Loading kernel modules in Linux

[bob at rsi.com (Bob Gorman)]

I'm looking for some help on the best way to load a kernel module under Linux.

Today I'm working with RedHat (EL3).  I have a SCSI tape drive with an Adaptec controller that needs the aic7xxx module. The system nicely added an entry in /etc/modules.conf, which looks like this:

  alias eth0 e1000
  alias scsi_hostadapter ata_piix
  alias usb-controller usb-uhci
  alias usb-controller1 ehci-hcd
  alias scsi_hostadapter1 aic7xxx

However, on boot the aic7xxx module does not load.  If I load it manually (modprobe aic7xxx) all is well.

First question: Why is the module not loading automatically?

I found if I tweak /etc/modules.conf I can get it to load at boot.  I do this by tying it to the load of another module. So far this has worked with scsi_mod and sg.  Here are a couple of examples:

  above scsi_mod aic7xxx
  pre-install sg modprobe aic7xxx

This seems to work because scsi_mod and sg are being loaded for the ata_piix module to support the serial disks in the system.

Second question: What's the best way to get the aic7xxx module to load automatically at boot?

Thanks in advance for any help and/or insight.