Re: Cannot chain load gPXE to Windows 2003 DHCP

A few notes to add....

I attempted the USB Key boot on an old IBM Thnkpad T30 that has the intel NIC - that did work when I do it all manually.  Got to the gPXE boot from the USB Key, let it get info from my DHCP - but it times out with error at the DHCP part of the autoboot.   I manually DHCP NET0, ok, set keep-san 1, ok, sanboot ${root-path} (sometimes I had to enter this 2x to get it to work)...exit then was able to get the Win7 CD to boot up, saw the iSCSI target node on my Windows 2008 Storage Server (running in a VM for now).  This was a good success - albeit not smooth.

So, I am gathering one thing - on my Dell D600 laptop with the Broadcom - once I manually do the above steps - the NIC driver is not loaded on the Win7 install - hence why it never see's my iSCSI target.  Shift-F10 and IPConfig shows nothing.  So - for this, not sure why Win7 does not have the broadcom drivers loaded....thought Win7 would have most old ones in the past 6-8yrs included.  Dead end.  I may try Win2008 and see if that behaves the same on the Dell.

Regarding Chainloading...
I have combed thru the Wiki again, fresh mind to see why my gPXE chainloading it not happening on my network.  I understand the process that the PC will PXE Boot and will read my DHCP variable of the Boot Filename undionly.kpxe and should load gPXE - then that DHCP again will see I am calling tftp://x.x.x.x/tftpscript.txt under the gPXE option on the Windows DHCP to prevent the loop - I am guessing this .txt file needs something in there (script), so will test it with nothing first as maybe you all intended it to be simple and just copy a file over that is blank just to stop the loop of gPXE to gPXE.   I will have to try that in the morning...

Now, I do have a nagging issue where manually I type in the commands - it works, but timeouts when not.  I read a similar post about adding the sleep script as my NICS may be having issues, or, I need to Wireshark my network to see if I have a second DHCP out there I am not aware of.  My goal now is to chain this gPXE to keep me from having to use any USBkey.   I downloaded the latest gPXE tarball and made my own undionly.kpxe in a Unbutu Live boot - so am not using the rom-o-matic ones.  If the sleep add will help - I will try to make those changes and re-make the undionly.kpxe.

Tomorrow is another day..

Ron




From: Ron Jameson 
Sent: Friday, August 07, 2009 3:31 PM
To: '[email protected]'
Subject: Cannot chain load gPXE to Windows 2003 DHCP

I have been for the past 2 days trying to get a laptop to boot to an iSCSI Target and had various luck.   I created a USB key with the gPXE and was able to boot from a new HP Laptop - only if I manually entered DHCP Net0, then Set keep-san 1, then connect to the iSCSI target.  Once that was done - even when it could not boot to the blank target - Windows 7 booted, saw the disk but I ran into the problem where it says cannot install due to pc not supporting in BIOS to boot.   I gave up on that.

Put the same USB key in a Dell D600 laptop with the hard drive removed - it never boots.  Gave up on that.

Created a clonezilla usb key that has gPXE on it - that boots on the Dell D600 but I have to manually do all the same commands DHCP NET0 etc.etc. - but in this case - Win7 does not even see the iSCSI drive.   

I think this could be DHCP issues related to the boot file - unless that is only when I boot thru Pxe (the USBkey should have worked).  So, after giving up on the USB route - I am trying to chain load this and the docs on the site seem incomplete.   Do I need to make a script as the page shows on the DHCP 067 option - tftp://servername/tftpscript.txt and also a second 067 that is the boot file name.  I setup a Windows 2003 tftp service on a web server, dhcp is on another server - I can manually from a PC run TFTP x.x.x.x GET undionly.kpxe and it copies it over - so I am pretty sure that works.but my question is what belongs in the tftpscript.txt file?   Does this need to call the undionly.kpxe, load the DHCP NET0 or is that what DHCP is supposed to do?

I feel close to making this work, but yet not quite there with missing info.  The fact that the HP booted on the usbkey and the Dell did not - could be age of the dell or broadcom NIC vs. the Realtek on the HP - but the chaining has gotten me stumped.   I am more windows than Linux - so am just trying to get this to work to be able to load up an iSCSI farm of images to boot from.

Hope someone can help direct me to the right fix.

Ron

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