Building a test environment

[george1421]

@foglalt The default.ipxe is a fog supplied config file. It is chained by undionly.kpxe or ipxe.efi.

The failed to get an up via dhcp error message is sometimes related to networking. More specifically the network switch having spanning tree enabled but not one of the fast spanning tree protocols like (RSTP, MSTP, Fast-STP, or what ever your switch port vendor calls it). A quick test to find out if its a spanning tree issue is to place an unmanaged switch between the pxe booting computer and the building switch. If the target computer boots correctly then you have a spanning tree issue with your building switch.

Also a clear picture of the error taken with a mobile and posted here would help to see the exact spot the error is being generated. The context of the error is almost as important as the error message itself.

[Sebastian Roth]

@Foglalt The FOG boot process consists of several steps doing DHCP three times. At one point it requests default.ipxe. So this is all fine.

then it says things about ip it gots, lease time, then “failed to get ip via dhcp tried on eth0 interface”. it is strange, as it was starting with dhcp, so it must have gotten it already once in the process.

This might happen when spanning tree or auto negotiation or EEE is an issue. The later two do not play a role in earlier DHCP rounds as the other drivers don’t to much special things but only the linux kernel (maybe) does. So it can be many different things that is causing this issue. But it could also be a different problem because at that stage after requesting an IP cia DHCP it also checks connecting to the web UI and if that fails the error looks very similar. So you better take a picture of the actual error and post here so we can have a look.

Beside that you can use an unmanaged mini switch or hub to connect between client and your main switch and see if the problem goes away.

[Foglalt]

Actually the whole setup consiste of 1 switch (a dumb one, not managed), 2 machines (server and 1 client) for the purest environment.

I am a bit confused about what is written here about defalt.ipxe file and its chainloading. Can you pls be a bit more detailed? I am not an ipxe expert sorry

When i am in the office and have a bit of time, i will shoot some pictures for more specific .

(just for the record, de unpopulated tftp folder had a good reason. upon failing to setup dhcp (well, it maybe a debian specific issue on 9.3) it fails the later part of the script which sets up a new tftp location and puts there files as usually. i was not aware about it at first, my bad, sorry.

[Sebastian Roth]

@foglalt said in Building a test environment:

I am a bit confused about what is written here about defalt.ipxe file and its chainloading. Can you pls be a bit more detailed?

This is kind of a long story but I try to give you a picture:

• PC/Laptop boots and is set to PXE boot
• DHCP request to get an IP and PXE information (next-server and filename, called option 66 and 67 in DHCP speek)
• Requests filename from next-server (BIOS use undionly.kpxe and UEFI use ipxe.efi by default - see in DHCP config, e.g. /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf)
• This FOG specific iPXE binary comes with an embedded script included (code here) which sends another DHCP request to get an IP and be able to communicate with the FOG server to load the default.ipxe file
• From the default.ipxe it chainloads to the FOG boot menu or runs a scheduled task (this part is auto-generated depending on which client sends the request…)
• If it’s a task for this client iPXE will chainload the Linux kernel and boot up the FOS mini Linux to do the task.
• Here the mini Linux environment will send a third DHCP request, again to be able to communicate with the FOG server.

You might wonder why we need so many DHCP handshakes? This is because FOG combines different open source software like iPXE and the Linux kernel to do what it does. Each part needs to setup network communication on it’s own.

[Foglalt]

@Sebastian-Roth

Thank you a lot for description, it is clear and i think it was actually needed to understand.

Here comes the place where it fails:

It fails with no dhcp response, but before that point, dhcp responded, even lease time is received, and ofc init files are loaded properly before this part. What is it then?

[Sebastian Roth]

@Foglalt Ok, I just saw that we added an extra message to make this more clear after 1.4.4 release. So this is only in the RC version and will be in the next release. But that’s ok for now. You don’t need that message.

Please open the URL http://10.0.0.12/fog/service/ipxe/boot.php?mac=00:11:22:33:44:55 in your browser (exchange 00:11:22:33:44:55 with the client’s MAC address). Is 10.0.0.12 your FOG server IP? Copy and paste the full text output you get in the browser here.

[Foglalt]

@Sebastian-Roth
thanks a lot, following your guidelines i found the problematic part of config (actually i made mistakes then correcting too more steps than i previously tought (ip of server was the key, which was mistakeingly entered during the tries of installation tests.

now it is testing imaging (bah, finally i can start the true test for making hybrid bios/uefi combos work automatically; and selecting proper win10 image types.)

[Foglalt]

anyway can i have rights to delete my own post? i need more coffee, i edited, reedited my prev post, then i wanted to purge it but with no rights)

[Sebastian Roth]

@Foglalt Great you figured it out! Too easy if you know what to look for, right?

I purged the post for you. Not sure who’s in charge of the forum rights at the moment. Pinging @joe.schmitt ?!

[Foglalt]

Bah, imaging was ok, but that mistake i made somehow still lingers on. I know that I may correct it with full reinstall, but i think i learn more if i know more piece of the mechanism. Can you maybe take a look at this error i got?

[Sebastian Roth]

@Foglalt It’s either the wrong IP again or username/password wrong. Take a look at FOG Configuration -> FOG Settings -> TFTP Server. First the items.

As well take a look at this: https://wiki.fogproject.org/wiki/index.php/Troubleshoot_FTP

And to fix all the IP things, check this out: https://wiki.fogproject.org/wiki/index.php/Change_FOG_Server_IP_Address

[Foglalt]

Seems now all goes as wanted. THX a lot for help (can i mark my topic as solved somehow? in old forum i knew the way for it i guess, but not now)