Syslinux - Sep 2013 - One DHCP/PXE config for BIOS, EFI32, and EFI64 clients?

Dear all,
I'd like to have a DHCP/PXE server for different arch of clients, i.e. 
BIOS, EFI32, and EFI64 clients.
As described here:
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=720589
What Daniel has proposed 
(http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=720589#10) should 
work, i.e. Using a file called pxelinux.cfg/bios containing the 
following 2 lines:
==============================PATH bios/
INCLUDE /pxelinux.cfg/default
==============================will solve this problem.
However, with the following line specified in dhcpd.conf:
==============================option pxelinux.configfile
"pxelinux.cfg/bios";
==============================then only the config file pxelinux.cfg/default
will be used. Those file
names like:
pxelinux.cfg/01-88-99-aa-bb-cc-dd
pxelinux.cfg/C000025B
pxelinux.cfg/C000025
pxelinux.cfg/C00002
pxelinux.cfg/C0000
pxelinux.cfg/C000
pxelinux.cfg/C00
pxelinux.cfg/C0
pxelinux.cfg/C

won't be loaded if I want to use some specific config file for some machine.

So, is there any method that I can make it so that those config files 
based on MAC address and IP address could be loaded?
Thanks in advance.

Steven.

-- 
Steven Shiau <steven _at_ nchc org tw> <steven _at_ stevenshiau org>
National Center for High-performance Computing, Taiwan.
http://www.nchc.org.tw
Public Key Server PGP Key ID: 4096R/47CF935C
Fingerprint: 0240 1FEB 695D 7112 62F0  8796 11C1 12DA 47CF 935C

> Dear all,
> I'd like to have a DHCP/PXE server for different arch of clients, i.e. 
> BIOS, EFI32, and EFI64 clients.
> As described here:
> http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=720589
> What Daniel has proposed 
> (http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=720589#10) should 
> work, i.e. Using a file called pxelinux.cfg/bios containing the 
> following 2 lines:
> ==============================> PATH bios/
> INCLUDE /pxelinux.cfg/default
> ==============================> will solve this problem.
> However, with the following line specified in dhcpd.conf:
> ==============================> option pxelinux.configfile
"pxelinux.cfg/bios";
> ==============================> then only the config file
pxelinux.cfg/default will be used. Those file
> names like:
> pxelinux.cfg/01-88-99-aa-bb-cc-dd
> pxelinux.cfg/C000025B
> pxelinux.cfg/C000025
> pxelinux.cfg/C00002
> pxelinux.cfg/C0000
> pxelinux.cfg/C000
> pxelinux.cfg/C00
> pxelinux.cfg/C0
> pxelinux.cfg/C
> 
> won't be loaded if I want to use some specific config file for some
machine.
> 
> So, is there any method that I can make it so that those config files 
> based on MAC address and IP address could be loaded?
> Thanks in advance.
> 
> Steven.
 
There might be an alternative (and possibly others too): let the user 
select the appropriate firmware from within pxelinux.cfg/default.

So, keep using the same method you used in previous versions, instead 
of selecting the Syslinux cfg / firmware from the DHCP snippet that 
Daniel posted.

If you actually get to pxelinux.cfg/default (as you probably used to 
when you were not selecting a specific machine), _then_ you choose 
the firmware.

Try something similar to the following (I haven't tested it myself).

# pxelinux.cfg/default
# --------------------
PROMPT 1
SAY ************************************
SAY * Type "bios", "efi32", or "efi64" *
SAY ************************************
DISPLAY message.txt
# message.txt is optional e.g for initial help

LABEL bios
CONFIG /pxelinux.cfg/bios.cfg
# Note: Daniel used "pxelinux.cfg/bios"
# instead of my "pxelinux.cfg/bios.cfg"

LABEL efi32
CONFIG /pxelinux.cfg/efi32.cfg
# Note: Daniel used "pxelinux.cfg/efi32"
# instead of my "pxelinux.cfg/efi32.cfg"

LABEL efi64
CONFIG /pxelinux.cfg/efi64.cfg
# Note: Daniel used "pxelinux.cfg/efi64"
# instead of my "pxelinux.cfg/efi64.cfg"

# ____________________


# pxelinux.cfg/bios.cfg
# ---------------------
PATH /bios/
INCLUDE /pxelinux.cfg/common_config_files.cfg
# The pxelinux.cfg/common_config_files.cfg
# is what Daniel used in his pxelinux.cfg/default.

# _____________________


# pxelinux.cfg/efi32.cfg
# ----------------------
PATH /efi32/
INCLUDE /pxelinux.cfg/common_config_files.cfg
# The pxelinux.cfg/common_config_files.cfg
# is what Daniel used in his pxelinux.cfg/default.

# ______________________


# pxelinux.cfg/efi64.cfg
# ----------------------
PATH /efi64/
INCLUDE /pxelinux.cfg/common_config_files.cfg
# The pxelinux.cfg/common_config_files.cfg
# is what Daniel used in his pxelinux.cfg/default.

# ______________________


If in the future someone creates some c32 module that would be 
capable of identifying the corresponding adequate firmware (and then 
choosing a label accordingly), then the user would not need to select 
it manually.

Hopefully, someone else might suggest other alternatives.

Regards,
Ady.

> There might be an alternative (and possibly others too): let the user 
> select the appropriate firmware from within pxelinux.cfg/default.
> 
> So, keep using the same method you used in previous versions, instead 
> of selecting the Syslinux cfg / firmware from the DHCP snippet that 
> Daniel posted.
> 
> If you actually get to pxelinux.cfg/default (as you probably used to 
> when you were not selecting a specific machine), _then_ you choose 
> the firmware.
> 
 
While re-reading my own email, I realized that I wasn't clear enough.
>From the DHCP, you would still need to "select" the specific 
bootloader according to the firmware. What I meant was, not to select 
a firmware-specific cfg file ( pxelinux.cfg/bios ; pxelinux.cfg/efi32 
; pxelinux.cfg/efi64 ) from the DHCP, but to leave it as "usual" 
(defaulting to pxelinux.cfg/default), as you probably used to.

So, when I said "_then_ you choose the firmware", what I actually 
meant is "_then_ you select the respective cfg file". The 
/pxelinux.cfg/default and the rest of the cfg files I suggested are 
still relevant.

I hope I expressed myself more clearly this time.

Regards,
Ady.

On Mon, 2013-09-16 at 14:57 +0800, Steven Shiau wrote:
> So, is there any method that I can make it so that those config files 
> based on MAC address and IP address could be loaded?
> Thanks in advance.
Yes; you can configure your DHCP server to hand out different values for
the pxelinux.configfile option to specific clients, matching on MAC
address or a variety of other conditions.  Of course, this means that
the config file for that machine will need to know what firmware to
expect and thus what path to set.

-- Jeffrey T. Hutzelman (N3NHS) <jhutz+ at cmu.edu>
   Sr. Research Systems Programmer
   School of Computer Science - Research Computing Facility
   Carnegie Mellon University - Pittsburgh, PA

On 09/26/2013 01:44 AM, Jeffrey Hutzelman wrote:
> Yes; you can configure your DHCP server to hand out different values for
> the pxelinux.configfile option to specific clients, matching on MAC
> address or a variety of other conditions.  Of course, this means that
> the config file for that machine will need to know what firmware to
> expect and thus what path to set.
Hi Jeffrey,
Thanks. I think what the solution is as I mentioned in the thread beginning,
http://www.syslinux.org/archives/2013-September/020848.html
Or did I miss something?
My actual idea is, is that possible we could have an option, even with:
==============================option pxelinux.configfile
"pxelinux.cfg/bios";
==============================this option still lets pxelinux still honor the
rules:
pxelinux.cfg/01-88-99-aa-bb-cc-dd
pxelinux.cfg/C000025B
pxelinux.cfg/C000025
pxelinux.cfg/C00002
pxelinux.cfg/C0000
pxelinux.cfg/C000
pxelinux.cfg/C00
pxelinux.cfg/C0
pxelinux.cfg/C
pxelinux.cfg/default
If such an option exists, it will be very useful because one DHCP/PXE
config could for all BIOS, EFI32, and EFI64 clients.
Thanks in advance.

Steven.
-- 
Steven Shiau <steven _at_ nchc org tw> <steven _at_ stevenshiau org>
National Center for High-performance Computing, Taiwan.
http://www.nchc.org.tw
Public Key Server PGP Key ID: 4096R/47CF935C
Fingerprint: 0240 1FEB 695D 7112 62F0  8796 11C1 12DA 47CF 935C