Syslinux - Feb 2003 - Netbooting / building

Hi, I have been using pxelinux for quite a while.

It works extremely well for us.

Now, I am looking at something new.

We would like to:

boot ( some OS - hopefully linux )from the network using pxelinux.
make a small partition dos partition on the first disk.
connect ( via perl dbi ) to a back end database

Download the appropriate files for either a winxp build OR a 
kernel/ramdisk for a complete linux build

reboot with the new setup from disk using syslinux.

Has anyone used pxelinux/syslinux for something like this?  I would love 
some pointers or advice.

The hardest parts in my mind are: talking to the database, 
autodectecting the harddrives and ethernet controllers.  This is where I 
was hoping linux would help us versus trying to boot dos.  But maybe 
there is an easier way?

Thanks.

Michael

-- 
  Intel, Corp.
  5000 W. Chandler Blvd.
  Chandler, AZ  85226

Michael Blandford wrote:
> The hardest parts in my mind are: talking to the database, 
> autodectecting the harddrives and ethernet controllers.  This is where 
> I was hoping linux would help us versus trying to boot dos.  But maybe 
> there is an easier way?
Well, we planned using PXElinux in this way to replace our (far too 
buggy) commercial Solution. But we are still in the planning Stages. I 
would be eager to work something out together with you...
Further discussion should be Off-List because I don't think reinstalling 
computers is the topic of this list, even though we plan to use PXELinux...

bye
Christian

On Thu, 13 Feb 2003, Michael Blandford wrote:
> We would like to:
>
> boot ( some OS - hopefully linux )from the network using pxelinux.
> make a small partition dos partition on the first disk.
> connect ( via perl dbi ) to a back end database
>
> Download the appropriate files for either a winxp build OR a
> kernel/ramdisk for a complete linux build
>
> reboot with the new setup from disk using syslinux.
>
> Has anyone used pxelinux/syslinux for something like this?  I would love
> some pointers or advice.
Closest thing we've done is use Kickstart to netboot and install Red Hat
Linux over the network.  In that case, the machine is booted from a kernel
and initramdisk, which contains a set of NIC and SCSI driver modules, and
(I think) a set of binaries including Python.

We use SystemImager more these days because it's more flexible and easier
to muck with.  For XP, you might consider Partition Image.
> The hardest parts in my mind are: talking to the database,
> autodectecting the harddrives and ethernet controllers.
Those are the easiest bits.  The first is Perl's job and the second is the
kernel's.  The hard bit is getting the netbooting working nicely.  And
while Kickstart does OK with an initramdisk, you might consider mounting
root over NFS.  There should be lots of useful info at http://www.tldp.org

But if all you're getting out of the database is whether to load Linux or
XP, you can keep the intelligence on the server side and use system-
specific PXELinux .cfg files when you want to change things.  That's how
we automatically load various different distros on our development and
test machines.

If you want a different distro on a box, you stick a .cfg for that distro,
named for the machine's IP address, under the TFTP directory.
When the machine boots, it loads the .cfg, which installs the distro, than
deletes the .cfg file from the TFTP directory (using SSH) when it's done.
After that, whenever it boots, it hits the default .cfg, which simply
boots from the local hard drive.

Good luck,
  Aaron Burt
  Open Source Development Lab
  Beaverton, OR, USA

On Thu, 13 Feb 2003, Michael Blandford wrote:
>We would like to:
>
>boot ( some OS - hopefully linux )from the network using pxelinux.
>make a small partition dos partition on the first disk.
>connect ( via perl dbi ) to a back end database
>
>Download the appropriate files for either a winxp build OR a
>kernel/ramdisk for a complete linux build
>
>reboot with the new setup from disk using syslinux.
>
>Has anyone used pxelinux/syslinux for something like this?  I would love
>some pointers or advice.
Closest thing I have done, is using ISOlinux, to install 
winxp/linux/both on a brand new machine. The file required for
the installation are on the network, and only about 20MB of the CD, is 
used most of the time (the CD serves as a troubleshooting aid and boots 
into linux/dos/winxp shell).

- Murali

Michael Blandford <mlblandf at sedona.ch.intel.com> writes:
> boot ( some OS - hopefully linux )from the network using pxelinux.
> make a small partition dos partition on the first disk.
> connect ( via perl dbi ) to a back end database
> 
> Download the appropriate files for either a winxp build OR a
> kernel/ramdisk for a complete linux build
My system does this for Windows installations.  (As you already know,
RedHat Kickstart will do the job for Linux.)

  <http://unattended.sourceforge.net/>

This boots to DOS, connects to a network share, and uses DJGPP Perl to
partition/format the disk and generate the unattend.txt file.
> The hardest parts in my mind are: talking to the database,
> autodectecting the harddrives and ethernet controllers.  This is
> where I was hoping linux would help us versus trying to boot dos.
Interestingly, dealing with hard drives and network cards in DOS is
actually *easier* than in Linux.  Hard drive controllers, even modern
RAID and SCSI controllers, generally have a BIOS which lets DOS see
them automatically.  And all PXE network cards can be supported by a
single "universal" DOS network driver.  In other words, one DOS boot
disk with one network driver can use all modern disk controllers and
network cards, whether or not (say) Linux drivers even exist yet.  Of
course, this assumes the SCSI BIOS and PXE stacks actually work, which
is sometimes a little iffy.

As for talking to the database, I do not know whether DBI will work
under DJGPP Perl.  However, in my latest release, I ship a little
module for parsing CSV files.  I use it at work to parse a corporate
inventory spreadsheet and automatically assign Windows XP and Office
XP license keys during installation.  My system's framework is fairly
extensible; it has hooks so you can add your own snippets of Perl code
to autocompute pretty much any setting.  For example, you can assign
the host name based on the MAC address, or assign the partitioning
scheme based on the host name, or both.

Anyway, this system may not be exactly what you want, but it should
provide a starting point or at least some ideas.  I have considered
ditching DOS and using Linux instead, because I am getting tired of
DOS limitations.  (In particular, DOS requires a reboot after running
fdisk.)  But I am not sure I want to get into the Linux boot disk
business; the DOS boot disk business has been bad enough :-).

 - Pat