because it was visible in lsmod ... > > How can I discover the drivers present in a running kernel? > lsmod & dmesg lsmod only tells me about modules ... dmesg is a limited-length buffer, and the announcements from boot time are often lost. -jim
