Once again I feel horrible for asking something I feel is completely off topic for this group but everyone is so extremely helpful :( In my organization, we basically use Windows PE disks, to do our re-images, after some time and a lot of help from this group I was able to get a thumb drive to successfully work as a Windows PE bootloader, as well as some other utilities like wiping the hard drive, and what not. I have never considered using PXE booting as an option, granted I assume it will only work just on my subnet or at least that's all I'll really care to use it on, say for whenever someone brings me a machine I need to wipe/re-image and set back up for them. I've never setup a pxe server, but I was curious what all that would entail, is it something i could setup on my windows box, or would i need to setup a dedicated server for this purpose, and what all could I do with it? Could I get it to recognize machines and wipe them and re-image them for me without the need for a cd or thumbdrive? Maybe an autodetection script to tell what make/model the machine is so it knows what image to apply or a menu with an image selection to apply to the machine? Like I said I'm not really all to sure what all this would entail, but if someone has the time or initiative to maybe respond and tell me what kind of setup they have for the technician environment? We've unfortunately moved away from ghost images and started using WIM's which are nice but i'm not really too big a fan of them, our re-image process uses an HTA file that runs some sort of like 14 page vb script to figure out what make model the machine is and which of 4 or 5 vanilla images to apply and then another wim image of drivers and then another with basic applications for 1 of the 4 environments. Honestly, it would be great, if i could reboot say 20 machines, have them all pxe boot from my machine and then sit back and watch my machine multicast out an image to all of them. Not really sure what I'm talking about so be gentle. Matthew Holevinski
Matthew Holevinski wrote:> I've never setup a pxe server, but I was curious what all that would > entail, is it something i could setup on my windows box, or would > i need to setup a dedicated server for this purpose, and what allIts cake walk. You can just set up a TFTP server with DHCP capabilities. There is a free one out there that does both.> could I do with it? Could I get it to recognize machines and wipe them > and re-image them for me without the need for a cd or thumbdrive?Yes. 1&1, one of the largest hosters in the world with tens of thousands of machines in Germany alone does this.> Maybe an autodetection script to tell what make/model the machine is > so it knows what image to apply or a menu with an image selection to > apply to the machine? Like I said I'm not really all to sure what allMAC ID> Honestly, it would be great, if i could reboot say 20 machines, have > them all pxe boot from my machine and then sit back and watch my > machine > multicast out an image to all of them. Not really sure what I'm > talking about so be gentle.There are Linux distros that can do this too, but I think they require a Linux boot stub to be loaded on each machine. Or you could load it by PXE, then go from there.
You are correct in that this is somewhat off-topic. For some lively discussion, please feel free to join the #etherboot-win IRC channel on the FreeNode network. There are a lot of options for what you are after; too many to discuss on this mailing-list, perhaps. PXELINUX can certainly play a role in whatever your end-process is, since PXELINUX is clever enough to allow for some good choices very early in the boot process, and also to chain to different boot/installation paths for different OSs. If you're using Windows WIM images, I don't believe that multicast is an option for you, but I've been wrong once before in my life (when I thought I was wrong, but it turned out that I was right). Microsoft Windows has technology called Remote Installation Services (RIS), which might float your boat. There's also booting Windows via SAN, booting a Windows PE directly into RAM. Then there're open source software re-imaging solutions like CloneZilla and Fog (I think it's called). For PXE boot services, you could perhaps indulge in the Intel PXE specification (another set of search terms is "Wired for Management"). You can use a Windows Server product with its DHCP service to PXE-boot clients. You could install Cygwin on a Windows box and use ISC DHCP service. You could have a Linux or xxxBSD box with ISC DHCP on it. You could install 3Com Boot Services (came with some Ghost suites) on a Windows box. So many options. Sitting back while machines do automated work is ideal. I would take a look at your environment, gather its details, gather your base set of needs, gather some "would-be-nice"s, do a little more research on PXE-booting. There are a _lot_ of HowTos on the Internet. In fact, when you decide on a set-up and get it working, write a HowTo for others, yourself. Heheh. Good luck! - Shao Miller -----Original Message----- From: syslinux-bounces at zytor.com [mailto:syslinux-bounces at zytor.com] On Behalf Of Matthew Holevinski Sent: Tuesday, June 02, 2009 14:48 To: syslinux at zytor.com Subject: [syslinux] PXE Boot Solution Once again I feel horrible for asking something I feel is completely off topic for this group but everyone is so extremely helpful :( In my organization, we basically use Windows PE disks, to do our re-images, after some time and a lot of help from this group I was able to get a thumb drive to successfully work as a Windows PE bootloader, as well as some other utilities like wiping the hard drive, and what not. I have never considered using PXE booting as an option, granted I assume it will only work just on my subnet or at least that's all I'll really care to use it on, say for whenever someone brings me a machine I need to wipe/re-image and set back up for them. I've never setup a pxe server, but I was curious what all that would entail, is it something i could setup on my windows box, or would i need to setup a dedicated server for this purpose, and what all could I do with it? Could I get it to recognize machines and wipe them and re-image them for me without the need for a cd or thumbdrive? Maybe an autodetection script to tell what make/model the machine is so it knows what image to apply or a menu with an image selection to apply to the machine? Like I said I'm not really all to sure what all this would entail, but if someone has the time or initiative to maybe respond and tell me what kind of setup they have for the technician environment? We've unfortunately moved away from ghost images and started using WIM's which are nice but i'm not really too big a fan of them, our re-image process uses an HTA file that runs some sort of like 14 page vb script to figure out what make model the machine is and which of 4 or 5 vanilla images to apply and then another wim image of drivers and then another with basic applications for 1 of the 4 environments. Honestly, it would be great, if i could reboot say 20 machines, have them all pxe boot from my machine and then sit back and watch my machine multicast out an image to all of them. Not really sure what I'm talking about so be gentle. Matthew Holevinski _______________________________________________ Syslinux mailing list Submissions to Syslinux at zytor.com Unsubscribe or set options at: http://www.zytor.com/mailman/listinfo/syslinux Please do not send private replies to mailing list traffic.
Matthew Holevinski wrote:> Once again I feel horrible for asking something I feel is completely > off topic for this group but everyone is so extremely helpful :( > > In my organization, we basically use Windows PE disks, to do our > re-images, after some time and a lot of help from this group > I was able to get a thumb drive to successfully work as a Windows PE > bootloader, as well as some other utilities like wiping the > hard drive, and what not. >--snip--> > Honestly, it would be great, if i could reboot say 20 machines, have > them all pxe boot from my machine and then sit back and watch my > machine > multicast out an image to all of them. Not really sure what I'm > talking about so be gentle. > > Matthew Holevinski >I really hate to suggest this.. I mean I really really hate to suggest this.. I think it would be in your best interest to look at microsoft's deployment services (WDS). I stay as far away from it as I possibly can (because I don't like being locked in). I much prefer the system I have setup with syslinux, but alas it doesn't support multicast (nor do I need it to). I haven't used it since it's early days (pre multicast), so I have no idea if what they claim is supported, or what magic / licenses / etc you need to make it work. Take a look at the following link: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc726541(WS.10).aspx I think this is readily available now, but I am not positive. I know they were going to be expanding this with the Windows 7 Waik. The plus side, is someone put up a nice tutorial for adding pxelinux to WDS. Which should give you the other boot abilities of your usb drive. See: http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/PXELINUX#Deploy_Linux_from_Windows_WDS.2FRIS_server_using_PXELinux At least if you follow this setup, you should be able to get microsoft support. Alternatively, there are things like udpcast that may be able to be hacked to do as you desire.. if you have any luck on these, or if anyone else has any stories.. I would personally love to hear them. From my brief look at the technology / recalling from memory. I believe their multicast deployment still boots WinPE to run the client, which can easily be added to a pxelinux environment. Recently there was a post to this list about a project that allows webbased administration of pxelinux configuration, which would probably fill your need of selecting 20 machines and have them be imaged.. If I am correct about the above winpe requirement for multicast. I think it will allow you to select the machines via MAC address. link: http://twyna.sourceforge.net/ Hope this helps.. -Andrew
Matthew Holevinski wrote:> > Honestly, it would be great, if i could reboot say 20 machines, have > them all pxe boot from my machine and then sit back and watch my > machine multicast out an image to all of them. Not really sure what I'm > talking about so be gentle. >Stay away from multicast. It's a neat idea in theory, but in practice it works extremely poorly. Multicasting is generally implemented incredibly badly at the switch level, for example. Everyone I know of who have dealt with large-scale deployments who have tried the multicast route has dropped it at some point. It's just not reliable enough. As far as the bigger question is concerned, I would look at Unattended: http://unattended.sourceforge.net/ -hpa