[syslinux] pxelinux HTTP transport UEFI vmlinuz

[Geert Stappers]

Op 2014-07-27 om 20:50 schreef Geert Stappers:
> Op 2014-07-23 om 17:57 schreef Gene Cumm:
> > On Wed, Jul 23, 2014 at 10:32 AM, Geert Stappers wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > Since which version of pxelinux.0 is understood in pxelinux.cfg/default that
> > >
> > >   kernel http://host.lan/netboot/vmlinuz
> > >
> > > means vmlinuz should be transported over HTTP?
> > 
> > For non-EFI systems, this has meant use HTTP services if available
> > (ie, iPXE/gPXE or lwIP as in lpxelinux.0) since somewhere in the 3.xx
> > series when gpxelinux.0 was first introduced.
> > 
> > > Since which version of pxelinux.0 is it possible to boot on UEFI?
> > 
> > In UEFI, there is no pxelinux.0, only syslinux.efi.  Somewhere along
> > the 6.0x chain after bugs were worked out.  I just did this with
> > 6.03-pre18 loading everything before the kernel over TFTP and the
> > kernel and initrd payloads via HTTP.
> 
> Okay, thanks for confirming that HTTP & UEFI netboot should work.
> And telling that the trick is `syslinux.efi`.
> 
> 
> > > Those questions elaborated:
> > >
> > > What I want is fast netboot UEFI servers.
> > 
> > cptime.c32 should be able to help coarsely estimate transfer speeds
> > given a large enough file.
> 
> Acknowledge. FWIW, I'm after a faster transfer as plain TFTP.
> HTTP does deliver the wanted speed advantage.
> 
> 
> > > What I'm looking for is an advice which version of PXELINUX
> > > between version 4.something and 6.03pre18.
> > 
> > I'd suggest 6.02 or the latest 6.03-pre release (currently 18).
> 
> With syslinux-6.03-pre18/bios/core/lpxelinux.0 I have the wanted HTTP transfers.
> (With syslinux-6.03-pre18/bios/core/pxelinux.0 no succes yet on my (old) virtualbox
> test environment )

The (real) hardware also needed 'lpxelinux.0' for doing HTTP transfers.


> > > If http transport only works with DHCP Option 210 (pxelinux.pathprefix),
> > > please tell so.
> > 
> > No need.
> 
> Nope, no extra DHCP server configuration needed
> (in my test environment with VirtualBox O.S.E.).
> 
> 
> > > If pxelinux can't do  UEFI booting, please tell so.
> > 
> > See second statement.
> 
> What I read / understand is that for UEFI netboot request the DHCP server
> should provide `syslinux.efi`, not the `pxelinux.0` I'm  used to.
> 
> To be continued ...

The real hardware is happy with 'lpxelinux.0'.
No test with 'syslinux.efi' done.
Unlikely there will soon tests with 'syslinux.efi' by me.


Groeten
Geert Stappers
-- 
Leven en laten leven