Syslinux - Apr 2008 - which should I use: TIMEOUT, ONTIMEOUT, or ONERROR ?

Hi.  I'm trying to get around the problem of an overloaded tftp server 
causing a pxelinux client hanging at the boot: prompt, waiting for input 
(no one will input anything to it).  The server is OK enough to give the 
pxebootloader but not the config file, as in this thread:

http://syslinux.zytor.com/archives/2004-June/003662.html

So, in that case, I guess setting TIMEOUT to some reasonable positive 
value would help.  But, assuming it never got a config file, how would i 
get the box to automatically reboot or localboot?


-------
Cheers,
Anthony

Anthony.Golia at morganstanley.com wrote:
> Hi.  I'm trying to get around the problem of an overloaded tftp server 
> causing a pxelinux client hanging at the boot: prompt, waiting for input 
> (no one will input anything to it).  The server is OK enough to give the 
> pxebootloader but not the config file, as in this thread:
> 
> http://syslinux.zytor.com/archives/2004-June/003662.html
> 
> So, in that case, I guess setting TIMEOUT to some reasonable positive 
> value would help.  But, assuming it never got a config file, how would i 
> get the box to automatically reboot or localboot?
> 
Upgrade your pxelinux.  Newer versions of pxelinux consider it a fatal 
error to not fetch its configuration file, and triggers the "reboot 
after five minutes" (which can be adjusted via DHCP option 211.)

	-hpa

on second thought, I don't think any of these options will help that case 
since, I think, the problem is that the pxelinux binary gets to the 
booting client but the config doesn't.  I guess it's cause the retries
and
timeouts of the PXE firmware in the NIC/BIOS are more forgiving than that 
(PKT_RETRY and PKT_TIMEOUT) of pxelinux?

On Tue, 22 Apr 2008, Anthony.Golia at MorganStanley.com wrote:
>
> Hi.  I'm trying to get around the problem of an overloaded tftp server 
> causing a pxelinux client hanging at the boot: prompt, waiting for input
(no
> one will input anything to it).  The server is OK enough to give the 
> pxebootloader but not the config file, as in this thread:
>
> http://syslinux.zytor.com/archives/2004-June/003662.html
>
> So, in that case, I guess setting TIMEOUT to some reasonable positive value
> would help.  But, assuming it never got a config file, how would i get the 
> box to automatically reboot or localboot?
>
>
> -------
> Cheers,
> Anthony
>


-------
Cheers,
Anthony

Thanks so much.  So do I have to send dhcp option 211 or is the default
   5 mins?
   ----- Original Message -----
   From: syslinux-bounces at zytor.com <syslinux-bounces at zytor.com>
   To: For discussion of SYSLINUX and tftp-hpa <syslinux at zytor.com>
   Sent: Tue Apr 22 14:32:04 2008
   Subject: Re: [syslinux] which should I use: TIMEOUT, ONTIMEOUT, or
   ONERROR ?
   Anthony.Golia at morganstanley.com wrote:
   > Hi.  I'm trying to get around the problem of an overloaded tftp
   server
   > causing a pxelinux client hanging at the boot: prompt, waiting for
   input
   > (no one will input anything to it).  The server is OK enough to give
   the
   > pxebootloader but not the config file, as in this thread:
   >
   > [1]http://syslinux.zytor.com/archives/2004-June/003662.html
   >
   > So, in that case, I guess setting TIMEOUT to some reasonable positive
   > value would help.  But, assuming it never got a config file, how
   would i
   > get the box to automatically reboot or localboot?
   >
   Upgrade your pxelinux.  Newer versions of pxelinux consider it a fatal
   error to not fetch its configuration file, and triggers the "reboot
   after five minutes" (which can be adjusted via DHCP option 211.)
           -hpa
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References

   1. http://syslinux.zytor.com/archives/2004-June/003662.html
   2. http://www.zytor.com/mailman/listinfo/syslinux

Golia, Anthony (IT) wrote:
>    Thanks so much.  So do I have to send dhcp option 211 or is the default
>    5 mins?
The default is 5 minutes; you can override it with option 211.

	-hpa

Op 22-04-2008 om 15:17 schreef Golia, Anthony (IT):
>  So do I have to send dhcp option 211 or is the default 5 mins?
Newer versions of pxelinux consider it a fatal
error to not fetch its configuration file, and triggers the "reboot
after five minutes" (which can be adjusted via DHCP option 211.) 


Cheers
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