Booting On PXE ... Partimage

[alexiel]

Hi,

I'm trying to install a debian system over the network by following this tutorial.

I've done all steps but in "3.2 Customize your virtual system", I don't understand "Then simply install the wanted package. In our case, we will run partimage for dumping partition."

Does "install the wanted package" mean that I have to install a boot loader ?

What do you mean by "run partimage for dumping partition" ?
If I run partimage, it complains that /proc/partitions doesn't exist.
Solved with '$cp /proc/partitions /proc/mounts' /pxeroot/proc'.

And now what am i supposed to do ?

If I ignore this section, I can boot up but the remote pc is unable to acces to the nfs partition.

It display "Begin : Waiting for root file system..." and few minutes later :
"ALERT! /dev/nfs does not exist. Dropping to a shell!
Check your root= boot argument (cat /proc/cmdline)
Check for missing modules (cat /proc/modules), or device files (ls /dev)

BusyBox v1.1.3 (Debian 1:1.1.3-5) Built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.

/bin/sh: can't acces tty: job control turned off
(initramfs) _"

And when I do "/etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server restart", there is "RPC: failed to contact local rpcbind server (errno 5)" in syslog.

Can you help me ?
If you need log and/or configuration files, I can post them.

Thanks

[falko]

Originally Posted by alexiel

I've done all steps but in "3.2 Customize your virtual system", I don't understand "Then simply install the wanted package. In our case, we will run partimage for dumping partition."

It simply means that you can install any package you want.

Originally Posted by alexiel

Does "install the wanted package" mean that I have to install a boot loader ?

No.

[alexiel]

No boot loader ?
OK

It simply means that you can install any package you want.

Hum.. for sure !
But I was wondering what kind of package I had to install and to do what.


I think the remote PC can't access to /pxeroot because of a misconfiguration in my NFS server.

Do you know what's wrong ?

Thanks for your help

[olivierb2]

Can you send me the content of your /etc/exports?

for the error "ALERT! /dev/nfs does not exist. Dropping to a shell!", there is a problem with nfs in the initrd.img, I will try to see why.

Thanks.

[alexiel]

When I have tested this HOWTO, I had two keyboards, two monitors and two PCs. It was not very handy to write down error messages so I decided to install a full virtual debian system thanks to VirtualBox.
Now I can 'pause' and 'resume' the system when I want.

In order to communicate with my PC (the host), the virtual system (the guest) needs a virtual interface wich is 'tap0' in my case.

192.168.0.200 => IP adress of the interface tap0 (and so the adress of the DHCP server). It's like your 192.168.0.1 for eth0.

192.168.0.1 => given by the DHCP server to the gest.


+ /etc/network/interfaces

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto tap0
iface tap0 inet static
    address 192.168.0.200
    netmask 255.255.255.0

+ /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf

ddns-update-style none;
ddns-updates off;
server-name "MyDHCP";
authoritative;
option T150 code 150 = string;
deny client-updates;
one-lease-per-client false;
allow bootp;
allow booting;

log-facility local7;


subnet 192.168.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
    interface tap0;
    range 192.168.0.2 192.168.0.254;
    default-lease-time 6000;
    max-lease-time 7200;
    option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
    option broadcast-address 192.168.0.255;
    option time-offset -3600;
}

host bootPXE {
   hardware ethernet 08:00:27:04:B1:59;
   fixed-address 192.168.0.1;

    default-lease-time 6000;
    max-lease-time 7200;
    option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
    option broadcast-address 192.168.0.255;

    filename "pxelinux.0";
    next-server 192.168.0.200;
    option root-path "192.168.0.200:/pxeroot";
}

+ /etc/exports

/pxeroot    192.168.0.0/255.255.255.0(rw,sync,no_root_squash,no_subtree_check)

I can mount the nfs directory from the host so the nfs server seems to work correctly.

In the built-in shell of the guest, the 'ifconfig' command doesn't display anything.
Moreover 'ping 192.168.0.200' replies 'Network unreachable'.

But if I do 'ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.1' then 'ping 192.168.0.200', the host replies to guest requests.

Unfortunatly, 'mount 192.168.0.200:/pxeroot /' fails.


A problem with initrd.img ?
There are the kernel packages I installed :

debian:~# chroot /pxeroot/
debian:/# dpkg --get-selections | grep install | grep linux
libselinux1					install
linux-image-2.6-686				install
linux-image-2.6.22-3-686			install
linux-image-686					install
util-linux					install

Thanks

[olivierb2]

Can you try to make the virtual device in chroot /pxeroot

mknod /dev/nfs b 0 255

[alexiel]

From the host, "chroot /pxeroot/ ; mknod /dev/nfs b 0 255" creates /pxeroot/dev/nfs.

But the guest doesn't have /dev/nfs.

(initramfs) ls /dev
console   ram1     snapshot  tty21    tty36    tty50    tty8
disk     ram10    tty      tty22    tty37    tty51    tty9
fd0      ram11    tty0     tty23    tty38    tty52    tty50
full     ram12    tty1     tty24    tty39    tty53    tty51
hda      ram13    tty10    tty25    tty4     tty54    tty52
hdc      ram14    tty11    tty26    tty40    tty55    tty53
hpet     ram15    tty12    tty27    tty41    tty56    urandom
input    ramZ     tty13    tty28    tty42    tty57    vcs
kmem     ram3     tty14    tty29    tty43    tty58    vcs1
kmsg     ram4     tty15    tty3     tty44    tty59    vcsa
mem      ram5     tty16    tty30    tty45    tty6     vcsa1
null     ram6     tty17    tty31    tty46    tty60    zero
port     ram7     tty18    tty32    tty47    tty61
psaux    ram8     tty19    tty33    tty48    tty62
ptmx     ram9     tty2     tty34    tty49    tty63
ram0     random   tty20    tty35    tty5     tty7
(initramfs)

"export" in BusyBox gives interesting details :

(initramfs) export
export BOOT_IMAGE='vmlinuz'
export DPKG_ARCH='i386'
export HOME='/'
export MODPROBE_OPTIONS='-qb'
export PATH='/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin'
export PROGRESS_STATE='4'
export PS1='(initramfs) '
export PWD='/'
export ROOT='/dev/nfs'
export ROOTDELAY=''
export TERM='linux'
export blacklist=''
export break=''
export debug=''
export init='/sbin/init'
export initrd='initrd.img'
export nfsroot='192.168.0.200:/pxeroot'
export panic=''
export quiet='n'
export readonly='n'
export resume=''
export rootmnt='/root'
export vga='normal'
(initramfs)

I'm at the 4th (progress) state but... What does it mean ?

And if initrd.imd doesn't include nfs support, I should maybe build my own kernel.

[olivierb2]

It's crazy, I never build my own kernel. I will continue to investigate.

[olivierb2]

Ok, your initrd.img doesn't support nfs :

chroot /pxeroot

vi /etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf

change the line :

BOOT=local

to

BOOT=nfs

then run :

update-initramfs -u