Re: [Etherboot-users] DHCP- Etherboot not sending DHCPREQUEST

[David T. P. <phe...@un...>]

Just checked the dhcpd.conf and the entry for etherboot pxe is as follows=
:
 else if substring (option  vendor-class-identifier, 0, 9)  =3D "Etherboo=
t" {
                # Chroot TFTP appropriately"
                filename  "pxelinux.0";
                option vendor-class-identifier  "PXEClient";
                option PXE.mtftp-ip 0.0.0.0;
                vendor-option-space PXE;
                next-server 192.168.1.1;
        }

A professor of mine relayed my problem to a friend of his who responded w=
ith
this intresting bit of info:

Client is probably not ACK'ing the DHCPOFFER because the OFFER is
missing something (http://www.ltsp.org/documentation/pxe.howto.html)
shows "option vendor-encapsulated-options
3c:09:45:74:68:65:72:62:6f:6f:74:ff;" for etherboot clients.  It's
quite ingenious really, etherboot can be designed to only accept
responces with that vendor string so that you can have a cluster
DHCP server not conflict with a normal DHCP server.  Of course now
without that option Etherboot clients will not accept OFFERS from
normal dhcpd setups.

As I mentioned in my original message, this is a LinuxNetwox Evolocity
cluster and in my opinion they would do something sneaky like this to kee=
p
customers from switching to an OS/software other than theirs. Is there
anyone that has such a cluster and could send me their dhcpd.conf file?

-David

----- Original Message -----=20
From: "Anselm Martin Hoffmeister" <an...@ho...>
To: "David T. Pheasant" <phe...@un...>
Cc: <eth...@li...>
Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 4:55 AM
Subject: Re: [Etherboot-users] DHCP- Etherboot not sending DHCPREQUEST


> Am Dienstag, den 08.11.2005, 16:50 -0500 schrieb David T. Pheasant:
>> Hello,
>>
>>     I am trying to install Rocks 4.1 Fuji on a 25 node LinuxNewtorx
>> cluster that was donated to my college. Each node has only a power,
>>  serial console, and network connections. There is no cdrom or floppy
>> drive,
>> so PXE booting these nodes is my only method of installing an OS on
>> these machines.
>>
>>     The nodes have a LinuxBIOS and Etherboot5.0.4eb4.1 burned onto the
>> prom.
>> My problem is that my nodes are not sending a DHCPREQUEST
>> to the frontend (DHCP) server.
>>
>>     I have worked with DHCP a number of times but never had this
>> problem. However, this is my first time trying to use PXE booting.
>> Here is the output of `tail /var/log/messages` when I power on the
>> first node:
>>
>> Nov  7 12:36:41 manganese dhcpd: DHCPDISCOVER from 00:30:48:22:b7:3f
>> via
>> eth0
>> Nov  7 12:36:41 manganese dhcpd: DHCPOFFER on 192.168.1.253 to
>> 00:30:48:22:b7:3f via eth0
>> Nov  7 12:36:41 manganese dhcpd: DHCPDISCOVER from 00:30:48:22:b7:3f
>> via
>> eth0
>> Nov  7 12:36:41 manganese dhcpd: DHCPOFFER on 192.168.1.253 to
>> 00:30:48:22:b7:3f via eth0
>>
>> The node itself shows:
>>
>> =FCROM segment 0xc800 length 0x4000 reloc 0x9400
>> Etherboot 5.0.4eb4.1 (GPL) Tagged ELF (Multiboot) for [EEPRO100]
>> Boot from (N)etwork or from (L)ocal? N
>> Found Intel EtherExpressPro100 at 0XC000, ROM address 0X0000
>> Probing...[EEPRO100]Ethernet addr: 00:30:48:22:B7:3F
>> Searching for server (DHCP)...
>> ....................No Server found
>> <abort>
>> Boot from (N)etwork or from (L)ocal?
>
> Just an idea... you did set the "next-server" option in dhcpd.conf,
> didn't you? Etherboot relies on its presence, which had been there by
> default for ages, but the most recent dhcpd will not send it out if not
> explicitely configured to do so. Try entering
> next-server 192.168.1.1;
> in your dhcpd.conf and see if that helps Etherboot to find a DHCP
> server.
>
> Hth
> Anselm
>
>
>
>=20