[syslinux] PXE Boot Solution

Mon Jun 8 21:00:13 PDT 2009

Unfortunately the insane Web Based application deployment utility we
employ is all in house. I've never seen anything like it, and
hopefully will never again. What my organization needs to do is employ
a fully automated SCCM environment, but with hundreds of thousands of
computers, every image, every change, every driver, app, utility,
causes problems. I never thought as a stand alone user how insanely
bad upgrading one thing might be, you would think oh the push tonight
to upgrade acrobat reader 8.0 to 8.1 should go off without a hitch,
hell I was trying to fix computers for weeks, how an acrobat reader
upgrade can affect network printing and the likes is beyond me.

I believe I'll submit to failure because the type of automation I'm
looking for couldn't possibly exist anywhere, It might be easy enough
to setup a fully automated environment to deploy an image, inject
drivers, name machines, join domains, move machine account to a
particular OU, install applications, lahdedah, but then to keep those
application repositories updated. How to keep your base set of
enterprise applications whatever they might be although might be an
easy enough task to automate their deployments but to constantly tell
your server to push the newest package of that particular product...
*sigh* especially when there is 10,000 of them...

But after reading your response I suppose besides personal, small to
medium sized business, and diagnostic purposes, pxelinux sounds like
it would work extremely well for kiosks and pos's. I bet a lot of
cyber cafe's and internet kiosks employ pxeloaders. That way you can
keep a base image stored somewhere and serve it out to the clients in
a secure fashion that way no one is making house calls to fix broken
machines.

I setup a Win2008 Server over the weekend and am trying to wrap my
head around SCCM, MDT, OSD, RIS, WDS, BDD, etc. etc. etc. Good Lord
what a behemoth, as you said it would be nice to employ an outside
consulting professional, but I'd rather switch places and be the one
paid to employ those services. * sigh * maybe in another life ehh.

Have a good one, and thank you for all of the wonderful responses from everyone.

Matt

On Mon, Jun 8, 2009 at 5:35 PM, Miller, Shao<Shao.Miller at yrdsb.edu.on.ca> wrote:
> Good day Matthew H.,
>
> PXELINUX is a boot-loader.  Some of the neat things it can do are:
> - Load kernels (directly, linux.c32, etc.)
> - Chain another chain-loadable boot-loader, maybe from a different
> server (pxechain.com)
> - Load a menu system (text/"graphical") to allow a user to select boot
> options (menu.c32, vesamenu.c32, etc.)
> - Password-protect such options (syslinux/doc/menu.txt)
> - Take advantage of HTTP provided by gPXE, instead of the usual TFTP
> - Take advantage of SAN-booting provided by gPXE, where you boot to an
> HDD on the network (sanboot.c32)
> - Chain-load to floppies and HDDs on the machine, or boot-sectors,
> boot-sector files, or other boot-loaders stored upon them (chain.c32)
> - Load and boot Windows .SDI files (sdi.c32)
> - Load and boot a virtual floppy or virtual HDD image which sits in RAM
> (memdisk)
>
> I don't think PXELINUX can particularly help with your multiple Windows
> applications' deployment in your support realm.
>
> If your Windows applications don't have the ability for unattended
> installation procedures, I would approach their vendors for support.
>
> If you are looking for help in getting a really automated system because
> your current system doesn't quite do the trick, you might have to think
> about consulting a specialist.  By the way, could you share the name of
> the current web system you use with the check-marks and such?  I'd be
> interested in knowing if they have any elements which can be loaded by
> Syslinux' family of boot-loaders and tools.
>
> An environment that I enjoy usually employs PXELINUX to assist with
> early-boot-stage automation and utilities.  Some of the things I like to
> do are:
> - Bring up a password-protected menu which times out very quickly to a
> default option, so that a user without the password can only instruct
> the computer to continue with a default boot or to reboot, but a
> technician with the password can access useful options
> - Chain-load gPXE in order to obtain HTTP, SAN-booting, and some
> scriptable inventory collection abilities, then load PXELINUX again, who
> will take advantage of the available capabilities
> - Use pxechain.com to begin Windows RIS tasks
> - Use MEMDISK to load and boot various DOS floppy images, which usually
> have AUTOEXEC.BAT files on them and reboot upon completion.  These are
> things like BIOS updates, long-term NIC parameter changes, some
> diagnostics, etc.
>
> The items you describe as "the rub" seem to be later-stage processes
> than PXELINUX deals with, though I'm certain that PXELINUX could provide
> you with the ability to "chain" to those scenarios from an initial,
> general, option-abundant process.
>
> Perhaps you'd be interested in checking out the Boot Land forums at
> http://www.boot-land.net/forums/.  There are quite a few posts in those
> forums from people just like you, along with their requests, failure
> stories and success stories.
>
> Best of luck!  It reads like you have a great deal of support on your
> plate.
>
> - Shao Miller
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: syslinux-bounces at zytor.com [mailto:syslinux-bounces at zytor.com] On
> Behalf Of Matthew Holevinski
> Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2009 23:33
> To: For discussion of Syslinux and tftp-hpa
> Subject: Re: [syslinux] PXE Boot Solution
>
> ... ... ...
>
> Here's the rub...
>
> ... ... ...
> Here is where everyone is going to laugh...
>
> ... ... ...
>
> Now all that has to take place...
>
> ... ... ...
>
> Now, on to the meat and potato's...
>
> ... ... ...
>
> Here's the rub...
>
> ... ... ...
>
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