PXE Boot Issues

[Jonathan Whitaker]

I’m working on setting up a small scale FOG server to make backups of machines in my office, but I am having issues PXE booting. Right now I am just trying to register one machine with server. Here’s what I have done so far:

1. Installed Ubuntu 12.04 on a Virtual Machine

2. Downloaded and installed the latest version of FOG (FOG 1.2.0). The installation went well, and the FOG control panel is accessible at [url]http://xxx.xxx.x.xxx/fog/[/url] .

3. Verified the permissions in /var/www/fog
   [CODE]
   drwxr-xr-x 12 www-data www-data 4096 Feb 12 09:15 .
   drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Feb 12 09:15 …
   drwxr-xr-x 2 www-data root 4096 Feb 12 09:15 av
   drwxr-xr-x 2 www-data www-data 4096 Feb 12 09:15 client
   drwxr-xr-x 3 www-data www-data 4096 Feb 12 09:15 commons
   -rw-r–r-- 1 www-data www-data 1406 Feb 12 09:15 favicon.ico
   -rw-r–r-- 1 www-data www-data 50 Feb 12 09:15 index.php
   drwxr-xr-x 7 www-data www-data 4096 Feb 12 09:15 lib
   drwxr-xr-x 12 www-data www-data 4096 Feb 12 09:15 management
   drwxr-xr-x 4 www-data www-data 4096 Feb 12 09:15 mobile
   drwxr-xr-x 3 www-data www-data 4096 Feb 12 09:15 public
   drwxr-xr-x 3 www-data www-data 4096 Feb 12 09:15 service
   drwxr-xr-x 2 www-data www-data 4096 Feb 12 09:15 status
   drwxr-xr-x 2 www-data www-data 4096 Feb 12 09:15 wol
   [/CODE]

4. Verified UFW (firewall) is disabled using:
   [CODE]sudo service ufw status[/CODE]

5. Checked to make sure the TFTP server is running.
   [CODE]tftp -v xxx.xxx.x.xxx -c get undionly.pxe[/CODE]

The TFTP server connection is successful, and the file gets downloaded properly:
[CODE]
fog@FOG-SERVER:/tmp$ tftp 192.168.1.108 -v -c get undionly.kpxe
Connected to 192.168.1.108 (192.168.1.108), port 69
getting from 192.168.1.108:undionly.kpxe to undionly.kpxe [netascii]
Received 103273 bytes in 1.1 seconds [724805 bit/s]
[/CODE]

The client machine connects to the TFTP server and it tries to pull down the image, but it immediately just displays a “PRESS A KEY TO REBOOT”.

I verified this using tcpdump on port 69. When a client connects it shows the request:
[CODE]fog@FOG-SERVER:~$ sudo tcpdump -i eth0 port 69
tcpdump: verbose output suppressed, use -v or -vv for full protocol decode
listening on eth0, link-type EN10MB (Ethernet), capture size 65535 bytes

10:13:07.254773 IP 192.168.1.11.2070 > 192.168.1.108.tftp: 30 RRQ “undionly.kpxe” octet tsize 0
10:13:07.276370 IP 192.168.1.11.2071 > 192.168.1.108.tftp: 35 RRQ “undionly.kpxe” octet blksize 1456
[/CODE]

At this point I think that it is an issue with the ‘undionly.pxe’ file itself…?

[Junkhacker]

in fog 1.2.0 the bzImage and init.xz files are not downloaded with tftp protocol. they are downloaded with http protocol.
what exactly are the symptoms you’re experiencing?

[Jonathan Whitaker]

[quote=“Junkhacker, post: 42152, member: 21583”]in fog 1.2.0 the bzImage and init.xz files are not downloaded with tftp protocol. they are downloaded with http protocol.
what exactly are the symptoms you’re experiencing?[/quote]
My apologies, I meant the ‘undionly.kpxe’ file. I have updated my original post.

When I run a tcpdump on the port 69 I get the requests from the client machine:

[CODE]
10:13:07.254773 IP 192.168.1.11.2070 > 192.168.1.108.tftp: 30 RRQ “undionly.kpxe” octet tsize 0
10:13:07.276370 IP 192.168.1.11.2071 > 192.168.1.108.tftp: 35 RRQ “undionly.kpxe” octet blksize 1456
[/CODE]

The PXE menu doesn’t boot though. I’m suspecting that the file is corrupt in some way…? It’s a fresh install though, so I don’t understand why that would be the case…

[Tom Elliott]

What’s the exact error message you’re getting?

[Jonathan Whitaker]

[quote=“Tom Elliott, post: 42154, member: 7271”]What’s the exact error message you’re getting?[/quote]

I don’t get an error message. It just attempts to boot the PXE menu and then goes straight to a “PRESS A KEY TO REBOOT.”

I copied the .kpxe and .pxe files over from the installation directory, just to make sure that the files weren’t corrupt in any way. I still have the same problem…

[Junkhacker]

does ipxe load? what does it look like when it fails? have you configured your dhcp server for pxe boot? are you using the dhcp server option built into fog?

[Jonathan Whitaker]

[quote=“Junkhacker, post: 42157, member: 21583”]does ipxe load? what does it look like when it fails? have you configured your dhcp server for pxe boot? are you using the dhcp server option built into fog?[/quote]

Yes, I tried IPXE. No it doesnt load. It just hangs up on
CLIENT IP: XXX.XXX.X.XXX MASK:XXX.XXX.XXX.X DCHP IP:XXX.XXX.X.XXX

I haven’t configured the DHCP server beyond the initial configuration that is done during the installation process. I am using the DHCP server built into FOG.

I noticed another user had a [URL=‘http://fogproject.org/forum/threads/tftp-not-working-fog-1-1-1-on-ubuntu-12-04-server.10867/#post-30888’]similar issue[/URL] to mine. I have tried everything he did, and I’m still not getting any PXE menu.

With the default undionly.kxpe I get this output:

[CODE]Configuring (net0 xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx)…[/CODE]

[Sebastian Roth]

Maybe you can try to capture all traffic between server and client to see if kernel and init.xz are being transfered:
[CODE]# tcpdump -i eth0 host 192.168.1.11[/CODE]
You should see HTTP requests as well as TFTP requests.

I had a problem with a misspelled option in the ipxe menu. To find out what was wrong I needed to take a video because the error message came to the screen only for a split second. Pausing the video I was able to figure out what was wrong…

[Junkhacker]

what kind of network configuration do you have set up? managed or un-managed switches?

[Jonathan Whitaker]

This post is deleted!

[Jonathan Whitaker]

[quote=“Junkhacker, post: 42161, member: 21583”]what kind of network configuration do you have set up? managed or un-managed switches?[/quote]
For now I am just trying to configure FOG on a really basic LAN.

FOG SERVER <------> ROUTER <------> CLIENT 1

I plan on scaling the system up to a larger scale later.

[Tom Elliott]

The fact that it gets ipxe means your tftp server is working fine.

The “any key to reboot” with the “Configuring (net0 xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx)…” tells me a couple of things.

First is the network you’re (basic as it may seem) setup with STP?

If STP is enabled, is it setup for Rapid STP or PortFast?

If it isn’t enabled, is there IP helpers to tell the system to obtain dhcp?

Is there more than one NIC on the system?

[Jonathan Whitaker]

[quote=“Tom Elliott, post: 42165, member: 7271”]The fact that it gets ipxe means your tftp server is working fine.

The “any key to reboot” with the “Configuring (net0 xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx)…” tells me a couple of things.

First is the network you’re (basic as it may seem) setup with STP?

If STP is enabled, is it setup for Rapid STP or PortFast?

If it isn’t enabled, is there IP helpers to tell the system to obtain dhcp?

Is there more than one NIC on the system?[/quote]
I am not aware of any STP configuration. All I have done is installed Ubuntu Server 12.04 on a Virtual Machine (using VirtualBox). In the “Network” category I have the network adapter attached to the “Bridge Adapter” with promiscuous mode set to “Allow VMs.” I installed FOG on top of this. I have verified that the TFTP and DCHP configuration is working. I can communicate with the TFTP server, and the DCHP server is working correctly. I’m not aware of any IP helpers. And, in general, I’m not really that well rounded with networking in general…

I do know that the virtual machine has two network interfaces: lo and eth0.

[Wolfbane8653]

[quote=“Tom Elliott, post: 42165, member: 7271”]The fact that it gets ipxe means your tftp server is working fine.

First is the network you’re (basic as it may seem) setup with STP?

If STP is enabled, is it setup for Rapid STP or PortFast?
[/quote]
[LIST]
[]Tom is refrering to this information. [url]http://fogproject.org/wiki/index.php/IPXE#STP.2FPortfast.2FRSTP.2FMSTP_To_Enable_or_Disable.3F[/url]
[]These settings are on your swithes if they are managed. Some unmanaged switches will set STP automatically but are rare.
[*]Limit the network adapters in the VM to 1
[/LIST]

[Jonathan Whitaker]

[quote=“Wolfbane8653, post: 42183, member: 3362”]
[LIST]
[]Tom is refrering to this information. [url]http://fogproject.org/wiki/index.php/IPXE#STP.2FPortfast.2FRSTP.2FMSTP_To_Enable_or_Disable.3F[/url]
[]These settings are on your swithes if they are managed. Some unmanaged switches will set STP automatically but are rare.
[*]Limit the network adapters in the VM to 1
[/LIST]
[/quote]
VirtualBox is set to limit the network adapters in the VM to 1. I will look into STP. I’m not familiar with it at all.

[Tom Elliott]

Before going on not so about looking into STP what about changing on the only file so you’re using the ipxe.pxe

[Jonathan Whitaker]

[quote=“Tom Elliott, post: 42187, member: 7271”]Before going on not so about looking into STP what about changing on the only file so you’re using the ipxe.pxe[/quote]
The issue was DHPC.

The router was configured to be a DHPC server and the FOG server was designated as a DHCP server as well… I fixed this and it works great! Thanks for all the assistance!

[mkstreet]

This post is deleted!

[mkstreet]

I must be having the same or similar problem with DHCP. I’m not exactly sure how to fix it the best way.

At first, when I booted, the clients would find DHCP and load iPXE. However, after that load was done, there was about a 50-50 chance that it will go to the Fog PXE menu or an error message would flash by and it boots from the clients local disk.

After reading this thread, I unplugged the lab from the external (Internet) connection so that the Fog server and clients are all isolated together now on the LAN. After that, the problem disappears and the clients consistently get to the PXE menu.

In my environment, I don’t control the “real” DHCP server. It runs externally at the ISP office. If this seems bizarre to you, then you feel the same as me. But that doesn’t change the fact that I cannot affect the “real” DHCP server’s settings.

Is the answer changing the Fog settings to say that the Fog server is the only DHCP server?

This won’t really work very well to have the Lab cut off from the Internet while loading. Because some machines I need to load are wired outside that LAN and I cannot isolate them.

Thanks!

[Berend de Boer]

[quote=“mkstreet, post: 43838, member: 24215”]Is the answer changing the Fog settings to say that the Fog server is the only DHCP server?[/quote]

No. At boot time the client will request a response from a DHCP server. If you have multiple servers, the first response received will be acted upon.

The right solution is to disable your fog dhcp server, and set up your other dhcp server to serve fog clients properly.

If you don’t have control over dhcp, you can try to block dhcp messages from leaving your network, and reaching the other dhcp server.