FOG Server Communications Issues
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I reran the install and installed the DHCP server then disabled that functionality on the router to avoid conflicts. Thus the router is now acting like a switch. But problems persist. I am still not able to resolve hostnames. Furthermore the computers do not seem to be talking to one another. After rebooting the server I was initially unable to connect to anything. After changing the computers IP address and then manually entering in the IP addresses of the other computers on the network I was able to ping the Windows 7 machine. But the XP one will not respond and apparently doesn’t have an IP address. Is this a problem with the DHCP server? Would it help to post the configuration file for it?
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It may help with the configuration yes.
The reason you’re unable to resolve hostnames is because you don’t have a DNS Server, so this is expected. If you’re unsure whether or not the XP machine has an IP, check it and also verify that the Windows Firewall is turned off on that machine.
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[quote=“Tom Elliott, post: 21246, member: 7271”]
The reason you’re unable to resolve hostnames is because you don’t have a DNS Server, so this is expected. If you’re unsure whether or not the XP machine has an IP, check it and also verify that the Windows Firewall is turned off on that machine.[/quote]So is it possible to image a handful of machines without a DNS server or should I install one on the FOG machine? Given that all of the (4) computers are in one room it seems like overkill to do so. This setup is only for testing purposes; the production machine will use the campus infrastructure. My config file is as follows:
#DHCP Server Configuration File.
#see /usr/share/doc/dhcp*/dhcpd.conf.sample
#This file was created by FOG
use-host-decl-names on;
ddns-updates-style interim;
ignore client-updates;
next -server 192.168.10.2subnet 192.168.10.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
range dynamic-bootp 192.168.10.10 192.168.10.254
default-lease-time 21600;
max-lease-time 43200;option domain-name-servers x.x.x.x;
option routers x.x.x.x;
filename "pxelinux.0";}
According to IP config the XP machine has no IP address. I believe the firewall is off, but there wasn’t the time to go through the network setup again. Doing so may fix the problem.
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If you turn off HOSTNAME_LOOKUPS on the FOG Configuration page, the hostname’s won’t try to be resolved. It will still work without the DNS Server as the tasks are created by the MAC address, not the IP or the Hostname.
For your dhcp file try this:
[code]# DHCP Server Configuration file.
see /usr/share/doc/dhcp*/dhcpd.conf.sample
This file was created by FOG
use-host-decl-names on;
ddns-update-style interim;
ignore client-updates;
next-server 192.168.10.2;subnet 192.168.10.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
range dynamic-bootp 192.168.10.10 192.168.10.254;
default-lease-time 21600;
max-lease-time 43200;option domain-name-servers x.x.x.x;
option routers x.x.x.x;
option routers 192.168.10.2; #<- I ASSUME YOUR FOG SERVER IP ADDRESS (OR JUST LEAVE THIS LINE OUT) filename "pxelinux.0";}[/code]
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Thank you for all of your help Tom. It seems I over thought the problem with the hostnames a bit. As for the config file, none of the computers have an IP address of 192.168.10.2. The router is 192.168.10.1 and all the rest are well above 10.10 .
What about the two fields on the login page that return an error? Do you think those are related to the DHCP server or can I ignore them?
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The error’s you’re seeing are because your network’s not connected to the network.
Just the same as if you try to go to the kernel updates page. You don’t have internet access so you won’t see any of the updates available.
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Ok so it seems 3 out of the 4 issues in my original post weren’t really all that serious. All that remains is to do is fix the networking issue and check to make sure I can connect to the FOG server via ftp. Then the imaging test can begin.
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Well I’ve got all of the computers talking to one another and initialized tftp, but problems persist. I cannot PXE boot either of the other two computers. When attempting to do so, the process errors out with the code PXE-E51 No DHCP or ProxyDHCP offers were received. Curiously when I type “service dhcp restart” in terminal on the FOG server it says that service is unrecognized. But I KNOW I installed it as the configuration file above shows. Any thoughts? Perhaps the DHCP server is not installed or configured properly?
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I think you need:
[code]sudo service isc-dhcp-server restart[/code] -
Indeed I did, Tom. Turns out the service was not actually started and there was a syntax error in the config file. Both computers have PXE booted successfully. The FOG splash screen did not come up, however, possibly because the client is not installed on them. Tomorrow I will endeavor to do that, register the computers in FOG and hopefully attempt to upload my first image. Once again thank you for your help.
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Glad I could be of some help.
The PXE Boot screen should be displayed. It shouldn’t matter if the client is or isn’t installed on the clients. The image is a part of the system. Though my guess is your default file can’t find the image file. Maybe antivirus removed it or something?
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Not sure. Perhaps the PXE boot did’t work correctly? The computer was able to receive an IP address and after that I think the boot agent exited (PXE-M01 Intel Boot Agent Exiting) and Windows XP started. I assumed that was normal behavior. Where is the images file located?
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That sounds like normal behavior if you don’t chose a menu option AND you don’t have a task setup for the system that’s booting.
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Hmmm. When I was testing out tftp between the xp machine and the fog server I tried to “tftp <fog server IP> get pxelinux.0” but that was not found. Also Filezilla would not connect. Is it possible the computer is not booting correctly into FOG? Our computers are Dell Optiplex 780s, if it makes a difference. Tomorrow I will try to set up a task remotely and see if it works.
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tftp command wasn’t found or it reported it couldn’t find the fog server?
Maybe make sure tftpd-hpa service is running?
[code]sudo service tftpd-hpa restart[/code] -
First the service wasn’t running so it would not connect. Then I made the changes recommended here: [url]http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/478[/url] and started the service which was when it could not find the file. It seemed to connect to the server, but not find what it was looking for.
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Well tftp seems to be working correctly. It had been erroring out this morning with PXE-E32. Turns out the servers firewall was interfering with it. Also I installed the FOG client on the Windows 7 screen. Still no splash screen or menu. It connects to the DHCP server, tests tftp, and then boots. The ultimate test of FOG is to image a machine and so I will sysprep the computer and then attempt to upload an image.
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Not only am I not seeing the PXE boot menu, but tasks cannot be scheduled via the web GUI. When I try the task management screen comes up, but is blank. Also tftp is not working. Windows 7 will not recognize the command “tftp x.x.x.x get pxelinux.0” where x.x.x.x is the server’s IP address, even when the command prompt is run as an administrator. Windows XP understands the command, but can’t find the file. I’m not sure if the error is with tftp or with fog itself, but it might explain why the PXE boot menu does not come up. I also tried using F12 to boot from the network card, but after it connected to the DHCP server, did something with tftp (those letters came up and nothing else), the boot agent exited and a message came up saying the boot agent was not available. Does any of this make sense to you Tom? Also, could the router be at fault? As in perhaps tftp requests are not being passed through even though its DHCP server is disabled.
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Is the next-server line in your dhcp address pointing at your FOG Server?
