[syslinux] Re: Network Boot IP Configuration Dilemma

[H. Peter Anvin]

Jon Nalley wrote:
> 
> The problem with doing a DHCP afterwards is that I don't know which NIC
> to do the DHCP on - that is if I want to DHCP on the same NIC that was
> used to PXE.
> 
> The main purpose for the ramdisk is to install OS "images" to the
> machine - so what I will probably end up doing is cycling through the
> interfaces doing a DHCP on each and attempt to contact the "image
> server" using a broadcast (or something).  The only issue with that (and
> why I like the idea of using IPAPPEND) is because doing the DHCP request
> for each interface can be a slow process.
> 

Either do just one (after all, which one ends up doing the PXE is 
largely abitrary), try them in parallel, or better yet, since you have 
an asymmetric setup, try the faster one first (since that's the one 
you'd rather use if possible.)

> I really like the idea of passing MAC=<mac_address> and then finding the
> matching interface in the ramdisk though.

I might decide to support that.  It's not too complex of a change, and 
it might be useful.

However, I'm still not convinced you're doing the right thing, and that 
worries me.

	-hpa