I am trying to run Clonezilla Lite Server and clone computers with the Realtek RTL8111 chipset. According to this forum post, this particular chipset seems to have issues with how the PXE part works:
Now, if I try the boot from PXE in the Clonezilla menu from USB, it works. But it is painfully slow. I would prefer to just boot the PXE on the machine itself. I do not know how, but I got one machine to image once, and at a good speed too. Otherwise, if I have to use the thumbdrive method with iPXE, is there any way to speed it up? It runs at 1/3 the speed of the one time the BIOS PXE worked.
Some other research suggests that I can tell the PXE portion in Clonezilla to load Realtek specific stuff or options it prefers. I will only ever be cloning the same machines with this same 8111 chipset inside of them, so I am fine with making permanent modifications to DHCP options.
Extra Details: This is on an enclosed network. Only the machines to be imaged and the server are on it. The Clonezilla steps are as follows:
Start Lite Server
Netboot
Start New DHCP Server
Beginner
Massive-Deployment
From-Image
Restore-Disk
Select Partitions
Reboot After
Broadcast
Set Clients and Time
For testing, I also happened to try a machine with an Intel PXE chipset and it worked totally fine. So I think the server is configured fine, other than getting the Realtek changes made if applicable.
Any help would be appreciated.
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Normally this is related to the Linux kernel hardware supporting issue. A newer Linux kernel might work better. Therefore, pleasse give testing Clonezilla live >= 2.6.3-5 or 20190826-eoany: https://clonezilla.org/downloads.php
They come with Linux kernel 5.2 so the results might be better.
Steven
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I tried one of the suggested images and no change. If I use iPXE, the image goes all the way to the Partclone screen and then just freezes there. It will not bring up the red bars or actually start the imaging process.
These particular PCs are based on a relatively old design. I am guessing that a kernel change is not going to be the solution, so the next step would be to see if I can change iPXE options.
To boot on iPXE, I boot the BIOS version of Clonezilla and load the iPXE software from there. It works fine all the way to Partclone.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
No idea. Since you mentioned, "It works fine all the way to Partclone", I do not know why it freezes there. In that process, it should not be related to the network chipset...
Or is that possible you can boot from CD or USB flash drive on that machine, then run the Clonezilla job?
BTW, another possibility to workaround this is to use the BT mode from the Clonezilla lite server. It allows you to boot the clients via CD or USB flash drive, then run a command to receive the image: https://clonezilla.org/show-live-doc-content.php?topic=clonezilla-live/doc/11_lite_server
I guess I am a little stumped too. I can image these devices from USB with a Clonezilla drive, just not over the network. I will attempt the BT method, since I can boot the machine from the iPXE client on the Clonezilla USB. Thank you for your help. I will report back if I can get anything out of it.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
I am trying to run Clonezilla Lite Server and clone computers with the Realtek RTL8111 chipset. According to this forum post, this particular chipset seems to have issues with how the PXE part works:
https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/10262/pxe-booting-with-rtl8111-undionly-kpxe-hangs-on-initialising-device/2
Now, if I try the boot from PXE in the Clonezilla menu from USB, it works. But it is painfully slow. I would prefer to just boot the PXE on the machine itself. I do not know how, but I got one machine to image once, and at a good speed too. Otherwise, if I have to use the thumbdrive method with iPXE, is there any way to speed it up? It runs at 1/3 the speed of the one time the BIOS PXE worked.
Some other research suggests that I can tell the PXE portion in Clonezilla to load Realtek specific stuff or options it prefers. I will only ever be cloning the same machines with this same 8111 chipset inside of them, so I am fine with making permanent modifications to DHCP options.
Extra Details: This is on an enclosed network. Only the machines to be imaged and the server are on it. The Clonezilla steps are as follows:
Start Lite Server
Netboot
Start New DHCP Server
Beginner
Massive-Deployment
From-Image
Restore-Disk
Select Partitions
Reboot After
Broadcast
Set Clients and Time
For testing, I also happened to try a machine with an Intel PXE chipset and it worked totally fine. So I think the server is configured fine, other than getting the Realtek changes made if applicable.
Any help would be appreciated.
Normally this is related to the Linux kernel hardware supporting issue. A newer Linux kernel might work better. Therefore, pleasse give testing Clonezilla live >= 2.6.3-5 or 20190826-eoany:
https://clonezilla.org/downloads.php
They come with Linux kernel 5.2 so the results might be better.
Steven
Steven,
I tried one of the suggested images and no change. If I use iPXE, the image goes all the way to the Partclone screen and then just freezes there. It will not bring up the red bars or actually start the imaging process.
These particular PCs are based on a relatively old design. I am guessing that a kernel change is not going to be the solution, so the next step would be to see if I can change iPXE options.
To boot on iPXE, I boot the BIOS version of Clonezilla and load the iPXE software from there. It works fine all the way to Partclone.
No idea. Since you mentioned, "It works fine all the way to Partclone", I do not know why it freezes there. In that process, it should not be related to the network chipset...
Or is that possible you can boot from CD or USB flash drive on that machine, then run the Clonezilla job?
BTW, another possibility to workaround this is to use the BT mode from the Clonezilla lite server. It allows you to boot the clients via CD or USB flash drive, then run a command to receive the image:
https://clonezilla.org/show-live-doc-content.php?topic=clonezilla-live/doc/11_lite_server
https://clonezilla.org/show-live-doc-content.php?topic=clonezilla-live/doc/12_lite_server_BT_from_dev
Steven
I guess I am a little stumped too. I can image these devices from USB with a Clonezilla drive, just not over the network. I will attempt the BT method, since I can boot the machine from the iPXE client on the Clonezilla USB. Thank you for your help. I will report back if I can get anything out of it.