Syslinux - Apr 2012 - ramdisk_size=9216 - but why?

All,

My name is William Russell and I am setting up a PXE Boot server on RHEL6
to server RHEL5 & 6 network installations.

I'm just trying to document and optimize my setup which I moved from a
RHEL5 server. I noticed that I have "ramdisk_size=9216", but after a
fruitless search online, I still don't understand why we chose 9MB - it
seems so random. Many others have used this as well from my research, but
no one ever states WHY.

My questions are pretty simple:

1. Why would someone choose SPECIFICALLY ramdisk_size=9216 versus the
default of 4096?
2. Is this something that I would need for the RHEL6 installs? Or is this a
legacy thing for the RHEL5 installs?

PS. I'm not having a particular issue, but trying to gain a better
understanding for optimization. Maybe the number I should use should be
bigger or smaller, but I'm hoping the members of this list can help me
decide.

Thank you in advance for your help!

Best regards,
-- 
William E. W. Russell
Director, Systems Integration

incNETWORKS, Inc.
25 James Way
Long Branch, NJ 07724
Cell Phone # 732-744-6483
Work Phone # 732-508-2224

On Thu, Apr 05, 2012 at 11:30:53AM -0400, W. E. W. Russell
wrote:
> I'm just trying to document and optimize my setup which I moved from a
> RHEL5 server. I noticed that I have "ramdisk_size=9216", but
after a
> fruitless search online, I still don't understand why we chose 9MB - it
> seems so random. Many others have used this as well from my research, but
> no one ever states WHY.
> 
> My questions are pretty simple:
> 
> 1. Why would someone choose SPECIFICALLY ramdisk_size=9216 versus the
> default of 4096?
> 
> 2. Is this something that I would need for the RHEL6 installs? Or is this a
> legacy thing for the RHEL5 installs?
> 
> PS. I'm not having a particular issue, but trying to gain a better
> understanding for optimization. Maybe the number I should use should be
> bigger or smaller, but I'm hoping the members of this list can help me
> decide.

The Ram disk of an "installer" contains much more programs
then a regular ramdisk.


Cheers
Geert Stappers