Bering-uClibc 4.x - User Guide - Appendices - Hints and Tips for Network Booting

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Appendices - Hints and Tips for Network Booting
Prev Bering-uClibc 4.x - User Guide


Introduction

Note: pxelinux boot support is currently under development and is not yet available in the standard Bering-uClibc 4.x downloads. Refer to Trac ticket #3 for the latest status.

Much of the preparation necessary in order to boot Bering-uClibc 4.x from the network using PXE technology is not specific to Bering-uClibc 4.x, since here the Bering-uClibc 4.x machine is acting as a client of other network devices, not as a server. These "other network devices" may or may not be other Bering-uClibc 4.x machines.

Physical Network Connection Considerations

When planning a network boot deployment, remember that most devices will only PXE boot from their "first" network interface card, the one that Linux identifies as eth0. The default configuration of Bering-uClibc 4.x uses eth0 for the external or Internet-facing network connection, and eth1 for the internal or "LAN" network connection. Most people will want to network-boot from servers located on their internal network. This means that eth0 must be connected to that internal network, at least during boot-up.

You probably want to pay careful attention to the contents of /etc/network/interfaces and /etc/shorewall/interfaces. You might want to swap eth0 and eth1.

DHCP Server Configuration

PXE booting requires that the DHCP server delivers a PXE "boot filename" and the name / IP address of the server where this can be downloaded (using TFTP)..

See the PXELINUX Wiki for more information.

If using dnsmasq as your DHCP server, the relevant entry in /etc/dnsmasq.conf would be something like:

dhcp-boot=/gpxelinux.0,tftphost,192.168.0.111

TFTP Server Configuration

TODO

File Server Configuration

TODO


Troubleshooting

  1. Some old PXE boot code does not support downloading the "boot filename" from a different server and insists that this is downloaded from the DHCP server. If the DHCP boot works but the subsequent TFTP download does not then try installing a TFTP server on the DHCP server, if possible.
    • If using dnsmasq as the DHCP server, try using the dhcp-no-override configuration file option.



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