xNBA is a customized gpxe image that xCAT uses.
NBFS is the older maintenance image that was used for if you set your
node to boot to shell, or booted a runimage script. NBFS is deprecated,
and Genesis replaced NBFS as the maintenance image for these tasks.
In a standard 2.8 install, there should no longer be any nbk/nbfs RPMs
installed - Genesis replaced them.
perl-xCAT-2.8.3-snap201311122316.noarch
xCAT-2.8.3-snap201311122318.x86_64
xCAT-client-2.8.3-snap201311122316.noarch
xCAT-genesis-base-x86_64-2.8-snap201308090229.noarch
elilo-xcat-3.14-4.noarch
xCAT-server-2.8.3-snap201311122316.noarch
xCAT-genesis-scripts-x86_64-2.8.3-snap201311122318.noarch
ipmitool-xcat-1.8.11-3.x86_64
conserver-xcat-8.1.16-10.x86_64
xCAT-buildkit-2.8.3-snap201311122318.noarch
syslinux-xcat-3.86-2.noarch
On 1/21/2014 2:38 PM, Josh Nielsen wrote:
> Hi Jonathan,
>
> Yes, I definitely think that would cause a problem. This is jogging my
> memory because I think that when the new Genesis boot loader was
> rolled out in the first version of xCAT that supported it that I faced
> a similar problem. I had assumed that only Genesis was needed but xNBA
> is still used an an intermediate image even if it is no longer the
> final image. I will check my yum repos as soon as I can - but by some
> unfortunate coincidence I just discovered that YUM is not working
> since our RHEL license expired three days ago (unbeknownst to me until
> 10 minutes ago). Do you have xCAT-genesis-x86_64 and elilo-xCAT? You
> may even have to pull xNBA images from an older install(?) and then
> run mknb to build the images.
>
> I remember downloading the tarred files with the RPM manually and
> creating a local repo for xCAT. Whenever I get YUM back I'll give you
> more specifics if I can.
>
> -Josh
>
> On Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 1:54 PM, Jonathan Mills <jonmi...@renci.org> wrote:
>> Josh,
>>
>> I don't doubt that you're on to something. But if this is the case, it
>> means my systems are missing some files, namely:
>>
>> /tftpboot/xcat/nbk.x86_64
>> /tftpboot/xcat/nbfs.x86_64.gz
>>
>> Can you tell me what RPM installed those files on your system? They
>> don't exist on mine, and even a 'yum provides' doesn't find them.
>>
>>
>> On 01/21/2014 11:51 AM, Josh Nielsen wrote:
>>> Hi Jonathan,
>>>
>>> It is my understanding, from extensive debugging and notes that I have
>>> taken about the xCAT netbooting process in the past, that xCAT uses a
>>> two-stage image deployment method. It will first come up with a more
>>> "generic" boot image (normally xnba or sometimes yaboot) which - when it
>>> contacts the xCAT headnode (or the node handling DHCP requests) - the
>>> headnode will then recognize the current image on the client that is
>>> sending requests to DHCP for further boot instructions, and will tell
>>> the client to then load another image based on the subnet and image type
>>> it is currently using. For example my headnode's /etc/dhcpd.conf file
>>> has an entry that looks like this:
>>>
>>> hared-network eth0 {
>>> subnet 10.20.0.0 netmask 255.255.0.0 {
>>> max-lease-time 43200;
>>> min-lease-time 43200;
>>> default-lease-time 43200;
>>> next-server 10.20.0.1;
>>> option log-servers 10.20.0.1;
>>> option ntp-servers 10.20.0.1;
>>> option domain-name "xxxxxxxxx";
>>> option domain-name-servers 10.20.0.1;
>>> if option user-class-identifier = "xNBA" and option
>>> client-architecture = 00:00 { #x86, xCAT Network Boot Agent
>>> always-broadcast on;
>>> filename = "http://10.20.0.1/tftpboot/xcat/xnba/nets/10.20.0.0_16";;
>>> } else if option user-class-identifier = "xNBA" and option
>>> client-architecture = 00:09 { #x86, xCAT Network Boot Agent
>>> filename =
>>> "http://10.20.0.1/tftpboot/xcat/xnba/nets/10.20.0.0_16.uefi";;
>>> } else if option client-architecture = 00:00 { #x86
>>> filename "xcat/xnba.kpxe";
>>> } else if option vendor-class-identifier = "Etherboot-5.4" { #x86
>>> filename "xcat/xnba.kpxe";
>>> } else if option client-architecture = 00:07 { #x86_64 uefi
>>> filename "xcat/xnba.efi";
>>> } else if option client-architecture = 00:09 { #x86_64 uefi
>>> alternative id
>>> filename "xcat/xnba.efi";
>>> } else if option client-architecture = 00:02 { #ia64
>>> filename "elilo.efi";
>>> } else if substring(filename,0,1) = null { #otherwise, provide
>>> yaboot if the client isn't specific
>>> filename "/yaboot";
>>> }
>>> range dynamic-bootp 10.20.200.254 10.20.254.254;
>>> } # 10.20.0.0/255.255.0.0 <http://10.20.0.0/255.255.0.0> subnet_end
>>>
>>> So if it boots with the xNBA image it then directs it to the
>>> http://10.20.0.1/tftpboot/xcat/xnba/nets/10.20.0.0_16 which has the
>>> genesis boot instructions in it:
>>>
>>> #!gpxe
>>> imgfetch -n kernel
>>> http://${next-server}/tftpboot/xcat/genesis.kernel.x86_64 quiet
>>> xcatd=10.20.0.1:3001 <http://10.20.0.1:3001> BOOTIF=01-${netX/machyp}
>>> imgfetch -n nbfs http://${next-server}/tftpboot/xcat/genesis.fs.x86_64.gz
>>> imgload kernel
>>> imgexec kernel
>>>
>>> So first it boots with xnba (first stage of boot), it contacts the DHCP
>>> server which gives it a "next-server" option of itself (saying to the
>>> client: request the next image from me - the headnode - again), and then
>>> gives it a boot file with instructions for the next image, then it
>>> executes it and finally loads genesis. You will also notice that the
>>> very last options (if it matches nothing else) is yaboot, which is
>>> another generic image, which will in turn probably request the next
>>> image. Try watching your log for the tftp daemon messages to see what is
>>> being sent.
>>>
>>> I wonder if you are having problems at the first stage DHCP redirecting
>>> stage though. Check your options statements in /etc/dhcpd.conf to see
>>> where it is directing xNBA images.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> Josh Nielsen
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 10:26 AM, Jonathan Mills <jonmi...@renci.org
>>> <mailto:jonmi...@renci.org>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Wang,
>>>
>>> Thank you for your response. I did some digging and here is what I
>>> found.
>>>
>>> cat /tftpboot/xcat/xnba/nets/10.100.0.0_24
>>> #!gpxe
>>> imgfetch -n kernel
>>> http://${next-server}/tftpboot/xcat/genesis.kernel.x86_64 quiet
>>> xcatd=10.100.0.1:3001 <http://10.100.0.1:3001>
>>> BOOTIF=01-${netX/machyp}
>>> imgfetch -n nbfs
>>> http://${next-server}/tftpboot/xcat/genesis.fs.x86_64.lzma
>>> imgload kernel
>>> imgexec kernel
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> cat /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/0A6400
>>> DEFAULT xCAT
>>> LABEL xCAT
>>> KERNEL xcat/nbk.x86_64
>>> APPEND initrd=xcat/nbfs.x86_64.gz quiet xcatd=10.100.0.1:3001
>>> <http://10.100.0.1:3001>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> So, clearly, those things don't match up. That strikes me as an xCAT
>>> issue, but nevermind. I manually modified
>>> /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/0A6400
>>> to make it look like:
>>>
>>> DEFAULT xCAT
>>> LABEL xCAT
>>> KERNEL xcat/genesis.kernel.x86_64
>>> APPEND initrd=xcat/genesis.fs.x86_64.lzma quiet
>>> xcatd=10.100.0.1:3001 <http://10.100.0.1:3001>
>>> BOOTIF=eth0
>>>
>>>
>>> (It is safe, in this case, to designate BOOTIF as 'eth0' -- with Cisco
>>> UCS hardware, and using vNICs, the first interface will always show up
>>> in Linux as eth0 -- at least, that is my experience).
>>>
>>> After this change, I was indeed able to PXE boot the first node, and I
>>> was hopeful that node discovery would then take place. However, this
>>> still did not occur. On console, I dug into the running genesis image
>>> on the first node, and I found that it had no ethernet interfaces
>>> whatsoever, because the genesis kernel has no driver support for Cisco
>>> UCS hardware.
>>>
>>> For example, this is the ethtool output of a Cisco UCS vNIC:
>>>
>>> [root@ncsu-hn nets]# ethtool -i eth0
>>> driver: enic
>>> version: 2.1.1.39
>>> firmware-version: 2.0(4b)
>>> bus-info: 0000:06:00.0
>>> supports-statistics: yes
>>> supports-test: no
>>> supports-eeprom-access: no
>>> supports-register-dump: no
>>> supports-priv-flags: no
>>>
>>>
>>> You can see it requires the 'enic' kernel module, usually located at:
>>> /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/net/enic/enic.ko
>>>
>>> This module isn't found within the genesis image, so the node PXE
>>> boots,
>>> and then can do no more. Node discovery fails.
>>>
>>> On 01/20/2014 09:19 PM, Xiao Peng Wang wrote:
>>> > xCAT is using genesis (an xCAT customized pxe tool) to function the
>>> > discovery process. The configuration for genesis is put in
>>> > /tftpboot/xcat/xnba/nets/ for a specific network. Could you check
>>> your
>>> > specific xnba configuration file for your deployment network has
>>> been
>>> > put in /tftpboot/xcat/xnba/nets/?
>>> >
>>> > The prerequisite for booting of genesis is to make the node has a
>>> > dynamic IP address. Did you configure the dynamic IP range for your
>>> > deployment network? Could you take a look of your syslog to see
>>> whether
>>> > the node has sent out dhcp request and what did your dhcp server
>>> replied
>>> > to them?
>>> >
>>> > Thanks
>>> > Best Regards
>>> >
>>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> > Wang Xiaopeng (王晓朋)
>>> > IBM China System Technology Laboratory
>>> > Tel: 86-10-82453455
>>> > Email: w...@cn.ibm.com <mailto:w...@cn.ibm.com>
>>> > Address: 28,ZhongGuanCun Software Park,No.8 Dong Bei Wang West Road,
>>> > Haidian District Beijing P.R.China 100193
>>> >
>>> > Inactive hide details for Jonathan Mills ---2014/01/19
>>> 06:24:02---I'm
>>> > running xCAT 2.8.3 and CentOS 6.4 atop of Cisco UCS-C harJonathan
>>> Mills
>>> > ---2014/01/19 06:24:02---I'm running xCAT 2.8.3 and CentOS 6.4
>>> atop of
>>> > Cisco UCS-C hardware. I'm attempting to do a sequent
>>> >
>>> > From: Jonathan Mills <jonmi...@renci.org
>>> <mailto:jonmi...@renci.org>>
>>> > To: xCAT Users Mailing list <xcat-user@lists.sourceforge.net
>>> <mailto:xcat-user@lists.sourceforge.net>>,
>>> > Date: 2014/01/19 06:24
>>> > Subject: [xcat-user] Frustrating time with sequential node discovery
>>> >
>>> >
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > I'm running xCAT 2.8.3 and CentOS 6.4 atop of Cisco UCS-C
>>> hardware. I'm
>>> > attempting to do a sequential nodediscovery. I've pre-populated the
>>> > nodelist table with the nodenames, so I shouldn't need to do
>>> anything
>>> > more than
>>> >
>>> > nodediscoverystart noderange=node[1-15]
>>> >
>>> > However, none of the nodes ever gets discovered.
>>> >
>>> > Digging deeper, it seems that none of them ever successfully PXE
>>> boot at
>>> > all. They should be PXE booting off of the genesis netboot image
>>> and
>>> > speaking back to the xcatmaster, correct?
>>> >
>>> > When I run 'mknb x86_64', it populates /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg with
>>> > entries to non-existent netboot images. Watch:
>>> >
>>> > [root@ncsu-hn ~]# rpm -qf /opt/xcat/sbin/mknb
>>> > xCAT-client-2.8.3-snap201311122316.noarch
>>> > [root@ncsu-hn ~]# mknb x86_64
>>> > Creating genesis.fs.x86_64.lzma in /tftpboot/xcat
>>> > [root@ncsu-hn ~]# cd /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/
>>> > [root@ncsu-hn pxelinux.cfg]# ls
>>> > 0A6400 0A6500 0A6600 7F 98300D 98300DE6 98300DE7 C0A86B
>>> > [root@ncsu-hn pxelinux.cfg]# cat *
>>> > DEFAULT xCAT
>>> > LABEL xCAT
>>> > KERNEL xcat/nbk.x86_64
>>> > APPEND initrd=xcat/nbfs.x86_64.gz quiet xcatd=10.100.0.1:3001
>>> <http://10.100.0.1:3001>
>>> > DEFAULT xCAT
>>> > LABEL xCAT
>>> > KERNEL xcat/nbk.x86_64
>>> > APPEND initrd=xcat/nbfs.x86_64.gz quiet xcatd=10.101.0.1:3001
>>> <http://10.101.0.1:3001>
>>> > DEFAULT xCAT
>>> > LABEL xCAT
>>> > KERNEL xcat/nbk.x86_64
>>> > APPEND initrd=xcat/nbfs.x86_64.gz quiet xcatd=10.102.0.1:3001
>>> <http://10.102.0.1:3001>
>>> > DEFAULT xCAT
>>> > LABEL xCAT
>>> > KERNEL xcat/nbk.x86_64
>>> > APPEND initrd=xcat/nbfs.x86_64.gz quiet xcatd=127.0.0.1:3001
>>> <http://127.0.0.1:3001>
>>> > DEFAULT xCAT
>>> > LABEL xCAT
>>> > KERNEL xcat/nbk.x86_64
>>> > APPEND initrd=xcat/nbfs.x86_64.gz quiet xcatd=152.48.13.3:3001
>>> <http://152.48.13.3:3001>
>>> > DEFAULT xCAT
>>> > LABEL xCAT
>>> > KERNEL xcat/nbk.x86_64
>>> > APPEND initrd=xcat/nbfs.x86_64.gz quiet
>>> xcatd=152.48.13.230:3001 <http://152.48.13.230:3001>
>>> > DEFAULT xCAT
>>> > LABEL xCAT
>>> > KERNEL xcat/nbk.x86_64
>>> > APPEND initrd=xcat/nbfs.x86_64.gz quiet
>>> xcatd=152.48.13.231:3001 <http://152.48.13.231:3001>
>>> > DEFAULT xCAT
>>> > LABEL xCAT
>>> > KERNEL xcat/nbk.x86_64
>>> > APPEND initrd=xcat/nbfs.x86_64.gz quiet
>>> xcatd=192.168.107.10:3001 <http://192.168.107.10:3001>
>>> > [root@ncsu-hn pxelinux.cfg]# cd ../xcat/
>>> > [root@ncsu-hn xcat]# ls -la
>>> > total 21528
>>> > drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Jan 17 13:06 .
>>> > drwxr-xr-x. 7 root root 4096 Jan 18 22:02 ..
>>> > -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 242929 Jan 15 2012 elilo-x64.efi
>>> > -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 17573621 Jan 18 22:03 genesis.fs.x86_64.lzma
>>> > -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 3986608 Aug 9 06:29 genesis.kernel.x86_64
>>> > drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Jan 17 13:06 osimage
>>> > drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Dec 23 07:42 xnba
>>> > -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 139200 Oct 28 16:16 xnba.efi
>>> > -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 74792 Oct 28 16:16 xnba.kpxe
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > As you can see....it ought to be netbooting the genesis kernel, but
>>> > instead all my pxelinux.cfg/* files are instructing clients to
>>> boot the
>>> > non-existent "nbk.x86_64" image.
>>> >
>>> > Your advice is appreciated.
>>> >
>>> > --
>>> > Jonathan Mills
>>> > Systems Administrator
>>> > Renaissance Computing Institute
>>> > UNC-Chapel Hill
>>> >
>>> >
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> > CenturyLink Cloud: The Leader in Enterprise Cloud Services.
>>> > Learn Why More Businesses Are Choosing CenturyLink Cloud For
>>> > Critical Workloads, Development Environments & Everything In
>>> Between.
>>> > Get a Quote or Start a Free Trial Today.
>>> >
>>>
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>>> <mailto:xCAT-user@lists.sourceforge.net>
>>> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/xcat-user
>>> >
>>> >
>>>
>>> --
>>> Jonathan Mills
>>> Systems Administrator
>>> Renaissance Computing Institute
>>> UNC-Chapel Hill
>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> CenturyLink Cloud: The Leader in Enterprise Cloud Services.
>>> Learn Why More Businesses Are Choosing CenturyLink Cloud For
>>> Critical Workloads, Development Environments & Everything In Between.
>>> Get a Quote or Start a Free Trial Today.
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>>>
>>>
>> --
>> Jonathan Mills
>> Systems Administrator
>> Renaissance Computing Institute
>> UNC-Chapel Hill
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> CenturyLink Cloud: The Leader in Enterprise Cloud Services.
>> Learn Why More Businesses Are Choosing CenturyLink Cloud For
>> Critical Workloads, Development Environments & Everything In Between.
>> Get a Quote or Start a Free Trial Today.
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>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/xcat-user
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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