[syslinux] PXE Linux boot to F12 automatically

[Chadley Wilson]

Hi Claus,

I never said there was fault with your suggestions and I have considered them seriously, it just a case of implementing these suggestions as they will change my procedures.

As I said I think it is the way I am explaining the environment and order of operations... :(
And I do struggle to explain the system to others. This is my fault as I work in extreme detail (scripts and some code) and hardly ever take a step back to summarize the big picture.

In stage1 we prep components
Stage2 we assemble components and load the test OS from Server 1
Stage3  we test - flash bioses and go mad on the unit. In-between tests run from the PXE or Bios Updates the OS must be booted to verify things have worked. Now the way we work is each person will run up to 10 units at a time. So he will for example flash the bios, we have coded an auto reboot after each task is complete, so while the unit reboots the tester leaves this unit moves to next one performs the same task there and so on, all this scripted of course and he only has to select which bios. So from 1 to 10 units he starts the flash prcess and moves to the next unit, the 1st unit finishes and reboots on its own. While he on the next unit the previous will boot to windows without intervention. When unit 10 is done he returns to 1 and runs a series of checks and tests in windows. He then reboots back to PE pressing F12 choosing the next option, and while it boots PE or Linux he goes to the next one and so one. So it is a complex process and it covers 9 reboots. 5 Windows, and 4 PXE.

Stage 4 The units are then hooked up to a different server on an isolated network apart from a firewall which allows us only to ftp images over. We only do that once in a while if there are any changes in hardware. This server loads the final user image which is in what we call OOBE mode and ready for the customer. From here we do not switch the units on again, except for 2% of the units to spot check.

Stage 5 the units are sent to the packaging department and packed.


So that's the nutshell simplest I way I can explain this. It has taken me over 3 years to develop this system and the result is that I have 0.0032% failure rate, and a DOA rate of 0.0001% 32 in a 1000 units, and 1 in 1000 units. We can produce a PC every 30 secs with a total 40 people. So for every second a person is working on a computer it must be in the ready state (booted to console or desktop) needed to perform the next task. So if it's still booting up or still has to boot up when the tester gets back to that machine, we are wasting time.


Stage 3 is the focus area,

If I can abort the menu and continue to boot from Hard drive that will be great - 1st prize, but I see in your DEFAULT  MENU you have localboot.c32 which I think should do this? Where did you get that from?


Thank You very much for being so patient.

Regards
Chadley



-----Original Message-----
From: syslinux-bounces at zytor.com [mailto:syslinux-bounces at zytor.com] On Behalf Of Claus Andersen
Sent: 22 October 2008 03:57 PM
To: For discussion of Syslinux and tftp-hpa
Subject: Re: [syslinux] PXE Linux boot to F12 automatically

On Wed, 22 Oct 2008, Chadley Wilson wrote:

> I hear what you all say, but also remember we have our reasons for
>  doing things the way we do,

But you do not qualify what is wrong with our suggestions. We can all
understand the limitations of an existing environment which needs to be
taken into account.

> So I will change my question,

Mocing targets are more fun ;-)

> Bearing in mind that we have loaded an OS for test purposes at the
> build stage, and it will be the same OS that we will reload at the
> end.
> But we run some pretty good tests on the system and we don't want to
> release the image as a final image after we have loaded all the test
> software and verification tools. But we do need the PXE to pause if
> it does not get a key press it must skip PXE or abort and carry on
> to load the installed OS of that unit.

I wish you had been a little more specific here. Are you trying to abort
and get hold of the other PXE Server or are you content if we boot the
local harddisk which then will carry on the load?

> Does anyone have sample config files I can use for guidance to experiment?

That is however within my limited abilities. The following will boot the
local harddisk if no action is performed. The "magic" here is
"MENU DEFAULT"

Rgds,
Claus

The content of a working pxelinux.cfg/default file:

DEFAULT menu.c32
PROMPT 0
NOESCAPE 0
ALLOWOPTIONS 0
TIMEOUT 100

MENU TITLE PXE Boot menu

LABEL WinPE_2.1_x86
  MENU  LABEL Windows PE 2.1 (x86)
  KERNEL        x86boot/pxeboot.n12.0

LABEL WinPE_2.1_amd64
  MENU  LABEL Windows PE 2.1 (amd64)
  KERNEL amd64boot/pxeboot.n12.0

LABEL Windows PE 2.1 (x86/amd64)
  MENU  LABEL Windows PE 2.1 (x86/amd64)
  KERNEL        util/ifcpu64.c32
  APPEND        WinPE_2.1_amd64 -- WinPE_2.1_x86PAE -- WinPE_2.1_x86

LABEL WinPE_2.1_x86.SDI
  MENU  LABEL Windows PE 2.1 (x86) SDI
  KERNEL        util/sdi.c32
  APPEND http://172.16.0.1/test.sdi

LABEL Util
  MENU  LABEL Memory Info
  KERNEL        util/meminfo.c32

LABEL Util2
  MENU  LABEL PCI Info
  KERNEL        util/pcitest.c32

LABEL Util3
  MENU  LABEL DMI Test
  KERNEL util/dmitest.c32

LABEL Util4
  MENU  LABEL MemTest86+ v2.01
  KERNEL        util/memtest86+-2.01.bin.x86

LABEL GHOST
  MENU  LABEL Floppy image
  KERNEL        MEMDISK
  APPEND        initrd=floppy.img vga=1

LABEL Localboot
  MENU  LABEL Localboot
  MENU  DEFAULT
  KERNEL        util/localboot.c32
  APPEND        0

LABEL Reboot
  MENU  LABEL Reboot
  KERNEL        util/reboot.c32


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