Re: NFS boot with a dhcpless network
On Tue, 2008-12-09 at 23:38 +0200, Micha Feigin wrote: > On Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:14:23 -0600 > Ron Johnson wrote: [snip] > I can't use a dhcp server on this network. These machines are exposed to the > general network which already has a dhcp server and if I add another one I'm > going to cause trouble over the whole network. > > Besides a dhcp server with the specific setup is going to be a serious pain. > > The machines do have disks which are meant mostly for local user data. The idea > is to have as little as possible in terms of a system on each machine to make > it easier to maintain and keep safe from the users. Looks like the easiest > solution is to have grub and a kernel installed locally on each machine. > > I once was futzing around with 4 really old machines with no PXE support. I was able to get it to boot with a CD with just grub (and just a kernel) on it. Had to use a special stage2 for GRUB in order for it to boot. See here: http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-grub/2004-04/msg00152.html. Or google for 'GRUB El Torito'. I remember having trouble initially. But once that was figured out, it turned out to be a handy bootloader with a default menu.lst with shell for when menu.lst didn't cut it. Now, I think I put the IP addresses into the menu.lst which then passed it onto the kernel which was built with diskless (NFS root) support. So grub would load the NFSroot kernel on the CD (and I burned almost identical CD - the only difference being a different IP address on the menu.lst file) and the kernel would then proceed with the NFS root filesystem. At least that is how I recall it. It could all be a figment of my imagination/hazy-memory. I might still have the CD lying around somewhere so if you run into trouble email me and I'll look for it. Anoop. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Re: NFS boot with a dhcpless network
On 12/09/08 17:34, Micha Feigin wrote: On Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:46:31 -0600 Ron Johnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: On 12/09/08 15:38, Micha Feigin wrote: On Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:14:23 -0600 Ron Johnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: [snip] And can't you tell DHCP to associate IP addresses to MAC addresses? So even though OP doesn't want to use DHCP, he'd use it but not for it's usual purpose... I can't use a dhcp server on this network. These machines are exposed to the general network which already has a dhcp server and if I add another one I'm going to cause trouble over the whole network. Besides a dhcp server with the specific setup is going to be a serious pain. The machines do have disks which are meant mostly for local user data. The idea is to have as little as possible in terms of a system on each machine to make it easier to maintain and keep safe from the users. Looks like the easiest solution is to have grub and a kernel installed locally on each machine. The existing dhcp server could point the diskless machines to the machine that has the boot files on it. Or would that entail too much bureaucracy and/or interference from know-nothing MSCEs? It's a university departmental dhcp server, do you think that there is any chance that I can convince them to do something like that ;-) Depends on how ossified and/or ignorant they are. -- Ron Johnson, Jr. Jefferson LA USA How does being physically handicapped make me Differently-Abled? What different abilities do I have? -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: NFS boot with a dhcpless network
On Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:46:31 -0600 Ron Johnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On 12/09/08 15:38, Micha Feigin wrote: > > On Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:14:23 -0600 > > Ron Johnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > [snip] > >> And can't you tell DHCP to associate IP addresses to MAC addresses? > >> So even though OP doesn't want to use DHCP, he'd use it but not > >> for it's usual purpose... > >> > > > > I can't use a dhcp server on this network. These machines are exposed to the > > general network which already has a dhcp server and if I add another one I'm > > going to cause trouble over the whole network. > > > > Besides a dhcp server with the specific setup is going to be a serious pain. > > > > The machines do have disks which are meant mostly for local user data. The > > idea is to have as little as possible in terms of a system on each machine > > to make it easier to maintain and keep safe from the users. Looks like the > > easiest solution is to have grub and a kernel installed locally on each > > machine. > > The existing dhcp server could point the diskless machines to the > machine that has the boot files on it. > > Or would that entail too much bureaucracy and/or interference from > know-nothing MSCEs? > It's a university departmental dhcp server, do you think that there is any chance that I can convince them to do something like that ;-) -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: NFS boot with a dhcpless network
On Tue, Dec 09, 2008 at 11:38:39PM +0200, Micha Feigin wrote: > I can't use a dhcp server on this network. These machines are exposed to the > general network which already has a dhcp server and if I add another one I'm > going to cause trouble over the whole network. Etherboot and others support using port 1067 for the DHCP server, if you're in a network with a hostile DHCP server. -- Tzafrir Cohen | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | VIM is http://tzafrir.org.il || a Mutt's [EMAIL PROTECTED] || best ICQ# 16849754 || friend -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: NFS boot with a dhcpless network
On 12/09/08 15:38, Micha Feigin wrote: On Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:14:23 -0600 Ron Johnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: [snip] And can't you tell DHCP to associate IP addresses to MAC addresses? So even though OP doesn't want to use DHCP, he'd use it but not for it's usual purpose... I can't use a dhcp server on this network. These machines are exposed to the general network which already has a dhcp server and if I add another one I'm going to cause trouble over the whole network. Besides a dhcp server with the specific setup is going to be a serious pain. The machines do have disks which are meant mostly for local user data. The idea is to have as little as possible in terms of a system on each machine to make it easier to maintain and keep safe from the users. Looks like the easiest solution is to have grub and a kernel installed locally on each machine. The existing dhcp server could point the diskless machines to the machine that has the boot files on it. Or would that entail too much bureaucracy and/or interference from know-nothing MSCEs? -- Ron Johnson, Jr. Jefferson LA USA How does being physically handicapped make me Differently-Abled? What different abilities do I have? -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: NFS boot with a dhcpless network
On Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:14:23 -0600 Ron Johnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On 12/09/08 13:47, Boyd Stephen Smith Jr. wrote: > > On Tuesday 2008 December 09 11:49:42 Ron Johnson wrote: > >> On 12/09/08 11:25, Micha Feigin wrote: > >>> On Tue, 09 Dec 2008 10:27:28 -0600 > >>> Ron Johnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On 12/09/08 09:58, Micha Feigin wrote: > > I want to setup three machines to boot over the network from an nfs > > root. The network doesn't have a dhcp server (I prefer if it's possible > > to do it without one) and the network card is only supported with newer > > kernels (2.6.28-rc). > > > > Is there a way to do it through grub or do I need to setup a minimal > > system and boot from it? > > > > Any pointers on how to set this up? > PXE boot seems like what you want, where the client's NIC requests > the boot files from the server. > > Or am I misunderstanding your questions? > >>> Yes, theoretically that is what I want, but if I'm not mistaken PXE boot > >>> is dependent on a dhcp server giving the machine an IP and declaring that > >>> it has a boot image to provide, or am I wrong. > >>> > >>> I want to give the ip as an option and use a given nfs server as a root, > >>> not resolve these values at run time > >> Hmmm, yes, you're right. There's got to be a way, though, using > >> bootp, MAC address and tftp, since that's how we did it 10 years ago > >> with X Terminals. > > > > DHCP is an extension to bootp. Anything you were doing with bootp 10 years > > ago should be done with DHCP today. IIRC, dhcpd from ISC can do bootp > > without the DHCP extensions. > > > > And, yeah, for a full PXE boot, you will need a TFTP server on the > > network. (It could be the DHCP server, but doesn't have to be.) I could be > > wrong, but I believe that PXE is actually proprietary Intel extensions to > > and older, standard "netboot" protocol. > > > > If you just want NFS root, it's suppored by the kernel, I think something > > like root=IP:/path, but you'll need some storage in the clients for the > > bootloader, kernel image, and initrd (if any). > > > > If you want the kernel image and initrd loaded from the network, you'll > > need a DHCP server that responds to requests with the IP of the TFTP server > > (as path to the file?). That response will have to include some IP > > address, possibly with a very short lease, that the client will use during > > the TFTP download. This IP can, of course, be overridden with configuration > > in the kernel/initrd. > > > > You can do both and, if the client needs access to more data than fits in > > RAM, you'll need to. The kernel/initrd will be loaded from the TFTP server > > specified in the DHCP response. The initrd will then mount the NFS root > > filesystem and chroot/switch_root/pivot_root into it. > > And can't you tell DHCP to associate IP addresses to MAC addresses? > So even though OP doesn't want to use DHCP, he'd use it but not > for it's usual purpose... > I can't use a dhcp server on this network. These machines are exposed to the general network which already has a dhcp server and if I add another one I'm going to cause trouble over the whole network. Besides a dhcp server with the specific setup is going to be a serious pain. The machines do have disks which are meant mostly for local user data. The idea is to have as little as possible in terms of a system on each machine to make it easier to maintain and keep safe from the users. Looks like the easiest solution is to have grub and a kernel installed locally on each machine. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: NFS boot with a dhcpless network
On Tuesday 2008 December 09 14:14:23 Ron Johnson wrote: >Can't you tell DHCP to associate IP addresses to MAC addresses? I suppose it depends on the server software, but dhcpd from ISC certainly provides that feature though the "fixed-address" and "hardware" directives. -- Boyd Stephen Smith Jr. ,= ,-_-. =. [EMAIL PROTECTED] ((_/)o o(\_)) ICQ: 514984 YM/AIM: DaTwinkDaddy `-'(. .)`-' http://iguanasuicide.org/ \_/ signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Re: NFS boot with a dhcpless network
On Dec 9, 2008, at 12:49 PM, Ron Johnson wrote: Yes, theoretically that is what I want, but if I'm not mistaken PXE boot is dependent on a dhcp server giving the machine an IP and declaring that it has a boot image to provide, or am I wrong. I want to give the ip as an option and use a given nfs server as a root, not resolve these values at run time Hmmm, yes, you're right. There's got to be a way, though, using bootp, MAC address and tftp, since that's how we did it 10 years ago with X Terminals. Setting up a DHCP server that does exactly what your bootp server did 10 years ago is not that hard. DHCP doesn't *have* to assign IP addresses from a dynamic pool. It can have fixed IP addresses for each of the MAC addresses you want to serve, and refuse to supply anything for unknown MACs. Total time to install the DHCP server software, read the documentation, and configure the setup should be no more than a few hours. At least, that's how long it took me to do an equivalent setup for my home network. Rick -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: NFS boot with a dhcpless network
On 12/09/08 13:47, Boyd Stephen Smith Jr. wrote: On Tuesday 2008 December 09 11:49:42 Ron Johnson wrote: On 12/09/08 11:25, Micha Feigin wrote: On Tue, 09 Dec 2008 10:27:28 -0600 Ron Johnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: On 12/09/08 09:58, Micha Feigin wrote: I want to setup three machines to boot over the network from an nfs root. The network doesn't have a dhcp server (I prefer if it's possible to do it without one) and the network card is only supported with newer kernels (2.6.28-rc). Is there a way to do it through grub or do I need to setup a minimal system and boot from it? Any pointers on how to set this up? PXE boot seems like what you want, where the client's NIC requests the boot files from the server. Or am I misunderstanding your questions? Yes, theoretically that is what I want, but if I'm not mistaken PXE boot is dependent on a dhcp server giving the machine an IP and declaring that it has a boot image to provide, or am I wrong. I want to give the ip as an option and use a given nfs server as a root, not resolve these values at run time Hmmm, yes, you're right. There's got to be a way, though, using bootp, MAC address and tftp, since that's how we did it 10 years ago with X Terminals. DHCP is an extension to bootp. Anything you were doing with bootp 10 years ago should be done with DHCP today. IIRC, dhcpd from ISC can do bootp without the DHCP extensions. And, yeah, for a full PXE boot, you will need a TFTP server on the network. (It could be the DHCP server, but doesn't have to be.) I could be wrong, but I believe that PXE is actually proprietary Intel extensions to and older, standard "netboot" protocol. If you just want NFS root, it's suppored by the kernel, I think something like root=IP:/path, but you'll need some storage in the clients for the bootloader, kernel image, and initrd (if any). If you want the kernel image and initrd loaded from the network, you'll need a DHCP server that responds to requests with the IP of the TFTP server (as path to the file?). That response will have to include some IP address, possibly with a very short lease, that the client will use during the TFTP download. This IP can, of course, be overridden with configuration in the kernel/initrd. You can do both and, if the client needs access to more data than fits in RAM, you'll need to. The kernel/initrd will be loaded from the TFTP server specified in the DHCP response. The initrd will then mount the NFS root filesystem and chroot/switch_root/pivot_root into it. And can't you tell DHCP to associate IP addresses to MAC addresses? So even though OP doesn't want to use DHCP, he'd use it but not for it's usual purpose... -- Ron Johnson, Jr. Jefferson LA USA How does being physically handicapped make me Differently-Abled? What different abilities do I have? -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: NFS boot with a dhcpless network
On Tuesday 2008 December 09 11:49:42 Ron Johnson wrote: >On 12/09/08 11:25, Micha Feigin wrote: >> On Tue, 09 Dec 2008 10:27:28 -0600 >> Ron Johnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>> On 12/09/08 09:58, Micha Feigin wrote: I want to setup three machines to boot over the network from an nfs root. The network doesn't have a dhcp server (I prefer if it's possible to do it without one) and the network card is only supported with newer kernels (2.6.28-rc). Is there a way to do it through grub or do I need to setup a minimal system and boot from it? Any pointers on how to set this up? >>> >>> PXE boot seems like what you want, where the client's NIC requests >>> the boot files from the server. >>> >>> Or am I misunderstanding your questions? >> >> Yes, theoretically that is what I want, but if I'm not mistaken PXE boot >> is dependent on a dhcp server giving the machine an IP and declaring that >> it has a boot image to provide, or am I wrong. >> >> I want to give the ip as an option and use a given nfs server as a root, >> not resolve these values at run time > >Hmmm, yes, you're right. There's got to be a way, though, using >bootp, MAC address and tftp, since that's how we did it 10 years ago >with X Terminals. DHCP is an extension to bootp. Anything you were doing with bootp 10 years ago should be done with DHCP today. IIRC, dhcpd from ISC can do bootp without the DHCP extensions. And, yeah, for a full PXE boot, you will need a TFTP server on the network. (It could be the DHCP server, but doesn't have to be.) I could be wrong, but I believe that PXE is actually proprietary Intel extensions to and older, standard "netboot" protocol. If you just want NFS root, it's suppored by the kernel, I think something like root=IP:/path, but you'll need some storage in the clients for the bootloader, kernel image, and initrd (if any). If you want the kernel image and initrd loaded from the network, you'll need a DHCP server that responds to requests with the IP of the TFTP server (as path to the file?). That response will have to include some IP address, possibly with a very short lease, that the client will use during the TFTP download. This IP can, of course, be overridden with configuration in the kernel/initrd. You can do both and, if the client needs access to more data than fits in RAM, you'll need to. The kernel/initrd will be loaded from the TFTP server specified in the DHCP response. The initrd will then mount the NFS root filesystem and chroot/switch_root/pivot_root into it. -- Boyd Stephen Smith Jr. ,= ,-_-. =. [EMAIL PROTECTED] ((_/)o o(\_)) ICQ: 514984 YM/AIM: DaTwinkDaddy `-'(. .)`-' http://iguanasuicide.org/ \_/ signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Re: NFS boot with a dhcpless network
On 12/09/08 11:25, Micha Feigin wrote: On Tue, 09 Dec 2008 10:27:28 -0600 Ron Johnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: On 12/09/08 09:58, Micha Feigin wrote: I want to setup three machines to boot over the network from an nfs root. The network doesn't have a dhcp server (I prefer if it's possible to do it without one) and the network card is only supported with newer kernels (2.6.28-rc). Is there a way to do it through grub or do I need to setup a minimal system and boot from it? Any pointers on how to set this up? PXE boot seems like what you want, where the client's NIC requests the boot files from the server. Or am I misunderstanding your questions? Yes, theoretically that is what I want, but if I'm not mistaken PXE boot is dependent on a dhcp server giving the machine an IP and declaring that it has a boot image to provide, or am I wrong. I want to give the ip as an option and use a given nfs server as a root, not resolve these values at run time Hmmm, yes, you're right. There's got to be a way, though, using bootp, MAC address and tftp, since that's how we did it 10 years ago with X Terminals. -- Ron Johnson, Jr. Jefferson LA USA How does being physically handicapped make me Differently-Abled? What different abilities do I have? -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: NFS boot with a dhcpless network
Micha Feigin wrote: Yes, theoretically that is what I want, but if I'm not mistaken PXE boot is dependent on a dhcp server giving the machine an IP and declaring that it has a boot image to provide, or am I wrong. I want to give the ip as an option and use a given nfs server as a root, not resolve these values at run time Are these diskless machines? If not, then theoretically you could set up your initial RAM disk to give the IP and mount the NFS root. I couldn't tell you exactly how to go about it, though. If they're diskless, you'll need a DHCP server (I think). Cheers, -- Eric Gerlach, Network Administrator Federation of Students University of Waterloo p: (519) 888-4567 x36329 e: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: NFS boot with a dhcpless network
On Tue, 09 Dec 2008 10:27:28 -0600 Ron Johnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On 12/09/08 09:58, Micha Feigin wrote: > > I want to setup three machines to boot over the network from an nfs root. > > The network doesn't have a dhcp server (I prefer if it's possible to do it > > without one) and the network card is only supported with newer kernels > > (2.6.28-rc). > > > > Is there a way to do it through grub or do I need to setup a minimal system > > and boot from it? > > > > Any pointers on how to set this up? > > PXE boot seems like what you want, where the client's NIC requests > the boot files from the server. > > Or am I misunderstanding your questions? > Yes, theoretically that is what I want, but if I'm not mistaken PXE boot is dependent on a dhcp server giving the machine an IP and declaring that it has a boot image to provide, or am I wrong. I want to give the ip as an option and use a given nfs server as a root, not resolve these values at run time thanks -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: NFS boot with a dhcpless network
On 12/09/08 09:58, Micha Feigin wrote: I want to setup three machines to boot over the network from an nfs root. The network doesn't have a dhcp server (I prefer if it's possible to do it without one) and the network card is only supported with newer kernels (2.6.28-rc). Is there a way to do it through grub or do I need to setup a minimal system and boot from it? Any pointers on how to set this up? PXE boot seems like what you want, where the client's NIC requests the boot files from the server. Or am I misunderstanding your questions? -- Ron Johnson, Jr. Jefferson LA USA How does being physically handicapped make me Differently-Abled? What different abilities do I have? -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
