| 02:46.47 | *** join/##pxe SirFunk (n=Sir@206-159-155-246.netsync.net) |
| 03:27.55 | *** join/##pxe copilot (n=copilot@adsl-71-143-234-225.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net) |
| 03:40.10 | *** join/##pxe copilot_ (n=copilot@adsl-71-143-234-225.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net) |
| 04:19.38 | *** join/##pxe copilot__ (n=copilot@adsl-71-143-238-153.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net) |
| 04:31.42 | *** join/##pxe copilot_ (n=copilot@adsl-71-143-236-94.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net) |
| 08:23.45 | *** join/##pxe Norky (n=dan@milton.ocsl.co.uk) |
| 08:28.10 | *** join/##pxe Norky (n=dan@milton.ocsl.co.uk) |
| 12:24.12 | BashLogic | #join #rhel |
| 13:35.12 | *** join/##pxe raky (n=smoot@24-197-132-105.dhcp.spbg.sc.charter.com) |
| 14:56.10 | *** join/##pxe mesut (n=power@tuxhacker/mesut) |
| 15:02.43 | *** join/##pxe power (n=power@tuxhacker/mesut) |
| 16:38.31 | *** join/##pxe raky (n=smoot@24-197-132-105.dhcp.spbg.sc.charter.com) |
| 19:16.34 | *** join/##pxe raky (n=infidel@24-197-132-105.dhcp.spbg.sc.charter.com) |
| 19:22.35 | raky | i want to thank you all for helping me....to RTFM hahaha. my LUG project is almost done! |
| 19:22.56 | ScytheBlade1 | lol |
| 19:22.58 | ScytheBlade1 | Grats! |
| 19:40.08 | *** join/##pxe tanelorn (n=to@dragonix.ccsg.de) |
| 19:43.00 | tanelorn | hi folks! |
| 19:43.19 | tanelorn | i'm currently messing around with pxe from different servers in one lan |
| 19:43.48 | tanelorn | so i want to do some chainbooting of pxelinux->gpxe->pxelinux again |
| 19:45.13 | tanelorn | and... i wonder if gpxe might be booted by pxelinux? |
| 19:47.07 | ScytheBlade1 | Never used gpxe |
| 19:47.21 | tanelorn | i think its formerly known as etherboot |
| 19:48.56 | ScytheBlade1 | gpxe is a soft PXE ROM |
| 19:49.00 | ScytheBlade1 | It's not a bootloader |
| 19:49.18 | tanelorn | i know. thats why i am running pxelinux afterwards. |
| 19:49.20 | ScytheBlade1 | (at least I don't think) |
| 19:49.28 | ScytheBlade1 | Well, then why are you starting with pxelinux? |
| 19:49.37 | ScytheBlade1 | ... oh, multiple servers on one LAN |
| 19:49.42 | tanelorn | i want to switch... |
| 19:49.42 | tanelorn | yeah |
| 19:49.45 | tanelorn | my idea is |
| 19:49.54 | tanelorn | booting syslinux first |
| 19:50.03 | tanelorn | there you can select different gpxe-images |
| 19:50.13 | tanelorn | which send different dhcp-class-identifier |
| 19:50.29 | tanelorn | so the dhcp can direct them to different servers they bootstrap from |
| 19:50.52 | ScytheBlade1 | You'd be better off with just pxelinux, it sounds like you're making it more complex than it needs to be |
| 19:51.16 | tanelorn | yeah, i'd like to |
| 19:51.18 | tanelorn | 2 things |
| 19:51.55 | tanelorn | how do i boot images from different servers as the syslinux-tftp? |
| 19:52.08 | ScytheBlade1 | Define 'images' |
| 19:52.29 | tanelorn | linux-installer-kernels with initrds |
| 19:53.09 | ScytheBlade1 | ie, different kernels/initrds are located on multiple servers? |
| 19:53.17 | tanelorn | yeah |
| 19:53.24 | tanelorn | organizational thing |
| 19:53.36 | tanelorn | thats where the 2nd "thing" would come in |
| 19:53.51 | ScytheBlade1 | Simply put, you use PXE 2.2 (might be 2.1), and a lot of software that doesn't really exist yet. |
| 19:53.58 | tanelorn | distributed configs of pxelinux.... |
| 19:54.03 | tanelorn | err. |
| 19:54.07 | tanelorn | whatever this is...? |
| 19:54.09 | ScytheBlade1 | Note that the needed version of PXE is rare, and often buggy. |
| 19:54.34 | tanelorn | ....if syslinux could boot gpxe... my wishes seem to be fullfillable |
| 19:55.07 | tanelorn | whether pxelinux (not syslinux, sure) boots pxe or gpxe might produce a .com that pxelinux is able to boot |
| 19:55.17 | ScytheBlade1 | Ah, right. Work around it. |
| 19:55.34 | ScytheBlade1 | memdisk (also part of the syslinux suite) can probably do what you need it to. |
| 19:55.52 | tanelorn | thats where the sick idea of pxechaining came in... |
| 19:55.59 | ScytheBlade1 | Essentially, it builds a floppy disk image, loads it into RAM, and emulates a floppy drive with that image |
| 19:56.05 | ScytheBlade1 | Giving you a virtual 'bootable' drive |
| 19:56.20 | tanelorn | yeah, that seems even better as booting that .com file! |
| 19:56.40 | ScytheBlade1 | Client start --> DHCP --> pxelinux --> memdisk --> image in RAM --> gpxe --> pxelinux |
| 19:56.48 | ScytheBlade1 | That is assuming that gPXE can do what you need it to |
| 19:56.50 | ScytheBlade1 | I've never used it |
| 19:56.51 | tanelorn | but at first i think i am going to try to make pxelinux boot gpxe directly... |
| 19:57.08 | tanelorn | yeah, that's what i thought of... |
| 19:57.27 | tanelorn | where the glue between pxelinux and gpxe is to be found |
| 19:57.41 | tanelorn | yeah, i think so as it sends dhcp-client-identifiers. |
| 19:57.44 | ScytheBlade1 | I would highly recommend just putting it all on one server. It'd make things a few thousand times easier and faster. |
| 19:58.32 | tanelorn | i would like to, as said. i know how dirty and error-prone this might be... |
| 19:59.26 | ScytheBlade1 | I PXE boot multiple distros here. Store them in the TFTP root as /CentOS/5/initrd, /Ubuntu/7.04/initrd, etc |
| 20:00.24 | tanelorn | thats the problem, i am just booting one distro, and my colleagues in other departments isntall others... |
| 20:00.47 | ScytheBlade1 | So give them options with pxelinux |
| 20:01.04 | tanelorn | yeah, and who maintains the pxelinux.cfg? |
| 20:01.23 | ScytheBlade1 | I just type 'C5' at the boot: prompt for CentOS5, 'U7.04' for Ubuntu 7.04 |
| 20:01.30 | ScytheBlade1 | One person, or everyone? It's really a small thing to maintain. |
| 20:01.45 | ScytheBlade1 | Kernel, initrd, and 2-3 lines in the pxelinux.cfg/default |
| 20:01.47 | ScytheBlade1 | Per distro |
| 20:01.49 | tanelorn | *i* know. but i am not too sure whether my colleagues do |
| 20:02.00 | ScytheBlade1 | Ahh |
| 20:02.24 | tanelorn | there's must history why i'm not that into this solution... |
| 20:02.29 | tanelorn | i tried it once a time ago |
| 20:02.39 | tanelorn | left the company for a few month |
| 20:02.43 | ScytheBlade1 | You can setup help menus with pxelinux... F1 for more info, F2 etc, and a default screen of text to show |
| 20:02.59 | tanelorn | and they totally messed up with install server |
| 20:03.06 | tanelorn | no, sorry, you're getting me wrong |
| 20:03.25 | tanelorn | "some of them" have to configure their used pxe-installations |
| 20:03.42 | tanelorn | so, they have to know how to mess with pxe |
| 20:03.58 | ScytheBlade1 | Okay. |
| 20:04.01 | ScytheBlade1 | Got that. |
| 20:04.02 | tanelorn | but their co-ordinational skills are totally miserable |
| 20:04.39 | ScytheBlade1 | Random question: how will pxelinux --> gPXE --> pxelinux make it more manageable? |
| 20:04.46 | tanelorn | that's why i am thinking about this sick solution |
| 20:05.03 | ScytheBlade1 | So they could in theory configure their own servers? |
| 20:05.08 | tanelorn | because every team maintains it's own pxelinux(2)-configuration |
| 20:05.21 | tanelorn | pxelinux(1) -> gPXE ->pxelinux(2) |
| 20:05.52 | tanelorn | in pxelinux(1) you select one of n (one per team involved) gpxe-images |
| 20:06.15 | tanelorn | each gpxe-images bootstraps from a different server - the ones of the team |
| 20:06.24 | ScytheBlade1 | /tftproot/team1/distro/initrd, and use pxelinux.cfg/00MACADDRSSHERE files to configure them |
| 20:06.37 | tanelorn | nice, but |
| 20:06.40 | ScytheBlade1 | They would manage the config files specific to the MAC addresses they control |
| 20:06.45 | tanelorn | the mac-address-thingy is different |
| 20:07.08 | ScytheBlade1 | It would give you a different config based on their MAC address, sounds like it could work |
| 20:07.21 | tanelorn | we are going to install a lot of servers, AND the people who do the unattended install don't even know what a mac is.... |
| 20:07.26 | tanelorn | yeah, thought of it. |
| 20:07.35 | tanelorn | in our environment - impossible |
| 20:08.20 | tanelorn | it would need infrastructure for the install-monks to get the mac into the pxe-config |
| 20:08.23 | tanelorn | ..... |
| 20:08.35 | ScytheBlade1 | There's no real fix for lack of knowledge, though. If you need them to maintain it, your PXE chain booting sounds more complex than a straight pxelinux setup |
| 20:08.46 | tanelorn | nono... |
| 20:08.51 | tanelorn | there are three parties involved |
| 20:08.59 | tanelorn | a) me - infrastructure maintainer |
| 20:09.13 | tanelorn | b) teams providing installs per pxe |
| 20:09.30 | tanelorn | c) monks which take the servers, autoisntall them and screw'em in a rack |
| 20:09.45 | tanelorn | so (c) do definitly tilt when you boo "pxe" at them |
| 20:10.06 | tanelorn | (b) know about technique, but are social incompatible |
| 20:10.22 | tanelorn | (a) the ass thinking of really sick ideas to get (b) and (c) together |
| 20:11.08 | tanelorn | (it's now relevant, these install-servers are virtualized ones, so this sickness is finally running on *one* machine) |
| 20:11.32 | ScytheBlade1 | That's horrible. |
| 20:11.55 | tanelorn | this scenario or the solution to it? :D |
| 20:12.15 | ScytheBlade1 | All of the above. |
| 20:12.25 | tanelorn | but now you are understanding me? |
| 20:13.38 | ScytheBlade1 | Train (c) to read the MAC addressess off of the server, give them to (b). Give (b) write permission to the pxelinux.cfg directory, and call it good |
| 20:13.56 | tanelorn | btw - if this one *is* working, it is 'nice' for the teams because for them it's a transparent pxelinux-install-maintainance... or? |
| 20:14.05 | ScytheBlade1 | Or just have (b) maintain the default file |
| 20:14.07 | tanelorn | (c) is 24/7 |
| 20:14.14 | ScytheBlade1 | Ahh, and (b) is not |
| 20:14.18 | tanelorn | yeah.... |
| 20:14.24 | ScytheBlade1 | How often do you need to add distros though? |
| 20:14.47 | tanelorn | as the stable releases change... |
| 20:14.51 | tanelorn | for 5 dists or so |
| 20:15.04 | tanelorn | one every month? every two months? |
| 20:15.42 | ScytheBlade1 | Just maintain one massive default config file, with every distro in it. F1 to list all CentOS versions, F2 for Ubuntu, etc. In those files, list the needed boot: line to install that respective distro |
| 20:15.50 | ScytheBlade1 | (b) or (a) could easily maintain that |
| 20:16.04 | tanelorn | yeah, sure. |
| 20:16.21 | ScytheBlade1 | No need to train (c) to do anything other than hit F1 or F2 and type a few letters |
| 20:16.30 | tanelorn | that's the best i've figured out what organizational problems concern |
| 20:17.18 | tanelorn | but i thought of getting around it.... so 3times pxe-bootstrapping is more evil than maintainig that config... |
| 20:17.23 | tanelorn | i think i'll sleep over it.. :-) |
| 20:17.29 | ScytheBlade1 | (c) won't be making requests to (b) or higher on a 24/7 basis |
| 20:17.38 | ScytheBlade1 | Or at all, lol |
| 20:18.38 | tanelorn | perhaps i can share the /tftpboot/team dirs via a pure-internal virtual ethernet per nfs |
| 20:19.05 | tanelorn | scythe, thanks alot for your time! |
| 20:19.10 | ScytheBlade1 | Sure |
| 20:19.15 | ScytheBlade1 | Go with what is simple, and works. ;) |
| 20:19.28 | tanelorn | normally i'm totally KISS! |
| 20:20.00 | ScytheBlade1 | One large default config is probably the way to go. It'll need to change every few months, and that isn't a problem, even for a single person. |
| 20:20.01 | tanelorn | but the question depends on for WHOM STUPID to keep it SIMPLE..... |
| 20:20.11 | tanelorn | yeah, i think so. |
| 20:21.11 | tanelorn | idea of a more flexible solution arose from "testing" isntallations not to bother "the" maintainer. but i think there have to be alot of tests before it'll justify the time to spend on such a beast |
| 20:21.55 | ScytheBlade1 | Give (b) write permission then |
| 20:22.22 | tanelorn | (b) is a set of teams... |
| 20:22.39 | ScytheBlade1 | /tftproot/team1/ |
| 20:23.02 | ScytheBlade1 | /tftproot/pxelinux.cfg/default: # TEAM 1\n # TEAM 2\n # TEAM n |
| 20:23.22 | ScytheBlade1 | Keep in mind you can also manually specify kernels and initrds at the boot line |
| 20:23.34 | ScytheBlade1 | You can configure pxelinux to allow it to boot other files not defined in the config file |
| 20:23.50 | tanelorn | a, right! |
| 20:24.21 | tanelorn | if i store it on *one* server, i might even include team-writting configs. i think syslinux allows this... |
| 20:24.28 | ScytheBlade1 | It does |
| 20:24.36 | ScytheBlade1 | As long as the tftpd process can read it, you're good |
| 20:24.46 | tanelorn | no problem there, i think |
| 20:25.15 | tanelorn | this is more of a kiss version.... |
| 20:25.24 | ScytheBlade1 | If they NEED to test something, give them a writable part of the tftproot over NFS |
| 20:25.35 | ScytheBlade1 | And make them manually type the needed config into the boot: prompt |
| 20:25.42 | ScytheBlade1 | Once they're good to go, add in what's needed |
| 20:26.02 | tanelorn | that sounds good |
| 20:26.19 | tanelorn | i have to go off now, thank you very much again...! |
| 20:26.23 | ScytheBlade1 | Yup |
| 20:27.24 | tanelorn | is there a problem with idling in this channel? the channelinfo suggests it aint? |
| 20:27.35 | ScytheBlade1 | Nope, no problem at all. |
| 20:27.50 | ScytheBlade1 | Most everyone in here has been here a long time and has never spoken more than a few lines :) |
| 20:28.08 | tanelorn | :-) |
| 20:28.21 | tanelorn | i was really wondering you were answering so fast... |
| 20:28.40 | ScytheBlade1 | lol |
| 20:28.40 | tanelorn | i was about to go to my gf next room and look back in an hour... or tomorrow.. :-) |
| 20:28.51 | ScytheBlade1 | You got me at a good time ;) |
| 20:29.19 | tanelorn | ,.oO( notice to myself... ) |
| 20:30.02 | tanelorn | so.... see u! |
| 20:30.06 | ScytheBlade1 | Enjoy |