tftp config problem (ltsp)

[Paul Lussier]

As an aside, you might want to switch to tftpd-hpa (that's the Debian
package name, no idea about whatever distro you're using).  hpa's tftp
is specifically designed to deal with larger files, etc. relevant to
pxelinux booting.

sean <tech.junk at verizon.net> writes:

> In my dhcpd.conf file if I set
> filename "/pxe/prelinux.0"; the client will start the boot process.
                  ^
Err, should that be /pxe/pxelinux.0 ?

> After the DHCP output the screen will display
>
> "TFTP prefix" /pxe/"

Don't know what that means.  Have you googled it?

> Then a series of lines stating Trying to load" pxelinux.cfg/"filename"
> finally trying "default" in the end.

Right.  syslinux (which pxelinux is based off of) looks for a filename
on a per-client basis using the hex version of client's address.  IOW,
given client foo, with IP address 192.168.100.10, pxelinux will look
for filename.C0A8640A.  Failing to find that, it will look for
filename.C0A864, then filename.C0A8, then filename.C0, then
default.

> After this point I get
>
> Could not find kernel image: linux
> boot:
>
> I know from reading the docs that this should mean the kernel is not in
> the expected place.

Exactly.  You need to determine a) where your kernel *is*, and b)
where it you've configured it to be.  One of those 2 things is incorrect.

> In /tftpboot/lts I have either "bzImage-2.6.17.8-ltsp-1" or
> "vmlinuz-2.6.17.8-ltsp-1".
>
> I thought tftpboot/lts was the proper location?

I have no idea.  Have you read the pxelinux.doc file which comes with
the syslinux package, of which pxelinux is part?  Two of the things it
clearly states are:

    It should be noted that all filename references are relative to
    the directory pxelinux.0 lives in (usually /tftpboot).

and

    PXELINUX currently requires that the boot server has a TFTP server
    which supports the "tsize" TFTP option (RFC 1784/RFC 2349).

I don't know what this lts tftp server is, nor whether it is
RFC1784/2349 compliant.  I use H. Peter Anvin's tftp server.  He's
also the auther of syslinux.

> The default file is located in /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg
>
> prompt 0
> label linux
>     kernel vmlinuz-2.6.17.8-ltsp-1
>     append rw root=/dev/ram0 initrd=initramfs.gz

I'm not sure, but the leading whitespace on the 'kernel' and 'append'
lines might be giving you problems.  My default config file looks
like:

default fai-install

label fai-install
kernel vmlinuz-2.4.31pcore-a.13

append auto rw root=/dev/nfs nfsroot=10.95.0.37:/usr/lib/fai/nfsroot nfsaddrs=kernel idebus=66 ip=0.0.0.0::10.95.0.1:255.255.0.0:::dhcp


> I have also tried the bz file as well. Same results.
> I can only boot this far if I have filename "/pxe/pxelinux.0"; set in
> dhcpd.conf .
>
> filename                                "/pxe/pxelinux.0";
> next-server                             192.168.0.11;

That makes sense, provied /pxe/pxelinux.0 is really 
  192.168.0.11:/$TFTPBOOT/pxe/pxelinux.0

> If I set filename to the vm or bz image mentioned earlier, I will get 
> the "NBP is to large" error.
> So far no idea how to cure this problem.

Have you googled on this error?

-- 
Seeya,
Paul