KPXE Exit to USB Boot

[sourceminer]

How do I enable boot to USB after the PXE Boot screen?

Bios is setup to boot to the USB Stick.
I have about 30 Wyse terminals that are being reprovisioned as Ubuntu machines (running off USB).

The problem is even though the Primary boot is set to /dev/sdb
After PXE the Wyse OS is started (/dev/sda).
I need to setup so that PXE Exits to secondary hard drive.

The Post here: https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/7113/make-customized-option-as-default-on-boot-menu/13

Does exactly what I need it to do.

[george1421]

I’m thinking about the way to tell iPXE to exit to a specific device.

BUT my initial reaction is to do your implementation a little differently, in that you would use fog to send a linux live image to the target computer. Basically you would netboot those terminals (assuming you can set pxe booting as the default boot loader). That way you wouldn’t need to mess with usb drives. If you need persistent storage then just mount an nfs share (in concept).

[sourceminer]

True that would be nice, however the machines only have 2GB of RAM. Im not sure that they would still operate?

[george1421]

@sourceminer OK I have a concept of a solution for you. Its a concept because I have not tried this myself (or have the time at the moment).

But setting the exit mode to grub which is almost never used with FOG. You can then configure grub (by twiddling with its config file) to boot any device.

grub itself is located in /var/www/html/fog/service/ipxe I expected its config file to be located there too.

ref: http://ipxe.org/appnote/work_around_bios_halting_on_ipxe_exit

[george1421]

@sourceminer How are you using FOG in regards to these target terminals? If they are booting via the usb drive, how does FOG fit into that picture?

[sourceminer]

OK will give it a shot… FYI seems that the other post I have this may be related to editing the boatmenu.class.php Putting file back to original seems to fix.

[george1421]

This post is deleted!

[george1421]

@george1421 When you go into the target system and change the exit mode to grub this is what FOG enters into the default exit code for that host.

chain -ar ${boot-url}/service/ipxe/grub.exe --config-file="rootnoverify (hd0);chainloader +1" || goto MENU

The key is the --config-file="rootnoverify (hd0);chainloader +1" that text string is located in
/var/www/html/fog/lib/fog/bootmenu.class.php
and
/var/www/html/fog/lib/pages/ipxemenu.class.php

Now the idea is to change the config-file entry to point to the second hard drive. Once you know the code is sound then update the two config files above to change the (hd0) to what is needed to boot from usb.

[sourceminer]

These Terminals PXE to Fog to grab a pre-configured UbuntuMate install with the proper Parallels RAS client installed. Pretty much like any other usage of FOG

Just using USB to boot from.

[george1421]

@sourceminer Do you need to install on these computers in an unattended manner? The reason why I’m asking is since these are terminals and you are only using fog to image them, do you really need to boot through FOG for the terminals? When you need to image them again, just enter the boot menu and select PXE booting. I’m just questioning if you “need” to boot through iPXE to use these devices?

With that said, if you do need to boot through iPXE then I think what I laid out in the previous post should work. As you are testing the configuration settings. I would create a custom iPXE menu to test grub command line options until you get it perfected. Once perfected then patch fog’s php files.

[sourceminer]

@george1421 Would having 2GB of Ram allow you to run the OS via PXE?

[george1421]

@sourceminer As in netboot? I don’t have have an answer for that. It shouldn’t be to hard to setup an environment and test it.

I know when we deal with memory constrained devices we would create a thinstation image and just boot it via usb using a sandisk ‘fit’ usb drive. We don’t use fog for deploying that, just create an iso image in the thinstation dev environment and then use rufus to ‘burn’ it to the usb drive.

[sourceminer]

@george1421 said in KPXE Exit to USB Boot:

–config-file=“rootnoverify (hd0);chainloader +1”

Im not seeing this line in the boatmenu.class.php file Here is a screenshot of what I am seeing:

[george1421]

@sourceminer I know I keep bouncing around to different topics, but this is another option: https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/10944/using-fog-to-pxe-boot-into-your-favorite-installer-images
But to boot a live image. The ubuntu files would stay on the fog server and connected via nfs to the target computer. I think this would work. I might have time over the weekend to see if I can mock that up in my home lab. I have to see if I can find a unbuntu live image.

as to your question I’m seeing the key values at line 244 in ipxemenu.class.php

[sourceminer]

Im not seeing an ipxemenu.class.php

[sourceminer]

Could really use help with this… I had this working last night with the other topic but now its not working… needing to image 30 machines. ;-(

[george1421]

@sourceminer You know you really didn’t answer my questions (or at least the question in my mind I never asked).

1. Outside of imaging these devices, why do you need FOG?

2. Is there a reason you need to boot to the iPXE menu then on to the usb drive?

3. Is the device not capable of booting directly off from the usb stick?

If imaging the usb stick is the only reason to use fog, I would go about it a bit different. Just use rufus to capture your reference image off of a usb stick, and then use rufus to deploy the image to the next usb stick. Its is quick simple and you’d be done by now.

[sourceminer]

@george1421 I will answer again… I did answer George 2 times now.

I need Fog to deploy images to the USB Stick…
I need to boot to iPXE because we will need to reimage again later.
The Device does boot directly to the USB when you escape iPXE.

I have other windows devices as well. I really just need you to help by answering my questions.
Where is that option you point out in the ipxemenu.class.php (I dont have this file).

[george1421]

@sourceminer said in KPXE Exit to USB Boot:

Im not seeing an ipxemenu.class.php

Here are the exact path of these files on my FOG 1.4.4 server.

/var/www/html/fog/lib/fog/bootmenu.class.php
/var/www/html/fog/lib/pages/ipxemenu.class.php

This is how I found the files.

cd /var/www/html/fog 

grep -R -e "rootnoverify (hd0);chainloader" *

[sourceminer]

@george1421 said in KPXE Exit to USB Boot:

grep -R -e “rootnoverify (hd0);chainloader” *

there is no ipxemenu.class.php