Peter Trifonov skrev:
> Hello, 
> 
> In fact, I AM using NFS. I have even tried moving the /nfsroot directory to
> a FreeBSD 
> NFS server, but nothing has changed (i.e. some clients can work with it, but
> old ones cannot). 
> The problem arises very early in the system startup phase, before X starts. 
> 
> With best regards,
> P. Trifonov
> 
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Andy Rabagliati [mailto:[email protected]]
>> Sent: Friday, February 06, 2009 3:05 PM
>> To: [email protected]
>> Subject: Re: [Ltsp-discuss] Network boot hangs
>>
>> On Fri, 06 Feb 2009, Peter Trifonov wrote:
>>
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> I have installed K12LTSP 5-EL/32 bit onto a server in my network. It
>> works
>>> fine with relatively modern client PCs.
>>> However, booting 12-year old HP Vectra PCs (Pentium-200 CPU, 96 MB
>> RAM)
>>> hangs with the words "Freeing ram used by initramfs".
>>> The system is not really frozen, but nothing happens.  I have a few
>> such
>>> PCs, and all of them exhibit such behavior. I have observed some NFS
>> traffic
>>> between the server and the client before it hangs.
>>>
>>> Does anyone have any suggestions what can be wrong with the clients?
>> I have had some success by going 'legacy' - using NFS instead of NBD,
>> and xdmcp instead of ssh. You can change on a client basis by listing
>> the MAC addresses in dhcpd.conf and giving them different boot options.
>>
>> Cheers,   Andy!
>>

Hi list,

- pls don't put too much credibility into my answer below, it's most 
likely of no use to you...but I once had a similar problem and I 
received this from the list...:

-------- quote start ----------

The problem is caused by the 2.6 kernels using a large default blocksize 
for NFS packets. The 2.6 kernels use 32k blocks, where the older kernels 
used 8k blocks. What happens is the 32k byte blocks need to be broken 
down into 1500 byte datagrams. Simple math will tell you that you need a 
whole lot more 1500 byte datagrams to make up a full 32kbyte block. 
Sending those datagrams to a 10mbit card takes too long for all of the 
datagrams to get there, so the NFS client times out before getting all 
of the fragments.

Fortunately, there's an easy fix.

You need to pass some options to the client to tell it to use smaller 
block sizes for NFS.

Take a look at KernelOptions for more info passing command line args to 
the kernel.

Solution when using Etherboot

You'll need to add the following lines to your dhcpd.conf file.

option option-128 code 128 = string;
option option-129 code 129 = text;

option option-128 e4:45:74:68:00:00;
option option-129 "MOPTS=nolock,ro,wsize=2048,rsize=2048";


If you are wondering what the e4:45:74:68:00:00 is, read the 
KernelOptions page to learn about something called an "Etherboot Signature".

Solution when using PXE

Robbie had success with append NFSOPTS="-o etx"

You'll need to add the options to the pxelinux config file. By default, 
the config file is /tftpboot/lts/2.4.26-ltsp-3/pxelinux.cfg/default

prompt 0
label linux
kernel bzImage-2.4.26-ltsp-3
append init=/linuxrc rw root=/dev/ram0 initrd=initrd-2.4.26-ltsp-3.gz 
MOPTS=nolock,ro,wsize=2048,rsize=2048
-------- quote end ------------


I hope it's of use to you, if not, please just disregard it :-)


------------------------------
Med venlig hilsen/Best regards
Verner Kjærsgaard
Open Source Academy
+45 56964223

Novell Certified Linux
Professional 10035701
------------------------------

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