[syslinux] Chain loading to another PXE server?

[H. Peter Anvin]

Mike Dorman wrote:
> Is it at all possible to chain load to another PXE server using
> pxelinux?
> 
> I'm wondering because we are getting ready to roll out a new dedicated
> server provisioning system at the datacenter where I work.  In the past
> we've used pxelinux to network boot the Linux installations (e.g.
> anaconda.)  We also use it to network boot to rescue mode, memtest86,
> etc.
> 
> But we are moving to a new product called Snap Deploy from Acronis.
> It's an imaging tool similar to Ghost which will allow us to provision
> servers by applying an image to them, rather than having to wait for
> Linux or Windows to install and then manually doing all the
> configuration.
> 
> The drawback is that it only works with its own (proprietary) PXE
> server.  But we still want to keep our pxelinux system around for
> booting resuce mode, etc.
> 
> What I'd like to do is have one boot option in pxelinux be "Boot to
> Acronis Snap Deploy" which would then direct the machine to the Snap
> Deploy PXE server and boot with that one as normal.
> 
> But from what I've seen, there is no way to do this.  Is that correct,
> or am I missing something somewhere?
> 

There is no way to do this.  There isn't really any meaningful way this 
could be done (because of the discovery phase), except possibly via vlans.

	-hpa