[syslinux] RIS and PXELINUX

[Mark Dieterich]

Josef,

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll start investigating these...

> > 11:17:23.787348 0.0.0.0.bootpc > 255.255.255.255.bootps:  xid:0xb4284a46 secs:4 flags:0x8000 file ""[|bootp]
> > 11:17:23.790017 linuxserver.cs.brown.edu.bootps > 255.255.255.255.bootpc:  xid:0xb4284a46 secs:4 flags:0x8000 Y:workstation.cs.brown.edu S:godzilla.cs.brown.edu G:router-33.cs.brown.edu ether 0:2:b3:28:4a:46 file ""[|bootp] (DF)
> 
> The client is told its IP address. Are you sure that there's nothing
> in 'file'?

How do I determine if there is something in this "file"?

> Does it load pxelinux?

It does prompt for the user to hit F8 and comes up with the boot local or
install linux options.  I blieve this is coming from pxelinux, right?  If so,
then it is loading pxelinux.

> Perhaps you should try to put some additional parameters into your 
> dhcpd.conf, I think of the bootp vs. dhcp options for the
> tftp server. Perhaps you should try to put the IP address of your dhcp
> server there. 

I'm apologize for my ignorance here, but additional options like?  I've got
"allow booting" and "allow bootp" listed above this group.  In fact, here is
the top of my dhcp.conf file:

option domain-name "cs.brown.edu";
default-lease-time 36000;
max-lease-time 86400;
option nis-domain "sun";

# This is all for fai installs
option option-170 "nas:/sys0/Linux/fai";
option option-171 "install";
option option-172 "createvt sshd";

allow booting;
allow bootp;

group { 
  stuff I listed before ...
}

> I still don't like the pxe server, since this splits
> IP address assignment (dhcp) from the bootfile/bootserver assignment
> (pxe server). So you need to tell your pxe server to hand out this
> information. Perhaps you should try to get along completely without
> it.

If I don't have the PXEClient argument in the group declaration, then the
machine always goes to the RIS server.  If I have the PXEClient argument 
listed, then it at least boots from the pxelinux instead.

> BTW, it seems you are tracing with quite few packet length, try to
> increase it ('tcpdump -s 500' should do it). The standard length
> is 64 bytes, which is quite small for dhcp.

Thanks, I didn't realize this and will make use of it in the future.

Mark