Mine (redhat 7.1 + intel nic) works happily but I don't use PXE and every
time I read about it I Cringe what is the terrible thing that causes so many
headaches. Do you have to use it if so what are the ingredients for a have
to use PXE setup (please tell me I can avoid it) since I fear one day I
might have to take on the PXE monster I might as well prepare now. What is a
good link to info (valid info) about PXE what the hell does it stand for?
I'm also a linux newbie
Thanks
Matt
-----Original Message-----
From: Marcus Smith [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2001 2:12 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [Ltsp-discuss] pxe discombobulation
Hello all. I have a question or two, and be warned: I'm a complete linux
newbie wretch.
I've been trying (for a week) to setup a small LTSP test in my lab with a
single switch, one server, and one
workstation. I'm trying to keep things as simple as possible for the moment
and then I'll work on complicating
things. All that means right now that there is no subnetting, no DHCP
proxies, and all the required services (DHCP,
TFTP, PXE) are all sitting on the same server. Both server and client are
using Intel EtherExpress Pro 10/100 NICs.
I'm using RedHat 7.1 right out of the box without any new kernels or
modifications with the exception of ISC's DHCP
3.0 instead of the 2.x that came with RedHat.
I've spent the last week just trying to figure out certain services wouldn't
work - TFTP would hang, and it turned
out to be a RedHat 7.1 issue, as did just about everything else. Anyway -
all my services are working and I'm
creeping along to success. Today I've managed to get the client to accept
an address from the DHCP server and
generally do its thing until the PXE service kicks in. I'm using the basic
pxe.conf file except that I've changed the
following:
[UseDHCPPort]
0
because all the services are on the same server. No problem. What I get is a
small menu that asks if I want a local
boot or remote linux install. Just for testing purposes, I copied the pxe
vmlinuz image and the initrd image from
the RedHat CD and renamed then linux.1 and linux.2 (respectively) into the
/tftpboot/X86PC/UNDI/linux-install
directory. When I boot the client, I can choose the remote install option
from the little menu and sure enough it
takes me right into the RedHat Linux remote install menu.
Considering my week, I think this is a major success.
Okay, since I don't want to do this sort of network install (diskless
workstations are the idea) and instead just
boot a kernel designed for a happy thin client, I know that I need to
compile a small kernel and ... ah, the
problem. I've had some small success by blindly producing a few kernels
after using make xconfig and turning most
things off except for the networking stuff, and renaming the resulting
bzImage file to linux.1 and placing it in the
/tftpboot/X86PC/UNDI/linux-install to just quickly "fool" the boot menu to
load this kernel instead of the install
kernel from the RedHat CD. I know this is inelegant, but honestly I'm not
sure how to configure the pxe.conf file to
point to a better directory and just load bzImage file. Normally I've seen
other people rename the bzImage to
vmlinuz, so I'll probably do that also. Anyway, sometimes the kernel
actually begins to boot but panics because the
kernel I cranked out earlier doesn't work right, if it gets that far at all.
Usually it just says, "Uncompressing
linux...." and hangs.
The FAQ on the LTSP website uses a different procedure to get PXE
workstations to boot, but I couldn't get it to
work. It also says that none of the packaged kernels (vmlinuz.all or
vmlinuz.eepro100) will work and that I need to
compile my own from scratch. I quote:
"None of the kernels on the LTSP site are plain, so you'll have to compile
them from scratch. In the next
section, I'll describe how to do that." Except that there isn't another
section where that's described at all. I'm
not complaining, I'm just a little lost.
So I basically have two problems:
1) I think I need more basic pxe.conf file that avoids small boot menus and
instead just loads up the kernel. I've
monkied a good deal with this only to be smacked with failure each time.
Also, the stock pxe.conf file (if the
install linux option is chosen) loads the kernel and then loads initrd. Does
this second part really need to happen?
Does anyone have some thoughts or a better sample file?
2) My kernels are just as horrible. Does anyone have some better do's and
don't for producing such a basic kernel?
It seems like there would be a zillion systems with RedHat 7.1 + Intel NICs
happy churning away in the world ..
Thanks,
Marcus
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