Screen Client Session with Clonezilla Server

[Steve]

Hi everyone,

i found the doc about monitoring a backup/restore session with screen (http://clonezilla.org/fine-print-live-doc.php?path=./clonezilla-live/doc/08_Screen_session_with_PXE/00-pxe-setting.doc#00-pxe-setting.doc)

but i guess this works only with the live cd and not with the server edition.

When i have a lock at the boot options whichs are coming up with the pxe client boot (client boot via pxe - i press the TAB Key and see the Parameters of the highlighted pxe boot entry) i can see the options which i have set with the "dcs" program in the server but i can´t see the main script which should start in a screen terminal.

Could you tell me where i have to edit the script or where i have to put the screen command to monitor the progress ?

Greets
Steve

[Steven Shiau]

" guess this works only with the live cd and not with the server edition." -> Yes.
You can also use Clonezilla live as client's working OS in Clonezilla SE:
http://clonezilla.org/clonezilla-SE/use_clonezilla_live_in_drbl.php
Therefore this mode might work for you.

Steven.

[Steve]

Thx for your reply. It´s working great when i put the "screen" command in front of the script. but i want to do this little bit more comfortable.

Everytime when i generate a new job i have to edit the /tftpboot/nbi_img/pxelinux.cfg/default file

Where i have to edit the files or some options to permantly add the screen command in front of the script.

[Steven Shiau]

I believe you can make it by editing /usr/sbin/generate-pxe-menu.

Steven.

[Steve]

Hi,

i tried to add some text at the end of the /usr/sbin/generate-pxe-menu script in the "cat" command whichs seems to generate the default pxe file. The text i added doesn´t appear in the generated file after generate a job with "dcs".

Do you have any other hints where i can search for this ?

Thx for your help!

[Steven Shiau]

So what did you edit? Please post the content so it's easier to know.
Thanks.

Steven.

[Steve]

Hi,

first: i solved the problem that the changes i made to /usr/sbin/generate-pxe-menu doesn´t appear. The script generates "first_menu.png". so everythings fine.

But when i generate a new job with the dcs command the client comes up with this pxe-menu (see "second_menu.png")

There are no changes. So the question is why appears this pxe-menu instead of the first menu and which file i have to change to edit the second menu ?

Thanks in advance for your help

[Steven Shiau]

Because you just mentioned you edited the file, but did not show us the content. It's very difficult for us to see why there is such an issue there. I suggest that you post the content you have modified. It will be easier for us to give you some suggestions.

Steven.

[Steve]

Hi,

sorry i forgot to post the editied file. So here is my /usr/sbin/generate-pxe-menu

i only changed line 234 from 1 to 0. After this i generated a job with dcs. the option to edit a entry are still available when i press the tab key.

if i run the generate-pxe-menu and restart the client (without generate a job with dcs) he will get a pxe menu where the options are not availabe.

Thats the reason why i think there must be an other config file for jobs which are generated with dcs. Could you please help me

Thanks in advance

[Steven Shiau]

OK, I suggest that:

1. Uninstall drbl by running "drblsrv -u"
2. Install DRBL, and before you run "drblsrv -i", you edit generate-pxe-menu as what you want first.
3. Run "drblsrv -i" and "drblpush -i" to configure the DRBL server.
4. Run "dcs" to switch the mode.
   It should work. If not, please post it again.

Steven.

[Steve]

Hi Steven,

thank you for your fast responses. I followed your instructions but it still dont work.

Try 1:

I switched to graphic pxe mode, generated a job and got the screen in pic nr. 1

Try 2:

I switched to text pxe mode, generated a job and got the screen in pic nr. 2

Try 3:

I revealed the other "Clonezilla" entry over dcs --> more --> switch-pxe-menu --> See pic nr. 3

As you can see only in pic nr. 3 are the "test" phrases available. In pic 1 and 2 are no "test" phrases. I want to add the screen command right after "ocs_live_run=" (see pic nr. 2)

Thank you very much for your great support with this problem

[Steven Shiau]

Finally I understood your case. You are using Clonezilla live as client's OS when running Clonezilla. In that case, then what you have to modify is the file "/usr/sbin/drbl-sl". It will actually find the boot parameters in the isolinux/isolinux.cfg of Clonezilla live iso, then put that in /tftpboot/nbi_img/pxelinux.cfg/default.
You can find the codes about "append_param_in_pxe_cfg" and modify that.

Steven.

[Steve]

Hi,

sorry for my late response to your suggestion. I think we are nearly close to the solution.

As you can see i changed the code you telled me and added a lot of "screen" commands to see where they are appering in the PXE Menu:

(Row 108-119, drbl-sl)

clonezilla-live)
   if [ -z "$server_IP" ]; then
     # Find the IP address of this server. Here we choose the first one in the list of those connected to DRBL clients.
     server_IP="$(LC_ALL=C get-all-nic-ip -b | awk -F" " '{print $1}')"
   fi
   get_rootfs_location_opt
   if [ -z "$cl_gp_boot_param" ]; then
     append_param_in_pxe_cfg="screen initrd=$nbi_initrd screen boot=live screen union=aufs screen noswap screen noprompt screen nolocales screen vga=788 screen $rootfs_location_opt screen ocs_server=\"$server_IP\""
   else
     append_param_in_pxe_cfg="screen initrd=$nbi_initrd screen $cl_gp_boot_param screen noprompt screen $rootfs_location_opt screen ocs_server=\"$server_IP\""
   fi
   ;;

This is the PXE Entry which is generated after the changes on the drbl-sl script:

label Clonezilla-live
MENU DEFAULT
# MENU HIDE
MENU LABEL Clonezilla: save disk sda as image 2013-11-19-15-img
# MENU PASSWD
KERNEL Clonezilla-live-vmlinuz
APPEND screen initrd=Clonezilla-live-initrd.img screen boot=live username=user hostname=saucy config union=overlayfs noswap edd=on nomodeset locales= keyboard-layouts= ocs_live_run="ocs-sr -l en_US.UTF-8 --use-partclone --clone-hidden-data -p reboot -z1p -i 1000000 savedisk 2013-11-19-15-img sda" ocs_live_extra_param="" ocs_live_batch=no ip=frommedia nosplash i915.blacklist=yes radeonhd.blacklist=yes nouveau.blacklist=yes vmwgfx.enable_fbdev=no screen noprompt screen netboot=nfs nfsroot=192.168.117.128:/tftpboot/node_root/clonezilla-live/ screen ocs_server="192.168.117.128" ocs_live_keymap="NONE" ocs_lang="en_US.UTF-8" ocs_daemonon="ssh" ocs_prerun="mount -t nfs 192.168.117.128:/home/partimag /home/partimag/"

TEXT HELP
Clonezilla Live 20131022-saucy-i386_modified runs on RAM
ENDTEXT

As you can see the "screen" command appears but not in front of the ocs-sr in ocs_live_run parameter.

Thanks you for your help

[Steven Shiau]

"As you can see the "screen" command appears but not in front of the ocs-sr in ocs_live_run parameter." -> The parsing in drbl-sl only for the boot parameters in isolinux.cfg from the Clonezilla live ISO file. There is no any ocs-sr related boot parameters in the original isolinux.cfg. Therefore that makes sense.

Steven.