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    PXE Booting ESXI 6.7u2

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    • george1421G
      george1421 Moderator @nexx34
      last edited by

      @nexx34 I was able to boot a Dell laptop 7240 into the esxi 6.7 installer using my instructions tweaked for 6.7u2

      Please help us build the FOG community with everyone involved. It's not just about coding - way more we need people to test things, update documentation and most importantly work on uniting the community of people enjoying and working on FOG!

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      • george1421G
        george1421 Moderator
        last edited by

        I updated the install instructions to include ESXi 6.7u2. https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/10944/using-fog-to-pxe-boot-into-your-favorite-installer-images/20

        Make sure when you update the boot.cfg you remove the curly braces around the IP address of your fog server or NFS won’t work.

        Please help us build the FOG community with everyone involved. It's not just about coding - way more we need people to test things, update documentation and most importantly work on uniting the community of people enjoying and working on FOG!

        N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • N
          nexx34 @george1421
          last edited by

          @george1421 I have removed the curly brackets, I only modified the boot.cfg in the /images/os/esxi/6.7u2/efi/boot/boot.cfg path, but I don’t think the other one matters since the only one being called is the one I modified. Thanks very much for the new instructions, maybe I just have to use tftp for this stuff.
          By the way, you may have forgone replacing your IP with {fog-ip} in the section where you give the contents to be added to the “prefix=” line in the boot.cfg.

          Thanks for all your effort, I must be doing something dumb for it to not work, maybe there’s something with my computer I am using to test? It is pretty a old uefi…(though that shouldn’t be the catch).

          george1421G 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • S
            Sebastian Roth Moderator
            last edited by

            @nexx34 said in PXE Booting ESXI 6.7u2:

            Default: undionly.kpxe
            uefi32: ipxe.efi
            uefi64: ipxe.efi

            There should also be i386-efi/ipxe.efi for 32 bit UEFI machines.

            Web GUI issue? Please check apache error (debian/ubuntu: /var/log/apache2/error.log, centos/fedora/rhel: /var/log/httpd/error_log) and php-fpm log (/var/log/php*-fpm.log)

            Please support FOG if you like it: https://wiki.fogproject.org/wiki/index.php/Support_FOG

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            • N
              nexx34 @Sebastian Roth
              last edited by

              @Sebastian-Roth Thanks, then it’ll be:
              Default: undionly.kpxe
              uefi32: i386-efi/ipxe.efi
              uefi64: ipxe.efi
              The weird thing is, that with this even a VM that is set to uefi boot will not work.
              It had 386MiB ram, was that too little?
              In fact, my T420 that is confirmed to be uefi, will not boot PXE FOG when I set it to boot uefi exclusively.
              I am pretty sure it is 64bit, but I can’t find for sure.
              I’ll play around a bit with the entries in pfsense and report back in a bit.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • george1421G
                george1421 Moderator @nexx34
                last edited by george1421

                @nexx34 So just to confirm you followed my instructions exactly and didn’t deviate at all?’

                Are you seeing the FOG iPXE menu at all when you boot the ipxe.efi?

                Please help us build the FOG community with everyone involved. It's not just about coding - way more we need people to test things, update documentation and most importantly work on uniting the community of people enjoying and working on FOG!

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                • N
                  nexx34 @george1421
                  last edited by

                  @george1421 Nope, I followed them exactly, I think the problem really lies at the entries about undionly/ipxe.efi/etc in the pfsense dhcp settings, as when using legacy boot it works (but fails to load the esxi image, as that is efi) but that is just what I am guessing right now.

                  george1421G N 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • george1421G
                    george1421 Moderator @nexx34
                    last edited by george1421

                    @nexx34 ok that is what I needed to know. If the esxi and fog setup is exact then lets focus on pfsense. Set all (2) non-i386 values to ipxe.efi. Yes I know this will break the bios boot systems, but for testing we need to understand if its an iPXE issue or a target system issues (note you might need to make sure the firmware is up to date on those lenovos, they have been known to have a very cruddy first gen bios/firmware)

                    Please help us build the FOG community with everyone involved. It's not just about coding - way more we need people to test things, update documentation and most importantly work on uniting the community of people enjoying and working on FOG!

                    N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • N
                      nexx34 @nexx34
                      last edited by

                      @nexx34 Sorry for being a little bit spammy, for me the suspicion is mounting, that when I boot into fog, the client will not boot with uefi and instead takes the CSM regardless of the option being there in pfsense for the uefi files to load.

                      @george1421 Okay, I will do that, let us see if it will accept booting fog with uefi enabled and the undionly crutch removed >:)

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                      • N
                        nexx34 @george1421
                        last edited by

                        @george1421 Yes, it tells me what it had already told be before when I tried this, “NBP is too big to fit in free base memory”.
                        I would take this is a client issue, but seeing how I had something along those lines in testing with a VM too, I really am clueless as to why it is happening…I mean, the machine I am testing now is halfway modern, it is a more recent lenovo.

                        george1421G 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • george1421G
                          george1421 Moderator @nexx34
                          last edited by

                          @nexx34 said in PXE Booting ESXI 6.7u2:

                          NBP is too big to fit in free base memory

                          ok that is the sign that the target computer is in bios mode or at least bios compatibility mode. I would grab a different model of target computer and try again. That way you can rule out the fog side and just focus on the target system.

                          Please help us build the FOG community with everyone involved. It's not just about coding - way more we need people to test things, update documentation and most importantly work on uniting the community of people enjoying and working on FOG!

                          N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • N
                            nexx34 @george1421
                            last edited by

                            @george1421 Okay, I will have to get such a PC real quick, looks like lenovo FW is shoddy all the way, because I was sure to enable the uefi option in the uefi menu.

                            N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • N
                              nexx34 @nexx34
                              last edited by

                              @nexx34 @george1421 Well, I am testing a different computer now, it is a desktop this time, and it has gotten past the “Can’t get NBP” stage, what is making me wonder now is that afterfirst loading default.ipxe via tftp and the others (boot.php and bg.png) via http it all stops and nothing happens anymore, it just stays there.

                              george1421G 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • george1421G
                                george1421 Moderator @nexx34
                                last edited by

                                @nexx34 Something isn’t right here.

                                The process is supposed to flow this way.
                                PXE rom requests dhcp boot options.
                                DHCP server gives {next-server} and {boot-file} setting to target computer.
                                Target computer downloads ipxe.efi
                                Target computer runs ipxe.efi (at this point you should see the ipxe.efi banner)
                                ipxe.efi chains to default.ipxe
                                default.ipxe then calls boot.php
                                boot.php should return the iPXE menu (you can view this menu by keying in http://<fog_server_ip>/fog/service/ipxe/boot.php?mac=00:00:00:00:00:00)
                                There is a line in the iPXE boot menu to load bg.png, but it has to have the iPXE menu to get that value.

                                The just sits there part is confusing me. Lets have you post the iPXE menu using the path I provided. Lets see what it says. Post the results here in the thread.

                                Please help us build the FOG community with everyone involved. It's not just about coding - way more we need people to test things, update documentation and most importantly work on uniting the community of people enjoying and working on FOG!

                                N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • S
                                  Sebastian Roth Moderator
                                  last edited by

                                  @nexx34 said in PXE Booting ESXI 6.7u2:

                                  what is making me wonder now is that afterfirst loading default.ipxe via tftp and the others (boot.php and bg.png) via http it all stops and nothing happens anymore, it just stays there.

                                  Can you take a picture of the messages on screen and post here?

                                  Web GUI issue? Please check apache error (debian/ubuntu: /var/log/apache2/error.log, centos/fedora/rhel: /var/log/httpd/error_log) and php-fpm log (/var/log/php*-fpm.log)

                                  Please support FOG if you like it: https://wiki.fogproject.org/wiki/index.php/Support_FOG

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                                  • N
                                    nexx34 @george1421
                                    last edited by

                                    @george1421
                                    I have now tested this all on a more recent motherboard that is three years old.
                                    It worked in bringing me to the fog menu while having “uefi only” set for the LAN Boot option. Success!
                                    However, it still gives me that good old http://ipxe.org/err/3e11616e error code which redirects to http://ipxe.org/err/3e1161.
                                    This can be seen on my screenshot below:
                                    Booting…
                                    https://ibb.co/vk99pVH
                                    Cleintmenu:
                                    https://ibb.co/y5mqhzt
                                    The infamous error:
                                    https://ibb.co/MMsCKZ4

                                    @Sebastian-Roth
                                    I linked the screenshots above, the dns address (my router) I get with <s> and <show dns> is correct by the way.

                                    george1421G 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • george1421G
                                      george1421 Moderator @nexx34
                                      last edited by

                                      @nexx34 In your infamous error picture, what is that character between 192 and nfs://?

                                      Please post the parameters section of the FOG Menu for this iPXE menu.

                                      Please help us build the FOG community with everyone involved. It's not just about coding - way more we need people to test things, update documentation and most importantly work on uniting the community of people enjoying and working on FOG!

                                      N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • N
                                        nexx34 @george1421
                                        last edited by

                                        @george1421

                                        Menu Item
                                        os.esxi67u2

                                        Description
                                        ESXI 6.7u2

                                        Parameters
                                        kernel nfs://$192.168.1.16:/images/os/esxi/6.7u2/efi/boot/bootx64.efi -c nfs://$192.168.1.16:/images/os/esxi/6.7u2/efi/boot/boot.cfg
                                        boot || goto MENU

                                        Menu Show with
                                        Alll Hosts

                                        Thanks very much for your fast reply!

                                        george1421G 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • george1421G
                                          george1421 Moderator @nexx34
                                          last edited by

                                          @nexx34 OK you have two ways to fix this.

                                          1. Remove the $ symbol in front of the 192 in each occurrence of $192

                                          2. Remove the address and replace it with ${fog-ip} where the iPXE menu will replace ${fog-ip} automatically with the IP address of the fog server.

                                          Please help us build the FOG community with everyone involved. It's not just about coding - way more we need people to test things, update documentation and most importantly work on uniting the community of people enjoying and working on FOG!

                                          N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • N
                                            nexx34 @george1421
                                            last edited by

                                            @george1421
                                            Oh god, that was it.
                                            Thanks for your unbelievable patience, I hope you aren’t mad at me now.
                                            The installer is booting. THANKS
                                            You woudln’t believe how happy I am right now.
                                            https://ibb.co/s3bV9PW
                                            Now I just need to set up all the other images, what coud possibly go wrong? :^)
                                            Again, thank you very much, @george1421 for your amazing help, and you too, @Sebastian-Roth .

                                            george1421G 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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