PXE Boot into DELL PER-BOOT-ISO for updating Firmware

[fly]

Hello,

did anyone already got a DELL Platform Specific Bootable ISO like this here https://dl.dell.com/FOLDER06188854M/1/PER620_BOOTABLE_20.04.00.126.iso successful to boot over network with FOG? This ISo is for updateing the Firmware on the Servers and i would like to have this via netboot.
Thanks!

[Sebastian Roth]

@fly Take a look through George’s great list on ISO booting and see if you can adopt any of those settings: https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/10944/using-fog-to-pxe-boot-into-your-favorite-installer-images

You need to know that ISOs are often different and there is no way we can provide a general guide. If all those don’t help as the are mostly Linux specific boot ISOs you might want to search the web for “ipxe memdisk iso raw”. This method works with many older ISOs.

[george1421]

@Sebastian-Roth I’m downloading it, but if this is the SUU image then it might be difficult. I’m sure I can pxe the SUU kernel using fog, but if the OS doesn’t support NFS mounting of the repository then there is nothing we can do. Its akin to I can net boot the Windows 10 installer using FOG, the problem is the windows PE kernel is looking for the files it wants on the local CDROM and not a network share.

Anyway, once I have a look at the ISO I’ll know more. Right now I feel there is about a 40% chance to make it work.

[fly]

@Sebastian-Roth said in PXE Boot into DELL PER-BOOT-ISO for updating Firmware:

ipxe memdisk iso raw

where can i add memdisk menu entry in fog? i already looked into the guides from @george1421 and added gparted and esxi-installer images to the boot-menu.
i searched the web for ipxe memdisk iso raw but i only found outdated howtos for older FOG-Server Versions that i actually cannot apply to the recent version. can you please give me a hint for configuring the iso raw method? Thanks!

[Sebastian Roth]

@fly Just as you’d create other boot entries as well. If you’ve never done this before you wanna check out George’s topic on booting ISOs: https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/10944/using-fog-to-pxe-boot-into-your-favorite-installer-images

For basics: In the fog WebGUI go to FOG Configuration -> iPXE New Menu Entry and enter the values accordingly. Name and description as you like. The iPXE commands go into the important field Parameters. Try this:

initrd http://192.168.1.9/fog/service/ipxe/iso/PER620_BOOTABLE_20.04.00.126.iso
chain memdisk iso raw || goto MENU

All untested… You definitely need to change the IP and maybe path/URL depending on where you want your ISO to be located. HTTP or TFTP

[george1421]

@Sebastian-Roth You have to remember that memdisk only works for bios based computers. FOG does not ship a uefi compatible version of memdisk. Also with memdisk that 2.7GB iso image needs to be transferred and fit into memory on the target computer.

As I said if that IS the SUU disk it may not support netbooting. BUT on the PE620 if you use the lifecycle controller to update the system I know you can update the system from a USB stick with the files on it as well as link to an external repository. I just can’t remember at the moment if NFS is supported. I know ftp and CIFS is supported. If its NFS then the OP can just unpack the files in /images and access them via the lifecycle controller.