Syslinux - Mar 2008 - PXE client does not honor "hostname" parameter passed by DHCP server

Hello all,

I would like to seek advise on the following;  I have configured linux
NFSroot images for a bunch of servers and am able to boot and run
stuff happily;  one nuance that bothers me is that, for instance, my
Fedora6 (x64) (kernel 2.6.22), (and noticed also in some other distros
- Fedora8, Ubuntu710), the client boots but DOES NOT seem to pick up
the hostname I pass it through the DCHP server.

1.  DHCP host declaration:

host r02s02 {
  hardware ethernet 00:A0:D1:E3:57:CA;
  fixed-address 192.168.16.12;
  filename "pxelinux.0";
  option host-name "r02s02";
}

2.  Client boots but NO hostname!

[root at localhost ~]# uname -a
Linux localhost.localdomain 2.6.22.custom.14 #1 SMP Thu Feb 28
11:35:58 PST 2008 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
[root at localhost ~]# hostname
localhost.localdomain
[root at localhost ~]#

3.  my pxelinux.cfg configuration file is:
 cat 01-00-a0-d1-e3-57-ca
DEFAULT vmlinuz-2.6.22.custom.fc6
APPEND root=/dev/nfs rw
nfsroot=192.168.17.1:/export/images/00A0D1E357CA/fedora6_x64 ip=dhcp

Please advice if I am missing something perhaps?

thanks in advance!

Best regards,

- A.
--

a s p a s i a wrote:
> Hello all,
> 
> I would like to seek advise on the following;  I have configured linux
> NFSroot images for a bunch of servers and am able to boot and run
> stuff happily;  one nuance that bothers me is that, for instance, my
> Fedora6 (x64) (kernel 2.6.22), (and noticed also in some other distros
> - Fedora8, Ubuntu710), the client boots but DOES NOT seem to pick up
> the hostname I pass it through the DCHP server.
> 
For that you need to run dhclient (or equivalent) once the nfsroot is up 
and running.

	-hpa

a s p a s i a wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I would like to seek advise on the following;  I have configured linux
> NFSroot images for a bunch of servers and am able to boot and run
> stuff happily;  one nuance that bothers me is that, for instance, my
> Fedora6 (x64) (kernel 2.6.22), (and noticed also in some other distros
> - Fedora8, Ubuntu710), the client boots but DOES NOT seem to pick up
> the hostname I pass it through the DCHP server.
>
> 1.  DHCP host declaration:
>
> host r02s02 {
>   hardware ethernet 00:A0:D1:E3:57:CA;
>   fixed-address 192.168.16.12;
>   filename "pxelinux.0";
>   option host-name "r02s02";
> }
>
> 2.  Client boots but NO hostname!
>
> [root at localhost ~]# uname -a
> Linux localhost.localdomain 2.6.22.custom.14 #1 SMP Thu Feb 28
> 11:35:58 PST 2008 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
> [root at localhost ~]# hostname
> localhost.localdomain
> [root at localhost ~]#
>   
I don't think it's related to pxelinux at all.
When your linux is booting up it start it's network interface and run a 
dhcp client. Depending on the client and its configuration, it will ask 
or not to set its hostname.
I suggest adding a NEEDHOSTNAME = yes in your ifcfg-ethx config file.