1 | PXE-utilities |
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2 | ------------- |
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3 | |
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4 | This is a release of the SARA package of utilities that we use to boot |
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5 | our nodes with PXE-enabled network cards. This was developed because we |
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6 | always want to use the PXE-enabled network card as our first boot device. |
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7 | With pxelinux, which is a derivative of syslinux, you can specify with a PXE |
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8 | configuration file how the node must boot. This configuration is placed in, |
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9 | e.g. '/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg' directory. |
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10 | |
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11 | The PXE-menu tools are used to control the booting of networked computers |
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12 | directly from the computer's console at the BIOS level before any operating |
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13 | system has been loaded. This is extremely useful for diagnostic purposes, |
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14 | or for selecting an operating system installation method, of an individual |
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15 | computer. For further information please read the files README-pxemenu and |
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16 | INSTALL-pxemenu. |
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17 | |
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18 | In our setup we have a default setup. The default setup is to boot from |
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19 | harddisk. When a node boots it fetches the default configuration file and the |
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20 | configuration file tells the node to boot from the harddisk. This setup |
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21 | is used for nodes that have already been installed by systemimager or sali |
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22 | |
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23 | At SARA we have developed the following strategy how to install a fresh node. |
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24 | |
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25 | 1) The ip-address in our setup is known for the new node. So |
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26 | we make a link in the '/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg' directory to a |
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27 | pxe config file which tells that it has to fetch the kernel en |
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28 | root filesystem from our bootserver, eg: |
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29 | 0A000A02 ---> default.node_install (10.0.10.2) |
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30 | |
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31 | 2) The client starts and uses the systemimager or sali software to install |
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32 | the node. The last line of installation script connects to a |
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33 | daemon on the bootserver. This daemon will remove the PXE config file |
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34 | for this node. |
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35 | |
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36 | 3) The node reboots and will use the default pxe config file which will |
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37 | instruct the node to boot from harddisk. |
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38 | |
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39 | This release contains the following utilities: |
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40 | |
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41 | pxeconfigd) |
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42 | This is daemon that removes the pxe configuration file of a node. |
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43 | |
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44 | pxeconfig) |
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45 | With this program we can specify which pxe config file |
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46 | a node or nodes must use. This utility will create the links |
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47 | in '/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg' |
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48 | |
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49 | hexls) |
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50 | Is a utility that diplays a directory, and, if in this directory |
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51 | contains HEX files, it will convert them to IP-numbers. |
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52 | |
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53 | All these utilities are written in Python. |
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54 | |
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55 | |
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56 | For more info about the Packag and installation: |
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57 | https://oss.trac.surfsara.nl/pxeconfig |
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