Perhaps I am being stupid and if so please enlighten me. Assuming that all clients have reserved IP addresses on the dhcp server, surely it would be possible to have a com32 module that presented the boot options to both stdout and also allowed connections via ssh. After all for the system to get the files via tftp it has to have network connectivity so one piece of the puzzle is there already. I am thinking about this from a clustering perspective. As my cluster nodes are headless and OS reinstalls require me to move a kvm connection up and down the nodes which is time consuming. Even if it was implemented such that you connect then use commands to get the menu list and boot. Regards, Ryan
Good day Ryan, Regarding a COM32 module that would run and wait for an incoming network connection for console control, perhaps via SSH or telnet: I think that better than that would be something which mimics HP's iLO functionality. Such would allow keystrokes, etc. from network, while also showing the action at the terminal itself. Establishing BIOS drives remotely on-demand might be handy, too. If only there were a way to jump into BIOS setup from PXELINUX, this would be quite powerful. To avoid implementing a TCP stack in PXELINUX, one could theoretically take advantage of a gPXE -> PXELINUX -> COM32 scenario, where PXELINUX could use gPXE-provided extensions for additional networking features. However, if you have the need be doing things manually on your nodes, it might be good to understand why. There's a lot of automation possible with tools like PXELINUX and gPXE, including capturing client-specific info and having a web-server dynamically generate instructions for the client based on that captured info. If you describe a little more about why you have to do some things manually, perhaps someone on this mailing-list might have some suggestions for you. - Shao Miller
Hi, * Ryan McLean <pvtryan100 at googlemail.com> [2009-08-11 13:08:21+0100]:> > Perhaps I am being stupid and if so please enlighten me. > Assuming that all clients have reserved IP addresses on the dhcp server, > surely it would be possible to have a com32 module that presented the > boot options to both stdout and also allowed connections via ssh. > After all for the system to get the files via tftp it has to have network > connectivity so one piece of the puzzle is there already. >Buy a 1U serial console server? We use Opengear's kit which is nice and cheap, it also means that for the OS it's-self you get console action via SSH. For PXELINUX you can then just use the SERIAL feature. The Debian netboot installation image is intelligent enough for you just to pass 'console=ttyS0,115200' and then you are off. Cheers -- Alexander Clouter .sigmonster says: Matrimony is the root of all evil.
Op 20090812 om 12:33 schreef Ryan McLean:> Geert Stappers wrote: >> >> Yes, pxelinux.0 can do UDP networking. >> With gpxelinux.0 one gets a TCP network stack. >> >> In other words: The puzzle can be solved. >> > > Hmm thinking about this some more. > > Rather than implement a tcp stack we could just use UDP. > > How about the following. > PXELinux goes to menu and listens on port 12345 > I send a UDP packet from the tftp server saying what are your options? > PXELinux replies with 1...,2....,3...,4.... > I reply with a confirmation that I recieved > WHILE response == false && menusend < 3 > PXELinux sends menu list. > I send command boot 1 > PXE boots to option 1In a free society one is free to write such a program.> Main problem I envisage is that this is insecure no password or password > in plain text. On the flip side is it really important after all > we are on a private network & worst case is that a malicious user could > rebuilt a system after sniffing the password.Mankind has solved that "problem" another way: Protect the mother very well while she is giving birth. Other mammels have their own way when an one is born. All do "known" that it is a critical stage in live. When one has no safe place to install a new system, one has other priorities then installing a new system. Cheers Geert Stappers