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Thread ID: 51829 2004-11-30 23:40:00 PXE Boot issues Growly (6) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
298527 2004-11-30 23:40:00 Hello,

Trying to remote boot a floppy image, using a PXE. Followed all instruction I could find online, but when executing the bpbatch.P (the network boot loader program we're using) the computer never gets passed the "Overlay file successfully loaded." stage.

It looks like this:

Intel(R) Boot Agent FE 4.1.09
Copyright (C) 1997-2002, Intel Corporation


CLIENT MAC ADDR: 00 0C 76 DB 7B 17 GUID: FFFFFFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFFFFFFFFFF
CLIENT IP: 192.168.199.16 MASK: 255.255.255.0 DHCP IP: 192.168.199.196


Starting BpBatch - PXE Boot ROM detected
BpBatch overlay loader v.1.1 (Feb 11 2000)
Overlay file successfully loaded

When it should look like this:

Intel(R) Boot Agent FE 4.1.09
Copyright (C) 1997-2002, Intel Corporation


CLIENT MAC ADDR: 00 0C 76 DB 7B 17 GUID: FFFFFFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFFFFFFFFFF
CLIENT IP: 192.168.199.16 MASK: 255.255.255.0 DHCP IP: 192.168.199.196


Starting BpBatch - PXE Boot ROM detected
BpBatch overlay loader v.1.1 (Feb 11 2000)
Overlay file successfully loaded
MrBatch - Pre-boot batch processor v1.1 (Feb 11 2000)
(c) Marc Vuilleumier Stückelberg and David Clerc, U. of Geneva, 1997-2000
http://www.bpbatch.org
- BootProm detected, using 192.168.0.1 as standard TFTP server
- Advanced Power Management V1.2
- Using up to 343K of conventional memory for the heap
- Using up to 15296K of extended memory
- Direct disk write access enabled
Entering interactive mode (type EXIT or QUIT to resume)
> _



It's supposed to run a script that looks like:


set CacheNever = "on"
loadramdisk "netboot.img"
floppyboot

This is what my dhcpd.conf file looks like (I removed comments):

option option-135 code 135 = text;
allow booting;

subnet 192.168.199.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
range 192.168.199.50 192.168.199.150;
option domain-name "gotghost";
option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
option broadcast-address 192.168.199.255;
}

host ictse3 {
hardware ethernet 00:0c:76:db:7b:17;
fixed-address 192.168.199.16;
next-server 192.168.199.196;
filename "/tftpboot/bpbatch.B";
option option-135 "-i";
option option-135 "/tftpboot/client.bpb";
}


This is a bit of a learning experience - any help would be greatly appreciated. 		Growly (6)
298528 2004-12-01 00:24:00 Have you got a tftp server running? Is it at IP address 192.168.0.1? Are the files in the correct place ... /tftboot/ ? Are there case-senistive filenames involved?

etcetera. :D

I would try entering commands to tftp from the keyboard on a client machine. 		Graham L (2)
298529 2004-12-01 00:41:00 I presume that the tftp server boots fine, as it manages to download the bpbatch.P thing in the first place - however you have raised an interesting point in the integrity of files transferred by this server...

As far as case sensitive file names are concerend - they all seem to be in order, otherwise there'd be many more errors to wade through.... 		Growly (6)
298530 2004-12-01 11:14:00 *bump* Growly (6)
298531 2004-12-01 22:56:00 Well I fixed it myself.

The TFTP server I was using wasn't capable of replying to may of the PXE 2.1 requests - so i replaced it (with tftpd-hpa).

I then had access violation errors, untill I found out that you had to specify the full path of the remote file even if it is in the given boot directory.

Everything works perfectly now, my boss'll be happy with me.

Hehehe, next time someone asks you'll have a better idea then, now won't you? 		Growly (6)
298532 2004-12-01 23:52:00 It's standard procedure to enter the appropriate commands to a server by hand, rather than "presume" it works, when the "automatic" operation doesn't work. The tftp documentation would tell you about paths (or lack of them) ... it is a trivial ftp protocol. :D Graham L (2)
298533 2004-12-02 05:26:00 I presume that that post was in a condescending manner intended to patronise me, so will defend myself accordingly:

According to the "documentation" for bpbatch.P, and infact according to all previous experience I have had (including the Vanilla tftp daemon), the home directory as set for the binary in the inetd.conf file was not required to be referenced.

Infact, in the instructions to boot linux off a remote system the preceding "/tftpboot/" was not necessary, as as soon as the server had established the TFTP session the remote folder was mounted as root - unfortunately this was not the case, and I have no have problems with other programs that I require to run remotely not being able to address like they should.

I'd also like to point out that the appropriate commands that you say must be entered into a server by hand are irrelevant, as the entire purpose is to remotely boot a system from the server. Therefore I am obviously entering commands into the server aren't I?

Furthermore, I was not able to procure a copy of the documentation for the tftpd-hpa package. If you find it, I trust you will let me know :D I did, however, spend several hours reading many users groups and email threads.

Unfortunately I do not have an acronym with which to ironically patronise you further, so I will conclude by saying that errors in communications were made, messages misunderstood, and it's obviously all my fault.

Have a good day sir :D 		Growly (6)
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