Boot XEN dom0

[Kristoffer]

Hi,

I want to boot a XEN dom0 over iPXE, however it seems that iPXE does not support gzip and XEN cannot be compiled as a bzimage ?

What would be the best solution here?

Currently mboot.c32 is simply hanging.

I'm running:
Debian kernel 3.8-rc6
XEN 4.2
syslinux 4.05
iPXE from git

Thanks

Regards
Kristoffer

[robinsmidsrod]

Run mboot.c32 via PXELinux, or compile ipxe with support for IMAGE_COMBOOT and use mboot.c32 directly from iPXE. *.c32 support is no longer part of the default compilation options.

[Kristoffer]

Hi,
mboot.c32 via pxelinux works - but mboot.c32 directly from iPXE gives "Exec format error" (http://ipxe.org/2e008001) when booting the .gz kernel, even with COMBOOT support - can you give any hints why?

iPXE conf is:
kernel mboot.c32
chain xen-4.2.0-rc4.gz --- vmlinuz-3.8.0-rc6 --- initrd.img-3.8.0-rc6

[robinsmidsrod]

Most likely because you're using an mboot.c32 that is from syslinux version 4.xx, which is not supported by iPXE. Only versions prior to 4.00 are supported.

I also believe the correct iPXE command is (all on one line):

Code:

chain mboot.c32 xen-4.2.0-rc4.gz --- vmlinuz-3.8.0-rc6 --- initrd.img-3.8.0-rc6

[Kristoffer]

Tried with syslinux 3.86 and:

chain http://192.168.1.1/mboot.c32 http://192.168.1.1/xen-4.2.0-rc4.gz --- http://192.168.1.1/vmlinuz-3.8.0-rc6-customversion --- http://192.168.1.1/initrd.img-3.8.0-rc6-customversion

Getting mboot.c32 Boot failed.

Might work with 3.20, according to some redhat forum, but pxelinux is good enough for me for now.

Thanks

[xezzy]

Hi,

I'm trying to install xenserver 6.2.0 on my server, and I want to use iPXE. My server doesn't have cd-rom and integrated network controller is busted, but iPXE works with my wireless card. I had no luck with creating reliable USB boot stick, and on top of that it is a headless server with no video output, therefore my options are pretty much limited to iPXE unattended install through wireless connection.

In xenserver documentation there is a guide on how to perform install using PXE, but if I understand correctly it won't directly apply to how to perform iPXE installation. What I'd need to do to make it work? I understand that it is possible, but is it feasible for me to do it, if my experience with PXE/iPXE/xenserver is limited? Please point me in the right direction.

Let me know,
xezzy

[robinsmidsrod]

You might find this info that was recently added to the wiki useful: http://ipxe.org/appnote/xenserver