[SOLVED] Memdisk Bootstrap Too Large To Load

[A Former User]

Hi everyone, I am extremely new to this and am stuck! Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I so to preface my issue, I have a IBM Blade Enclosure and I need to update over 100 blades, unfortunately with my current setup I can only update (1) Blade at a time. Which is a slice of hell… Regardless, I decided it would be an awesome idea to implement a little PXE Network server on my Laptop so I can push updates to the whole enclosure in one go. Still limiting me to 14 servers at a time, but still much better than what my current position is. I have gone as far is installing Ubuntu 10.04.02, successfully installing FOG 1.2.0, and testing a few small .iso files through the network.

The issue is I am getting a “Memdisk Bootstrap Too Large To Load” I did do some research and found out that the ISO is probably too large to mount on the RAM. In total the ISO is 933MB. I also read something about netbooting or something of that sort, again I am very new to all of this so correct me if I am wrong. However I couldn’t find any successful guides that I could follow to make it work.

Currently my Advanced Menu Config looks like this:
[INDENT=1] [/INDENT]
[code]
:MENU
menu item --gap – ---------------- iPXE boot menu ----------------
item IBM IBM - 7875 Update 4/17/15
item SHELL iPXE Shell
item return return to previous menu
choose --default return --timeout 5000 target && goto ${target}

:IBM initrd http://192.168.1.3/iso/IBM.ISO
chain memdisk iso raw ||
goto MENU

:SHELL shell ||
goto MENU

:RETURN chain http://192.168.1.3/fog/service/ipxe/boot.php?mac=${net0/mac} ||
prompt
goto MENU

autoboot
[/code]
[FONT=Tahoma][COLOR=#141414]If anyone could help that would be really great![/COLOR][/FONT]
Note: I did get a pxedir folder from IBM updates as well consisting of:
bsb.msg, bsb1.lss, grub.cfg, img2a, img3a, pxelinux.0, splash.xpm.gz, tc.zip, tcrootfs, and unicode.pf2. But I heard that the new FOG 1.2.0 does not use pxelinux.0 anymore so I wasnt sure if I could even use it.
[FONT=Tahoma][COLOR=#141414]TL : DR[/COLOR][/FONT]
I am new to this. I get a memdisk bootstrap too large to load error when booting the IBM.ISO from the network. How can I implement a solution to push the update ISO to my blade enclosure holding 14 servers successfully.

[A Former User]

Image of the Error:[ATTACH=full]1894[/ATTACH]

[url=“/_imported_xf_attachments/1/1894_IMG_20150417_161304~2.jpg?:”]IMG_20150417_161304~2.jpg[/url]

[Tom Elliott]

Maybe you could try:

menu item --gap – ---------------- iPXE boot menu ----------------
item IBM IBM - 7875 Update 4/17/15
item SHELL iPXE Shell
item return return to previous menu
choose --default return --timeout 5000 target && goto ${target}

:IBM sanboot http://192.168.1.3/iso/IBM.ISO ||
goto MENU

:SHELL shell ||
goto MENU

:RETURN chain http://192.168.1.3/fog/service/ipxe/boot.php?mac=${net0/mac} ||
prompt
goto MENU

autoboot[/code]

[Wayne Workman]

I’m not entirely sure about the issue you have, but you can increase the number you can update from 15 to whatever you like in FOG settings.

[A Former User]

@Tom Elliot

Wow super quick response! Thank you! Will test this right now!

@Wayne Workman

Thanks for the input, however that wouldn’t help because I only have 14 slots in my enclosure. The issue is that I am getting a MEMDISK Bootstrap too large to load error when the ISO is being pushed to the server through the network. Assuming that there is not enough RAM, or something similar to that.

[A Former User]

[quote=“Tom Elliott, post: 45756, member: 7271”]Maybe you could try:

menu item --gap – ---------------- iPXE boot menu ----------------
item IBM IBM - 7875 Update 4/17/15
item SHELL iPXE Shell
item return return to previous menu
choose --default return --timeout 5000 target && goto ${target}

:IBM sanboot http://192.168.1.3/iso/IBM.ISO ||
goto MENU

:SHELL shell ||
goto MENU

:RETURN chain http://192.168.1.3/fog/service/ipxe/boot.php?mac=${net0/mac} ||
prompt
goto MENU

autoboot[/code][/quote]

@Tom Elliot
I added this and when I select the update it flashes an error for 0.1 seconds and goes back to the boot loop. The error flashes too fast for me to read.

edit: Here is there error:
[ATTACH=full]1895[/ATTACH]

[url=“/_imported_xf_attachments/1/1895_IMG_20150417_164416~2.jpg?:”]IMG_20150417_164416~2.jpg[/url]

[Tom Elliott]

Alright

There are other cases to test.

Maybe:
[code]:MENU
menu item --gap – ---------------- iPXE boot menu ----------------
item IBM IBM - 7875 Update 4/17/15
item SHELL iPXE Shell
item return return to previous menu
choose --default return --timeout 5000 target && goto ${target}

:IBM initrd http://192.168.1.3/iso/IBM.ISO
chain memdisk iso ||
goto MENU

:SHELL shell ||
goto MENU

:RETURN chain http://192.168.1.3/fog/service/ipxe/boot.php?mac=${net0/mac} ||
prompt
goto MENU

autoboot[/code]

Or:
[code]:MENU
menu item --gap – ---------------- iPXE boot menu ----------------
item IBM IBM - 7875 Update 4/17/15
item SHELL iPXE Shell
item return return to previous menu
choose --default return --timeout 5000 target && goto ${target}

:IBM initrd http://192.168.1.3/iso/IBM.ISO
chain memdisk ||
goto MENU

:SHELL shell ||
goto MENU

:RETURN chain http://192.168.1.3/fog/service/ipxe/boot.php?mac=${net0/mac} ||
prompt
goto MENU

autoboot[/code]

OR

it’s trying to find itself which, once off of iPXE it no longer can do which means it’s looking for a particular kernel and/or initrd from within the ISO.

[A Former User]

[quote=“Tom Elliott, post: 45760, member: 7271”]Alright

There are other cases to test.

Maybe:
[code]:MENU
menu item --gap – ---------------- iPXE boot menu ----------------
item IBM IBM - 7875 Update 4/17/15
item SHELL iPXE Shell
item return return to previous menu
choose --default return --timeout 5000 target && goto ${target}

:IBM initrd http://192.168.1.3/iso/IBM.ISO
chain memdisk iso ||
goto MENU

:SHELL shell ||
goto MENU

:RETURN chain http://192.168.1.3/fog/service/ipxe/boot.php?mac=${net0/mac} ||
prompt
goto MENU

autoboot[/code]

Or:
[code]:MENU
menu item --gap – ---------------- iPXE boot menu ----------------
item IBM IBM - 7875 Update 4/17/15
item SHELL iPXE Shell
item return return to previous menu
choose --default return --timeout 5000 target && goto ${target}

:IBM initrd http://192.168.1.3/iso/IBM.ISO
chain memdisk ||
goto MENU

:SHELL shell ||
goto MENU

:RETURN chain http://192.168.1.3/fog/service/ipxe/boot.php?mac=${net0/mac} ||
prompt
goto MENU

autoboot[/code]

OR

it’s trying to find itself which, once off of iPXE it no longer can do which means it’s looking for a particular kernel and/or initrd from within the ISO.[/quote]

Awesome, trying this now. Thank you so much for your help and quick responses!

[Tom Elliott]

No problem. I try to be quick to help out. I remember my times trying to learn all of this.

[A Former User]

Yeah, its been pretty hectic haha. I unfortunately will lose access to everything in 10 minutes until Monday. But I will implement the new tests Monday morning, and will be monitoring this thread throughout the weekend.

[Tom Elliott]

No problem. Do you by chance know where I could get a copy of this so I could test and maybe get a good solution for you?

[A Former User]

Cop[quote=“Tom Elliott, post: 45764, member: 7271”]No problem. Do you by chance know where I could get a copy of this so I could test and maybe get a good solution for you?[/quote]

Copy of what exactly? The iso?

Let me upload it to dropbox and Ill post the link.

[Tom Elliott]

Cool, thank you. And yes, the ISO

[A Former User]

[quote=“Tom Elliott, post: 45766, member: 7271”]Cool, thank you. And yes, the ISO[/quote]
No thank you!

Dropbox Link: [url]https://www.dropbox.com/s/4bgvm8h9l47zmw2/bootable.iso?dl=0[/url]
ISO Title: bootable.iso
File Size: 933MB

I can upload the PXEDIR files as well when I get home. The IBM tool let me download the ISO as well as a PXE implementation option which I have no clue how to add.

[A Former User]

[quote=“Tom Elliott, post: 45766, member: 7271”]Cool, thank you. And yes, the ISO[/quote]

I’m back online! Were you able to get any progress?

[Tom Elliott]

I downloaded the file, and that was about the extent of my progress. I’m sorry. I was doing house chores that needed being done.

[A Former User]

Haha, no worries. Completely understandable. I’m still trying to wrap my head around this sucker.

[A Former User]

[SOLVED]

edit: sorry currently writing up docs/tutorial for how I got it to work. I will post a link to it when I finish.

Thanks for all the help! Especially @Tom Elliot, got me thinking.

[Wayne Workman]

[quote=“akwan, post: 45947, member: 29432”][SOLVED][/quote]

How?

[Tom Elliott]

I had to chain boot pxe to ipxe using the pxelinux.0 but not the pxelinux.0.old but one that was provided by ibm in the pxedir folder.

It boots to the ipxe.krn and launches the grub.cfg which then loads img2a and img3a.

(From our conversations) akwan stated this. It’s quite convoluted, but it works.