Network Boot Problems/Computer won't communicate with Ubuntu/FOG

Matt Harding · Oct 3, 2012, 10:02 AM

Can you post your configs here? I’m not saying I’ll be able to help as I dont use a DHCP Proxy myself, I have full control over my DHCP setup so I’ve no need of one, but there are plenty of people on this forum with loads of experience that may spot the problem straight away.

Adam Kohnert · Oct 3, 2012, 6:17 PM

What is the best way to show you how I have it set-up?

Matt Harding · Oct 3, 2012, 8:41 PM

I was hoping to see your dhcpd.conf file on your dhcp server. When you say you had no luck I take it then that you mean you couldn’t get onto it to alter the config? I thought perhaps you meant that you had tried unsuccessfully to modify it.

Have you used Wireshark before? Great tool for finding out whats going on at the heart of a network. I think it’d come in real handy for you in dealing with this issue too. Give it a go. If you’ve never used it before it can seem very complicated and overwhelming, but its quite straight forward for beginner use anyhow. Install it, run it, and select your chosen interface to watch on near the top left. Once you’ve done that it will immediately start live capture of packets.

What I suggest you do is run this on a machine on your network to observe what is happening, and while its running, try to boot another PC from the network. Watch for packets of the DHCP variety. You’ll see them come up under the DHCP Protocol, and in the INFO field next to it will be “DHCP Request” followed by a couple of “DHCP Discover” entries. Click on the discover line(s) and take a closer look in the main information window below the list (bottom half of the screen). Somewhere down there will be an entry that says “Bootp flags” and within that will be the line “Next Server IP address”. If there is nothing there but “0.0.0.0 (0.0.0.0)” then your dhcp server is not giving out bootp addresses which is what gives a network booting machine the ability to talk to fog’s tftp server.

In short if you only get 0.0.0.0 there then your good to go and can use the dhcp proxying method of supplying the extra details. If it does pick up an address, you really need to get in touch with the people who maintain the system giving out the addresses and explain your situation because if its giving bootp addressing out, its not directing you where you need to go, and you cant change it.

Hope I haven’t confused you too much

I’m sure there’s easier ways to say what I’m trying to get accross and perhaps if you are still in need of help with this, someone can convey in a more human friendly way the essence of what I am trying to get across.

Oh incidentally the URL for the wireshark download is:

[url]http://www.wireshark.org/download.html[/url]

chad-bisd · Oct 4, 2012, 1:11 AM

The FOG project wiki article on proxyDHCP is based on Ubuntu and LTSP, and has specific instructions. search the wiki for proxyDHCP

Adam Kohnert · Oct 4, 2012, 5:32 PM

Good news all!

We purchased a new Firewall/Filter (CIPA) and it came in today and it is up and running!

It looks like there is a place for us to modify it so we can add:

next-server 10.0.175.162;
filename “pxelinux.0”;

Note the filename end of .0 is a zero.

Is there anything else that we need to add???

YeeHaa

Thanks

Matt Harding · Oct 5, 2012, 12:26 PM

Put those settings in (Remember to make note of what you do in case you need to take it out again).

Register a client PC with fog through the web frontend, set it to PXE boot, then see if it boots from network and shows you a FOG menu. If you get the fog menu, its worked.

Adam Kohnert · Oct 24, 2012, 7:09 PM

Well…

We can’t seem to change any settings on the DHCP server

Plan D

Can we set up our own network? Just have the fog server hooked up to a switch then have some computers hooked up to a switch? And then have the FOG server give out DHCP address?

I am at a loss…I have about 75 computers to do

Thanks

BryceZ · Oct 24, 2012, 7:14 PM

During the install process for FOG it asks if you would like to have FOG manage your DHCP. If you don’t have any images or a long list of hosts added to FOG already, it might be easiest to just set it up one more time from scratch on an isolated switch, making sure to let FOG handle DHCP.

Adam Kohnert · Oct 25, 2012, 3:18 PM

OK, is there a way I can change my current settings without uninstalling FOG? Should I be connected to our current network when I install FOG? What IP address do I use for the FOG server?

Thanks again

chad-bisd · Oct 28, 2012, 4:39 AM

Yes. install the DHCP daemon and configure it manually.

Adam Kohnert · Nov 15, 2012, 3:19 PM

Hello again!

Here is what I did and it didn’t work, I know shocking:

Set up my fog server to handle DHCP…I think
Connected my fog server to a switch no hooked to the internet
Connected the client to the same switch as the fog server
And…nothing

Can someone check my fog settings?

I can’t have my fog server hooked to our current network…it causes some problems

Thanks!!!

chad-bisd · Nov 15, 2012, 7:01 PM

post your dhcpd config file (use code tags or attach the file).

When you says “And…nothing” what part of the process gives you nothing? Maybe if you spelled out the exact steps you are taking when trying to use FOG when the “And…nothing”, we might be able to help. You can configure FOG all day long, but if you don’t turn on the clients “and…nothing” is an expected and acceptable result.

Adam Kohnert · Nov 15, 2012, 7:08 PM

Sorry for being vague
And…nothing—this means the client machine did not boot from PXE

Did I miss a step?
Probably something simple

Thanks Again

chad-bisd · Nov 17, 2012, 2:44 AM

Did you go into the BIOS on the clients and set them to network book, and then actually make sure they are network booting. Some require you to hit F12, or hold down a key before they network boot, even if it’s set in the BIOS. I have some tablets that I have to hold down a special button on the front while turning them on, or they ignore the boot order and quick boot to windows.

Adam Kohnert · Nov 25, 2012, 7:32 PM

Yes, I hit F12 and selected Boot From PXE.

Ill keep trying.

Thanks again

Adam Kohnert · Nov 29, 2012, 8:20 PM

Hello again!

I was thinking one day and thought I may need 2 network cards for my computer to make FOG work? Not sure why, So I tried it and the computer did not boot from PXE.

So then my next venture was to start from scratch, so I reinstalled FOG. Then I got this message-- * Setting up and starting Apache Web Server…Failed!

So here is my current set-up

   ..#######:.    ..,#,..     .::##::.

.:###### .:;####:…;#;…
…##… …##;,;##::::.##…
,# …##…##:::## …::
## .::###,##. . ##.::#.:######::.
…##:::###::…#. … .#…#. #…#:::.
…:####:… …##…##::## … #
# . …##:,;##;:::#: … ##…
.# . .:;####;::::.##:::;#:…
# …:;###…

###########################################

FOG

Free Computer Imaging Solution

Created by:

SyperiorSoft

[url]http://www.SyperiorSoft.com[/url]

Developers:

Chuck Syperski

Jian Zhang

GNU GPL Version 3

###########################################

Version: 0.32 Installer/Updater

What version of Linux would you like to run the installtion for?

      1) Redhat Based Linux (Fedora, CentOS)
      2) Ubuntu Based Linux (Kubuntu, Edubuntu)

Choice: [2]2

Starting Ubuntu Installtion.

FOG Server installation modes:
* Normal Server: (Choice N)
This is the typical installation type and
will install all FOG components for you on this
machine. Pick this option if you are unsure what to pick.

  * Storage Node: (Choice S)
      This install mode will only install the software required
      to make this server act as a node in a storage group

More information:
[url]http://www.fogproject.org/wiki/index.php?title=InstallationModes[/url]

What type of installation would you like to do? [N] n

What is the IP address to be used by this FOG Server? [10.0.175.162]

Would you like to setup a router address for the DHCP server? [Y/n] n

Would you like to setup a DNS address for the DHCP server and client boot image? [Y/n] n

Would you like to change the default network interface from eth0?
If you are not sure, select No. [y/N]

Would you like to use the FOG server for dhcp service? [Y/n] y

This version of FOG has internationalization support, would
you like to install the additional language packs? [Y/n] n

#####################################################################

FOG now has everything it needs to setup your server, but please
understand that this script will overwrite any setting you may
have setup for services like DHCP, apache, pxe, tftp, and NFS.

It is not recommended that you install this on a production system
as this script modifies many of your system settings.

This script should be run by the root user on Fedora, or with sudo on Ubuntu.

Here are the settings FOG will use:
Distro: Ubuntu
Installation Type: Normal Server
Server IP Address: 10.0.175.162
DHCP router Address:
DHCP DNS Address:
Interface: eth0
Using FOG DHCP: 1
Internationalization: 0

Are you sure you wish to continue (Y/N)

Sorry, answer not recognized.

Are you sure you wish to continue (Y/N) y

Installation Started…

Installing required packages, if this fails
make sure you have an active internet connection.

Preparing apt-get
Installing package: apache2
Installing package: php5
Installing package: php5-gd
Installing package: php5-cli
Installing package: php5-mysql
Installing package: php5-curl
Installing package: mysql-server

We are about to install MySQL Server on
this server, if MySQL isn’t installed already
you will be prompted for a root password. If
you don’t leave it blank you will need to change
it in the config.php file located at:

/var/www/fog/commons/config.php

Press enter to acknowledge this message.

Reading package lists…
Building dependency tree…
Reading state information…
mysql-server is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 127 not upgraded.

Installing package: mysql-client
Installing package: isc-dhcp-server
Installing package: tftpd-hpa
Installing package: tftp-hpa
Installing package: nfs-kernel-server
Installing package: vsftpd
Installing package: net-tools
Installing package: wget
Installing package: xinetd
Installing package: sysv-rc-conf
Installing package: tar
Installing package: gzip
Installing package: build-essential
Installing package: cpp
Installing package: gcc
Installing package: g++
Installing package: m4
Installing package: htmldoc
Installing package: perl
Installing package: libcrypt-passwdmd5-perl
Installing package: lftp
Installing package: openssh-server
Installing package: php-gettext
Installing package: clamav-freshclam

Confirming package installation.

Checking package: apache2…OK
Checking package: php5…OK
Checking package: php5-gd…OK
Checking package: php5-cli…OK
Checking package: php5-mysql…OK
Checking package: php5-curl…OK
Checking package: mysql-server…OK
Checking package: mysql-client…OK
Checking package: isc-dhcp-server…OK
Checking package: tftpd-hpa…OK
Checking package: tftp-hpa…OK
Checking package: nfs-kernel-server…OK
Checking package: vsftpd…OK
Checking package: net-tools…OK
Checking package: wget…OK
Checking package: xinetd…OK
Checking package: sysv-rc-conf…OK
Checking package: tar…OK
Checking package: gzip…OK
Checking package: build-essential…OK
Checking package: cpp…OK
Checking package: gcc…OK
Checking package: g++…OK
Checking package: m4…OK
Checking package: htmldoc…OK
Checking package: perl…OK
Checking package: libcrypt-passwdmd5-perl…OK
Checking package: lftp…OK
Checking package: openssh-server…OK
Checking package: php-gettext…OK
Checking package: clamav-freshclam…OK

Configuring services.

Setting up fog user…OK
Setting up and starting MySql…OK
Backing up user reports…OK
Setting up and starting Apache Web Server…Failed!

That is as far as I got. I did take out the extra card. Here is my network information.
IP-10.0.175.162
Broadcast Address-10.0.255.255
Default Router-10.0.0.2
Primary DNS- 64.33.128.10

Our current DHCP server can’t be modified. So I selected FOG to handle DHCP. I hope I was detailed enough! Thanks!

Adam Kohnert · Dec 5, 2012, 8:51 PM

I am going to get a fresh start. I am going to reinstall Ubuntu 11.04 version

Adam Kohnert · Dec 6, 2012, 4:25 PM

Success!!! I am in the process of uploading an image!!!

Woohooo!!!

Adam Kohnert · Dec 7, 2012, 8:00 PM

Cloned 6 computers in about 20 minutes!!!

Thanks for the all the help

Rich-C · May 27, 2016, 8:20 PM

@Adam-Kohnert In case there are others who may have had this issue I have corrected a PC not booting into PXE a few times.

Steps I have taken to correct:

Boot into BIOS
Change the security settings to remove Secure boot
change boot type (away from UEFI to BOTH)
Set Legacy to first on the boot options.

This has corrected my issues every time