diff --git a/build_image.sh b/build_image.sh
index 03303fbb41..4ec4b5a506 100755
--- a/build_image.sh
+++ b/build_image.sh
@@ -202,12 +202,12 @@ elif [ "$IMAGE_TYPE" = "aboot" ]; then
     zip -g $OUTPUT_ABOOT_IMAGE .platforms_asic
 
     if [ "$ENABLE_FIPS" = "y" ]; then
-        echo "sonic_fips=1" > kernel-cmdline
+        echo "sonic_fips=1" >> kernel-cmdline-append
     else
-        echo "sonic_fips=0" > kernel-cmdline
+        echo "sonic_fips=0" >> kernel-cmdline-append
     fi
-    zip -g $OUTPUT_ABOOT_IMAGE kernel-cmdline
-    rm kernel-cmdline
+    zip -g $OUTPUT_ABOOT_IMAGE kernel-cmdline-append
+    rm kernel-cmdline-append
 
     zip -g $OUTPUT_ABOOT_IMAGE $ABOOT_BOOT_IMAGE
     rm $ABOOT_BOOT_IMAGE
diff --git a/files/Aboot/boot0.j2 b/files/Aboot/boot0.j2
index a0b67eeb0f..b89acde326 100644
--- a/files/Aboot/boot0.j2
+++ b/files/Aboot/boot0.j2
@@ -402,7 +402,7 @@ extract_image() {
 extract_image_secureboot() {
     info "Extracting necessary swi content"
     # NOTE: boot/ is not used by the boot process but only extracted for kdump
-    unzip -oq "$swipath" 'boot/*' .imagehash -d "$image_path"
+    unzip -oq "$swipath" 'boot/*' .imagehash kernel-cmdline-append -d "$image_path"
 
     ## Extract platform.tar.gz
     info "Extracting platform.tar.gz"
@@ -442,7 +442,7 @@ write_machine_config() {
     ## Detect SKU and create a hardware description file
     aboot_version=$(cmdline_get Aboot | sed 's/^.*norcal.-//')
     if [ -x /bin/sysinit ]; then
-       aboot_build_date=$(stat -c %y /bin/sysinit | sed 's/ /T/')
+       aboot_build_date=$(stat -c %y /bin/sysinit | sed 's/ /T/g')
     else
        aboot_build_date="unknown"
     fi
@@ -650,10 +650,11 @@ write_platform_specific_cmdline() {
        else
            varlog_size=256
            cmdline_add logs_inram=on
+           cmdline_add docker_inram=on
+           cmdline_add docker_inram_algo=zstd
            if [ $flash_size -le 2000 ]; then
                # enable docker_inram for switches with less than 2G of flash
                varlog_size=128
-               cmdline_add docker_inram=on
            fi
        fi
     fi
@@ -749,13 +750,19 @@ write_cmdline() {
         fi
     fi
 
-    # FIXME: sonic sometimes adds extra kernel parameters from user space
-    #        this is unsafe but some will be kept as part of the regular boot
-    if [ -f "$image_path/kernel-cmdline" ]; then
-        for field in $cmdline_allowlist; do
-           cat "$image_path/kernel-cmdline" | tr ' ' '\n' | grep -E "$field" | tail -n 1 | cmdline_append
-        done
-    fi
+    # NOTE: SONiC might need to provide some extra kernel parameter to change the
+    #       next boot behavior. The following lines lookup allowed parameters and
+    #       append them to the cmdline.
+    #       - kernel-cmdline is still modified but its usage should ideally be deprecated over time
+    #       - kernel-cmdline-append is for the user (SONiC) to use.
+    #         this file can be either packaged in the swi or generated from userland
+    for cpath in "$image_path/kernel-cmdline" "$image_path/kernel-cmdline-append"; do
+        if [ -f "$cpath" ]; then
+            for field in $cmdline_allowlist; do
+               cat "$cpath" | tr ' ' '\n' | grep -E "$field" | tail -n 1 | cmdline_append
+            done
+        fi
+    done
 
     # FIXME: legacy configuration files used by fast-reboot and eos2sonic
     #        these should be deprecated over time.
@@ -832,11 +839,15 @@ regular_install() {
 
     mkdir -p $image_path
 
+    info "Generating boot-config, machine.conf and cmdline"
+    write_regular_configs "$image_path"
+
     info "Installing image under $image_path"
     extract_image
 
-    info "Generating boot-config, machine.conf and cmdline"
-    write_regular_configs "$image_path"
+    # NOTE: this call is necessary to process the kernel-cmdline-append file coming
+    #       from the just extracted swi
+    write_cmdline
 
     run_hooks post-install
 }
diff --git a/files/initramfs-tools/modules b/files/initramfs-tools/modules
index 349bf37619..546660daef 100644
--- a/files/initramfs-tools/modules
+++ b/files/initramfs-tools/modules
@@ -5,3 +5,4 @@ nls_ascii
 nls_cp437
 nls_utf8
 nvme
+zstd
diff --git a/files/initramfs-tools/union-mount.j2 b/files/initramfs-tools/union-mount.j2
index 291806f951..fccd21f415 100644
--- a/files/initramfs-tools/union-mount.j2
+++ b/files/initramfs-tools/union-mount.j2
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ case $1 in
 esac
 
 docker_inram=false
+docker_inram_algo=tmpfs
+docker_inram_size={{ DOCKER_RAMFS_SIZE }}
 logs_inram=false
 secureboot=false
 bootloader=generic
@@ -27,6 +29,12 @@ for x in $(cat /proc/cmdline); do
         docker_inram=on)
             docker_inram=true
             ;;
+        docker_inram_algo=*)
+            docker_inram_algo="${x#docker_inram_algo=}"
+            ;;
+        docker_inram_size=*)
+            docker_inram_size="${x#docker_inram_size=}"
+            ;;
         logs_inram=on)
             logs_inram=true
             ;;
@@ -95,6 +103,63 @@ remove_not_in_allowlist_files()
     rm -f $allowlist_pattern_file
 }
 
+mount_docker_inram()
+{
+    if [ "$docker_inram_algo" = "tmpfs" ]; then
+        echo "Creating tmpfs to extract {{ FILESYSTEM_DOCKERFS }}"
+        mount -t tmpfs -o "rw,nodev,size=$docker_inram_size" tmpfs "${rootmnt}/var/lib/docker"
+    else
+        echo "Creating zram to extract {{ FILESYSTEM_DOCKERFS }}"
+        modprobe zram num_devices=0
+        # create new zram device
+        local zid="$(cat /sys/class/zram-control/hot_add)"
+        local zname="zram$zid"
+        # attempt to use desired algorithm
+        if ! echo $docker_inram_algo > /sys/block/$zname/comp_algorithm 2>/dev/null; then
+            echo "zram algorithm $docker_inram_algo is not supported"
+            echo "using default instead: $(cat /sys/block/$zname/comp_algorithm)"
+        fi
+        echo $docker_inram_size > /sys/block/$zname/disksize
+        # create filesystem on the newly created zram block device
+        mkfs.ext4 -m 0 -L dockerfs -O '^has_journal' -q /dev/$zname
+        mount -o rw,nodev /dev/$zname "${rootmnt}/var/lib/docker"
+    fi
+}
+
+extract_dockerfs()
+{
+    echo "Extracting {{ FILESYSTEM_DOCKERFS }}"
+    if [ -f "${rootmnt}/host/$image_dir/{{ FILESYSTEM_DOCKERFS }}" ] && [ "$secureboot" = false ]; then
+        # Extract dockerfs.tar.gz into /var/lib/docker unless the system booted with secureboot
+        # In secureboot dockerfs.tar.gz cannot be trusted as it does not have a signature
+        tar xz --numeric-owner -f ${rootmnt}/host/$image_dir/{{ FILESYSTEM_DOCKERFS }} -C ${rootmnt}/var/lib/docker
+    elif [ "$bootloader" = "aboot" ] && unzip -l "$swi_path" | grep -q {{ FILESYSTEM_DOCKERFS }}; then
+        # Aboot swi images also support extracting dockerfs.tar.gz directly from them
+        unzip -qp "$swi_path" {{ FILESYSTEM_DOCKERFS }} | tar xz --numeric-owner -C ${rootmnt}/var/lib/docker
+    else
+        # Warn but allow the system to boot to at least have ssh access
+        echo "No {{ FILESYSTEM_DOCKERFS }} to extract, SONiC will be broken"
+    fi
+}
+
+mount_docker()
+{
+    if [ "$in_kdump" = true ]; then
+        # There is no point in mounting the docker filesystem in kdump environment
+        # Especially when there is some space mitigation in place
+        return
+    fi
+
+    if [ "$docker_inram" = true ]; then
+        # Create an in memory filesystem (tmpfs, zram) and extract dockerfs.tar.gz
+        mount_docker_inram
+        extract_dockerfs
+    else
+        # Mount the working directory of docker engine in the raw partition, bypass the overlay
+        mount --bind ${rootmnt}/host/$image_dir/{{ DOCKERFS_DIR }} ${rootmnt}/var/lib/docker
+    fi
+}
+
 ## Mount the overlay file system: rw layer over squashfs
 image_dir=$(cat /proc/cmdline | sed -e 's/.*loop=\(\S*\)\/.*/\1/')
 rw_dir=${rootmnt}/host/$image_dir/rw
@@ -137,30 +202,14 @@ case "${ROOT}" in
         ;;
 esac
 
+## Mount the docker storage path
 mkdir -p ${rootmnt}/var/lib/docker
-if [ "$in_kdump" = false ]; then
-    if [ "$secureboot" = true ]; then
-        mount -t tmpfs -o rw,nodev,size={{ DOCKER_RAMFS_SIZE }} tmpfs ${rootmnt}/var/lib/docker
-        if [ "$bootloader" = "aboot" ]; then
-            unzip -qp "$swi_path" dockerfs.tar.gz | tar xz --numeric-owner -C ${rootmnt}/var/lib/docker
-            ## Boot folder is not extracted during secureboot since content would inherently become unsafe
-            mkdir -p ${rootmnt}/host/$image_dir/boot
-        else
-            echo "secureboot unsupported for bootloader $bootloader" 1>&2
-            exit 1
-        fi
-    elif [ -f ${rootmnt}/host/$image_dir/{{ FILESYSTEM_DOCKERFS }} ]; then
-        ## mount tmpfs and extract docker into it
-        mount -t tmpfs -o rw,nodev,size={{ DOCKER_RAMFS_SIZE }} tmpfs ${rootmnt}/var/lib/docker
-        tar xz --numeric-owner -f ${rootmnt}/host/$image_dir/{{ FILESYSTEM_DOCKERFS }} -C ${rootmnt}/var/lib/docker
-    else
-        ## Mount the working directory of docker engine in the raw partition, bypass the overlay
-        mount --bind ${rootmnt}/host/$image_dir/{{ DOCKERFS_DIR }} ${rootmnt}/var/lib/docker
-    fi
-fi
+mount_docker
 
 ## Mount the boot directory in the raw partition, bypass the overlay
 mkdir -p ${rootmnt}/boot
+# make sure that the boot folder exists before attempting a mount
+mkdir -p ${rootmnt}/host/$image_dir/boot
 mount --bind ${rootmnt}/host/$image_dir/boot ${rootmnt}/boot
 
 ## Mount loop device or tmpfs for /var/log