On Tuesday 01 February 2005 23:17, Lanman wrote:
Hey Folks. I'm wondering if someone can walk me through a few issues regarding booting systems using PXE? Having sorted out my Mandrake menu concerns it works but I still need to test it a few times), I'm now looking at how I can boot new PC's to start the installation process.
Any help would be appreciated.
Yep I've been through that recently. What do you want to know? Its not too bad once you realise what is happening.
<snipped>
derek
Thanks Derek. Your explanation makes sense right from the "get-go". What I'm hoping to do is to have the new PC connect to the DHCP/PXE server, and once the intial bootup phase is complete, have it access a compressed image file stored on the same server.
Once it gets to this step, it would start a network install from the compressed image (cloop or squashfs image) to the new computer. There are many times when I need to do multiple installs at a client's location, so I'd like to be able to bring my laptop onsite as an install server (it definitely has the required horsepower).
In some cases, the client's sysadmin would be responsible for doing the installs, in which case he/she needs their own install-server set up. I'm using a compressed image in order to make sure that these admins don't mess with the software packages that I've selected, since I'm ultimately responsible for what happens. Also, I need to find out how to pass installation instructions (parameters?)to the installer. Ideally, it would automatically create and format the partitions (based on a set of rules I've already created).
Typically, I discuss software requirements with the client and once we have created a final list of programs, I build the image file and start installing. Using a custom-built LiveCD demo, I show them the finished product before starting the installs.
However, I'm getting a lot of requests to start installing Mandrake on existing PC's and not just new ones. Fortunately, a quick replacement of network cards to one that supports PXE solves that problem.
So, I guess the next question is how can I accomplish this? I'm finding a lot of info on how to configure PXE, but none of it seems to have a clear (ie; Plan English) explanation on how to do it step-by-step, and nothing I've found shows me how to launch an install command in the process.
Any help you might be able to offer would be greatly appreciated.
-- Lanman Registered Linux User #190712
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