Syslinux - Mar 2014 - pxelinux.0 not fully booting in EFI 64 mode...not requesting ldlinux.e64 via TFTP...

All,

I was excited to hear about EFI boot support in pxelinux >= 6.00.  So I
tried it.  Not working.  I've tried 6.02 (from source), 6.02 (from RPM),
early 6.03 (from RPM) and even pulled/compiled latest source from git.
 6.0.3-pre7.  No love.

My boot client can boot/image fine in legacy PXE mode.   My dhcpd.conf
looks like this:

# In initial DHCP DISCOVER packet, PXE client sets option 93 to its arch.
#    0000 == IA x86 PC (BIOS boot)
#    0006 == x86 EFI boot
#    0007 == x64 EFI boot
option arch code 93 = unsigned integer 16;

...
     #if option vendor-class-identifier
"PXEClient:Arch:00000:UNDI:002001" {
     if option arch = 00:00 {
       filename "bios/pxelinux.cfg/pxelinux.0";

       # option 67. A string. full path to NBP.
       option bootfile-name "bios/pxelinux.cfg/pxelinux.0";

     #} elsif  option vendor-class-identifier
"PXEClient:Arch:0007:UNDI:003016" {
     } elsif  option arch = 00:06 {

       filename "efi.x86/pxelinux.cfg/pxelinux.0";

        # option 67. A string. full path to NBP.
        option bootfile-name "efi.x86/pxelinux.cfg/pxelinux.0";

     } elsif  option arch = 00:07 {

        #filename "efi.x64/pxelinux.cfg/bootx64.efi";
        filename "efi.x64/pxelinux.cfg/pxelinux.0";

        # option 67. A string. full path to NBP.
        #
        # PROBLEM! w/ Intel NIC's boot UEFI code.  I've seen this
before, on
        # RealTek NIC's legacy PXE boots.
        #
        # Intel UEFI PXE boot agent gets confused by this string, even
though
        # it's FF-terminated. Per RFC.  So it thinks it's pxelinux.0\377
!
(where
        # \377 is the FF).
        #
        #option bootfile-name "efi.x64/pxelinux.cfg/pxelinux.0";

     } else {
       filename "UNKNOWN_VCI";
       option bootfile-name "UNKNOWN_VCI";
     }

in legacy PXE mode, wireshark confirms it  successfully TFTPs
bios/pxelinux.cfg/pxelinux.0, followed by (in order, all from
bios/pxelinux.cfg/ dir):
    ldlinux.c32
    <tries other config files>
    pxelinux.cfg/default
    vesamenu.c32  (referenced by pxelinux.cfg/default)
    libcom32.c32
    libutil.c32

In EFI PXE mode, wireshark confirms it TFTPs
efi.x64/pxelinux.cfg/pxelinux.0  (which is a symlink to
bios/pxelinux.cfg/pxelinux.0).

Next, it should attempt to TFTP over efi.x64/pxelinux.cfg/ldlinux.e64.  But
it never even requests that.  Instead, there's some error message on the
screen (can't read it, EFI shell messages immediately refresh screen).

I'm able to read on the EFI boot client's console:

   Check for media present...
   Media detected...
   Downloading ????
   ??????

I'm able to EFI PXE boot if I specify
   filename "efi.x64/pxelinux.cfg/bootx64.efi";

in my dhcpd.conf file and set up a GRUB2-compatible efidefault file.

But I'm not really interested in GRUB2!!  I prefer the richer syntax of the
SYSLINUX-based menuing system.

What could be wrong?  Oh, I've also tried lpxelinux.0 and gpxelinux.0.  EFI
boot client has Intel NIC, very new notebook.

Spike
PS As far as using an "arch-007" config file vs  a dhcpd.conf file
that
specifies different boot trees per ARCH -- I'm flexible.  I do not manage
the DHCP servers at work, but I have input into their PXE settings, for our
VLANs.  And I have total control of the TFTP image servers.

Either approach works.  It's good to have both choices, for orgs with other
spans of control.

Spike,

There are multiple binaries that come with syslinux. I would highly recommend
that you start with the official syslinux pre-built's of pre-7 on
kernel.org. You will find inside an syslinux.efi in a 64 bit folder and one in
an 32 bit folder.
These are the files that you need to point your clients to for efi booting.
pxelinux.0 is for bios booting only.



On Sunday, March 9, 2014 4:07 PM, Spike White <spikewhitetx at gmail.com>
wrote:
  
All,

I was excited to hear about EFI boot support in pxelinux >= 6.00.? So I
tried it.? Not working.? I've tried 6.02 (from source), 6.02 (from RPM),
early 6.03 (from RPM) and even pulled/compiled latest source from git.
6.0.3-pre7.? No love.

My boot client can boot/image fine in legacy PXE mode.?  My dhcpd.conf
looks like this:

# In initial DHCP DISCOVER packet, PXE client sets option 93 to its arch.
#? ? 0000 == IA x86 PC (BIOS boot)
#? ? 0006 == x86 EFI boot
#? ? 0007 == x64 EFI boot
option arch code 93 = unsigned integer 16;

...
? ?  #if option vendor-class-identifier
"PXEClient:Arch:00000:UNDI:002001" {
? ?  if option arch = 00:00 {
? ? ?  filename "bios/pxelinux.cfg/pxelinux.0";

? ? ?  # option 67. A string. full path to NBP.
? ? ?  option bootfile-name "bios/pxelinux.cfg/pxelinux.0";

? ?  #} elsif? option vendor-class-identifier
"PXEClient:Arch:0007:UNDI:003016" {
? ?  } elsif? option arch = 00:06 {

? ? ?  filename "efi.x86/pxelinux.cfg/pxelinux.0";

? ? ? ? # option 67. A string. full path to NBP.
? ? ? ? option bootfile-name "efi.x86/pxelinux.cfg/pxelinux.0";

? ?  } elsif? option arch = 00:07 {

? ? ? ? #filename "efi.x64/pxelinux.cfg/bootx64.efi";
? ? ? ? filename "efi.x64/pxelinux.cfg/pxelinux.0";

? ? ? ? # option 67. A string. full path to NBP.
? ? ? ? #
? ? ? ? # PROBLEM! w/ Intel NIC's boot UEFI code.? I've seen this
before, on
? ? ? ? # RealTek NIC's legacy PXE boots.
? ? ? ? #
? ? ? ? # Intel UEFI PXE boot agent gets confused by this string, even
though
? ? ? ? # it's FF-terminated. Per RFC.? So it thinks it's pxelinux.0\377
!
(where
? ? ? ? # \377 is the FF).
? ? ? ? #
? ? ? ? #option bootfile-name "efi.x64/pxelinux.cfg/pxelinux.0";

? ?  } else {
? ? ?  filename "UNKNOWN_VCI";
? ? ?  option bootfile-name "UNKNOWN_VCI";
? ?  }

in legacy PXE mode, wireshark confirms it? successfully TFTPs
bios/pxelinux.cfg/pxelinux.0, followed by (in order, all from
bios/pxelinux.cfg/ dir):
? ? ldlinux.c32
? ? <tries other config files>
? ? pxelinux.cfg/default
? ? vesamenu.c32? (referenced by pxelinux.cfg/default)
? ? libcom32.c32
? ? libutil.c32

In EFI PXE mode, wireshark confirms it TFTPs
efi.x64/pxelinux.cfg/pxelinux.0? (which is a symlink to
bios/pxelinux.cfg/pxelinux.0).

Next, it should attempt to TFTP over efi.x64/pxelinux.cfg/ldlinux.e64.? But
it never even requests that.? Instead, there's some error message on the
screen (can't read it, EFI shell messages immediately refresh screen).

I'm able to read on the EFI boot client's console:

?  Check for media present...
?  Media detected...
?  Downloading ????
?  ??????

I'm able to EFI PXE boot if I specify
?  filename "efi.x64/pxelinux.cfg/bootx64.efi";

in my dhcpd.conf file and set up a GRUB2-compatible efidefault file.

But I'm not really interested in GRUB2!!? I prefer the richer syntax of the
SYSLINUX-based menuing system.

What could be wrong?? Oh, I've also tried lpxelinux.0 and gpxelinux.0.? EFI
boot client has Intel NIC, very new notebook.

Spike
PS As far as using an "arch-007" config file vs? a dhcpd.conf file
that
specifies different boot trees per ARCH -- I'm flexible.? I do not manage
the DHCP servers at work, but I have input into their PXE settings, for our
VLANs.? And I have total control of the TFTP image servers.

Either approach works.? It's good to have both choices, for orgs with other
spans of control.
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On Sun, Mar 9, 2014 at 7:19 PM, Don Cupp <doncuppjr at yahoo.com>
wrote:
> Spike,
>
> There are multiple binaries that come with syslinux. I would highly
recommend that you start with the official syslinux pre-built's of pre-7 on
kernel.org. You will find inside an syslinux.efi in a 64 bit folder and one in
an 32 bit folder.
1) DO NOT use 6.03-pre7 on EFI64; PLEASE use 6.03-pre6.

2) BIOS binaries/executables are in bios/; EFI x86 (32-bit IA32) in
efi32/; EFI x86-64 (64-bit IA32; aka x64) in efi64/.  Don't mix fix
that are fed to a client during a given boot session.

Note that IA64 is associated with Intel Itanium and none of the
non-Itanium systems.

-- 
-Gene

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text,
especially the archives of mailing lists.
Q: Why is Top-posting such a bad thing?

> These are the files that you need to point your clients to for efi booting.
pxelinux.0 is for bios booting only.
>
>
>
> On Sunday, March 9, 2014 4:07 PM, Spike White <spikewhitetx at
gmail.com> wrote:
>
> All,
>
> I was excited to hear about EFI boot support in pxelinux >= 6.00.  So I
> tried it.  Not working.  I've tried 6.02 (from source), 6.02 (from
RPM),
> early 6.03 (from RPM) and even pulled/compiled latest source from git.
> 6.0.3-pre7.  No love.