Priming the kernel

The Linux kernel is a program that constitutes the central core of the operating system. It can directly access the underlying hardware and make it available to the user to work with it using the shell.

In this recipe, we will learn how to prime the kernel by working with dynamically loaded kernel modules. Kernel modules are device driver files (or filesystem driver files) that add support for specific pieces of hardware so that we can access them.

You will not work very often with kernel modules as a system administrator, but having a basic understanding of them can be beneficial if you have a device driver problem or an unsupported piece of hardware.

Getting ready

To complete this recipe, you will require a minimal installation ...

Get CentOS 7 Linux Server Cookbook - Second Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.