Hi all, A number of people have posted to the Xen lists recently wanting to network-boot Xen on machines whose NICs are not supported by GRUB. I''ve been writing a module for PXELINUX that will allow it to boot Xen directly over the network on PXE-enabled machines, without relying on any hacks (mbootpack, &c.), or needing to write/port any device drivers. I have a version of it which works for me [tm] and I''d be very interested in feedback from other people who want to PXE-boot Xen. Assuming you already have dhcp/tftp up and working at your site, it should be easy to test: 1) Edit dhcpd.conf to boot pxelinux on your Xen machine (see http://syslinux.zytor.com/pxe.php ). 2) Download http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~tjd21/tmp/mboot.c32 and put it in your tftpboot directory. 3) Copy xen, xenlinux and initrd into your tftpboot directory. 4) Edit the appropriate pxelinux.cfg file to contain a line invoking mboot.c32, and then the xen and module command lines, separated by ''---''. For example, this one works for me: DEFAULT mboot.c32 xen-2.0.5.gz dom0_mem=258048 --- vmlinuz-2.6.10-xen0 ro console=tty root=/dev/hda --- initrd-2.6.10-xen0 3) Let me know if it works! A simple yes/no would be great; details of what hardware you''re using and symptoms if it fails would be even better. At some point in the next while I''ll be submitting this code to the main SYSLINUX tree, with proper documentation and such-like bells and whistles. In the meantime, feedback would be much appreciated. Cheers, Tim. -- Tim Deegan (My opinions, not the University''s) Systems Research Group University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Just saying "no" seems a bit severe, but I don''t have a lot of other info. The client machine is an ibm thinkpad t22 (bios 1.12/current) with an e100 (pro) nic. It''s using version 4.0.17 of the Intel boot agent (looks like it''s the most recent they released for it). The dhcp/tftp server is a domU running xen 2.0.5/debian sarge, with tftpd-hpa as the server. I mainly tried your pxelinux.cfg/configuration from below, although changing things around didn''t change the outcome. After booting and getting the ip address, it gets to this point, then hangs at "Trying to load: pxelinux.cfg/default" or on the server side: May 5 00:45:23 debian-domU in.tftpd[487]: RRQ from 10.77.77.221 filename pxelinux.0 May 5 00:45:23 debian-domU in.tftpd[488]: RRQ from 10.77.77.221 filename pxelinux.cfg/default May 5 00:45:23 debian-domU in.tftpd[489]: RRQ from 10.77.77.221 filename mboot.c32 A tcpdump on the server pretty much just confirmed the logs - it starts to transfer mboot.c32, carries on for a bit, then loses contact with the client. I tried to boot the same hardware/setup using the debian installer (rc3) netboot pxe images, and those did work (which doesn''t mean I have it set up correctly for this - I''m about as far from being a PXE guru as a person can get). Sorry I couldn''t be more helpful, but if you want me to try something else, let me know. -Yvette On 4/28/05, Tim Deegan <Tim.Deegan@cl.cam.ac.uk> wrote:> Hi all, > > A number of people have posted to the Xen lists recently wanting to > network-boot Xen on machines whose NICs are not supported by GRUB. I''ve > been writing a module for PXELINUX that will allow it to boot Xen > directly over the network on PXE-enabled machines, without relying on > any hacks (mbootpack, &c.), or needing to write/port any device drivers. > > I have a version of it which works for me [tm] and I''d be very > interested in feedback from other people who want to PXE-boot Xen. > Assuming you already have dhcp/tftp up and working at your site, it > should be easy to test: > > 1) Edit dhcpd.conf to boot pxelinux on your Xen machine > (see http://syslinux.zytor.com/pxe.php ). > > 2) Download http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~tjd21/tmp/mboot.c32 and put it in your > tftpboot directory. > > 3) Copy xen, xenlinux and initrd into your tftpboot directory. > > 4) Edit the appropriate pxelinux.cfg file to contain a line invoking > mboot.c32, and then the xen and module command lines, separated by > ''---''. For example, this one works for me: > > DEFAULT mboot.c32 xen-2.0.5.gz dom0_mem=258048 --- vmlinuz-2.6.10-xen0 ro console=tty root=/dev/hda --- initrd-2.6.10-xen0 > > 3) Let me know if it works! A simple yes/no would be great; details of > what hardware you''re using and symptoms if it fails would be even > better. > > At some point in the next while I''ll be submitting this code to the main > SYSLINUX tree, with proper documentation and such-like bells and > whistles. In the meantime, feedback would be much appreciated. > > Cheers, > > Tim. > > -- > Tim Deegan (My opinions, not the University''s) > Systems Research Group > University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory > > _______________________________________________ > Xen-users mailing list > Xen-users@lists.xensource.com > http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users >_______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Quick follow-up to this: we''ve found that versions of PXELINUX before 2.12 don''t work with this module, so if you are trying it out can you use a more recent PXELINUX? Cheers, Tim. On Thu, Apr 28, 2005 at 02:29:54PM +0100, Tim Deegan wrote:> Hi all, > > A number of people have posted to the Xen lists recently wanting to > network-boot Xen on machines whose NICs are not supported by GRUB. I''ve > been writing a module for PXELINUX that will allow it to boot Xen > directly over the network on PXE-enabled machines, without relying on > any hacks (mbootpack, &c.), or needing to write/port any device drivers. > > I have a version of it which works for me [tm] and I''d be very > interested in feedback from other people who want to PXE-boot Xen. > Assuming you already have dhcp/tftp up and working at your site, it > should be easy to test: > > 1) Edit dhcpd.conf to boot pxelinux on your Xen machine > (see http://syslinux.zytor.com/pxe.php ). > > 2) Download http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~tjd21/tmp/mboot.c32 and put it in your > tftpboot directory. > > 3) Copy xen, xenlinux and initrd into your tftpboot directory. > > 4) Edit the appropriate pxelinux.cfg file to contain a line invoking > mboot.c32, and then the xen and module command lines, separated by > ''---''. For example, this one works for me: > > DEFAULT mboot.c32 xen-2.0.5.gz dom0_mem=258048 --- vmlinuz-2.6.10-xen0 ro console=tty root=/dev/hda --- initrd-2.6.10-xen0 > > 3) Let me know if it works! A simple yes/no would be great; details of > what hardware you''re using and symptoms if it fails would be even > better. > > At some point in the next while I''ll be submitting this code to the main > SYSLINUX tree, with proper documentation and such-like bells and > whistles. In the meantime, feedback would be much appreciated. > > Cheers, > > Tim. > > -- > Tim Deegan (My opinions, not the University''s) > Systems Research Group > University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory > >-- Tim Deegan (My opinions, not the University''s) Systems Research Group University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
To save any other Debian users out there the few keystrokes it would take to check (especially any who might be as silly as I was and think "I''m tracking sid/experimental, surely that means..."), as of today, even experimental seems to be using 2.11, so grab it from here... http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/syslinux/ On 5/5/05, Tim Deegan <Tim.Deegan@cl.cam.ac.uk> wrote:> Quick follow-up to this: we''ve found that versions of PXELINUX before > 2.12 don''t work with this module, so if you are trying it out can you > use a more recent PXELINUX? > > Cheers, > > Tim. > > On Thu, Apr 28, 2005 at 02:29:54PM +0100, Tim Deegan wrote: > > Hi all, > > > > A number of people have posted to the Xen lists recently wanting to > > network-boot Xen on machines whose NICs are not supported by GRUB. I''ve > > been writing a module for PXELINUX that will allow it to boot Xen > > directly over the network on PXE-enabled machines, without relying on > > any hacks (mbootpack, &c.), or needing to write/port any device drivers. > > > > I have a version of it which works for me [tm] and I''d be very > > interested in feedback from other people who want to PXE-boot Xen. > > Assuming you already have dhcp/tftp up and working at your site, it > > should be easy to test: > > > > 1) Edit dhcpd.conf to boot pxelinux on your Xen machine > > (see http://syslinux.zytor.com/pxe.php ). > > > > 2) Download http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~tjd21/tmp/mboot.c32 and put it in your > > tftpboot directory. > > > > 3) Copy xen, xenlinux and initrd into your tftpboot directory. > > > > 4) Edit the appropriate pxelinux.cfg file to contain a line invoking > > mboot.c32, and then the xen and module command lines, separated by > > ''---''. For example, this one works for me: > > > > DEFAULT mboot.c32 xen-2.0.5.gz dom0_mem=258048 --- vmlinuz-2.6.10-xen0 ro console=tty root=/dev/hda --- initrd-2.6.10-xen0 > > > > 3) Let me know if it works! A simple yes/no would be great; details of > > what hardware you''re using and symptoms if it fails would be even > > better. > > > > At some point in the next while I''ll be submitting this code to the main > > SYSLINUX tree, with proper documentation and such-like bells and > > whistles. In the meantime, feedback would be much appreciated. > > > > Cheers, > > > > Tim. > > > > -- > > Tim Deegan (My opinions, not the University''s) > > Systems Research Group > > University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory > > > > > > -- > Tim Deegan (My opinions, not the University''s) > Systems Research Group > University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory > > _______________________________________________ > Xen-users mailing list > Xen-users@lists.xensource.com > http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users >_______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users