ipxe and mboot.c32 - Printable Version

ipxe and mboot.c32 - Printable Version

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ipxe and mboot.c32 - betabox - 2012-03-01 21:08

I have a problem in my xenserver installation procedure.

I want to boot with ipxe and this script:

Code:

#!ipxe

set next-server 192.168.0.1

mgfetch tftp://192.168.0.1/xen6/boot/mboot.c32

imgfetch tftp://192.168.0.1/xen6/boot/xen.gz

imgfetch tftp://192.168.0.1/xen6/boot/vmlinuz

imgfetch tftp://192.168.0.1/xen6/boot/install.img

imgargs mboot.c32 xen.gz dom0_max_vcpus=2 dom0_mem=752M com1=115200,8n1 console=com1,vga --- vmlinuz xencons=hvc console=hv0 console=tty0 answerfile=http://192.168.0.1/ks/ks/sys/00215E563F0C/answer-aisxendeploy01.xml install --- install.img

boot mboot.c32

All imgfetch work, and the files transfer successful.

Than the mboot.c32 image boots and want to load xen.gz

"Loading xen.gz ..."

Now it stays here .... stops.

I look into the source of mboot.c and find, that it want to unpack the .gz file - but where it want to get it ? It doesn´t find it or what can happen ?

With imgstat I can list all imgs and parameter I set = looks all correct.

I try also with

imgargs mboot.c32 tftp://192.168.0.1/xen6/boot/xen.gz ...

or

imgargs mboot.c32 http://192.168.0.1/ks/xen6/boot/xen.gz ...

and no imgfetch ... but nothing - always the same point it stops.

Maybe I have misunderstand something and I cannot boot like this with ipxe.

Wie pxelinux the install is like this:

Code:

kernel mboot.c32

   append path/to/boot/directory/xen.gz watchdog com1=115200,8n1 \

      console=com1,tty --- path/to/boot/directory/vmlinuz \

      root=/dev/ram0 console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 \

      ramdisk_size=32758 \

      answerfile=http://pxehost.acme.com/XenServer_4.0.1-answerfile \

      install --- path/to/boot/directory/install.img

The question now is - where is the image I download with imgfetch ?

Or how can I handle this.

Thanks for reading until here :-)

Jochen

RE: ipxe and mboot.c32 - robinsmidsrod - 2012-03-02 19:36

You shouldn't imgfetch anything. But do something like this to load the rest of the command line with relative paths based on where you booted ipxe from. So if you load ipxe.pxe from the root of that tftp server mentioned above, it should be something like this:

Code:

chain xen6/boot/mboot.c32 xen6/boot/xen.gz .... xen6/boot/vmlinuz  .... xen6/boot/install.img

RE: ipxe and mboot.c32 - betabox - 2012-03-05 09:49

(2012-03-02 19:36)robinsmidsrod Wrote:

Code:

chain xen6/boot/mboot.c32 xen6/boot/xen.gz .... xen6/boot/vmlinuz .... xen6/boot/install.img

The environment is different to normal pxe scenario:

First we have a dhcp proxy and tftpd server on

192.168.0.4

From there we send to the nic card of the server with normal pxe call a ipxe.dsk floppy disk. Boot this ipxe system and load with a cgi call the script I wrote above.

chain http://192.168.0.1/gpxe.cgi?MAC=${net0/mac}

This script return a script for ipxe like that:

Code:

#!ipxe

set next-server 192.168.0.1

set 210:string tftp://192.168.0.1/

set 209:string tftp://192.168.0.1/gpxe.cgi?MAC=${net0/mac}

set filename ${210:string}xen6/mboot.c32

echo mac...............: ${mac}

echo ip................: ${ip}

echo netmask...........: ${netmask}

echo gateway...........: ${gateway}

echo dns...............: ${dns}

echo domain............: ${domain}

echo dhcp-server.......: ${dhcp-server}

echo syslog............: ${syslog}

echo filename..........: ${filename}

echo next-server.......: ${next-server}

echo hostname..........: ${hostname}

echo uuid..............: ${uuid}

echo serial............: ${serial}

echo .

chain ${filename} xen6/xen.gz dom0_max_vcpus=2 dom0_mem=752M com1=115200,8n1 console=com1,vga --- xen6/vmlinuz xencons=hvc console=hv0 console=tty0 answerfile=http://192.168.0.1/ks/ks/sys/00215E563F0C/answer-aisxendeploy01.xml install --- xen6/install.img ||

shell

I want to redirect the "old" pxe target 192.168.0.4 to .1

The problem is, that I can "download" the mboot.c32 file and than it starts and want to load xen.gz - but the only message I get is that

Code:

Loading xen6/xen.gz ...

I don´t know much about mboot.c32 and from where it want to load his files (I know the "relativ to pxe servers root) - I want to do all with http, but I cannot write

Code:

chain ${filename} http://192.168.0.1/pxe/xen6/xen.gz ....

Somewhere I have a probleme - but I cannot find it <snief>

thnx
Jochen

RE: ipxe and mboot.c32 - robinsmidsrod - 2012-03-05 10:21

I noticed this part in your generated script:

Code:

set 209:string tftp://192.168.0.1/gpxe.cgi?MAC=${net0/mac}

Are you really trying to get your TFTP server to execute a CGI script? I don't know of any TFTP server that supports generated content, like that. I think you need to change that line to http to make it actually execute your CGI script.

Also, have you tried just chaining directly to xen.gz instead of using mboot.c32? iPXE has some support for Multiboot images, and it might just work.

What kind of boot image is this xen.gz file?

RE: ipxe and mboot.c32 - MultimediaMan - 2012-08-09 03:53

Resurrecting this thread as I, too, am having problems with Xen and some others. There are workarounds (like wrapping it all up in an ISO, using ISOlinux and SANbooting...but that is...`unclean`), I'd really like to keep the boot as close to "iPXE Native" as possible. Im summary, we'd like to use iPXE to multiboot from an http address without resorting to a wrapper.

RE: ipxe and mboot.c32 - robinsmidsrod - 2012-08-09 14:06

This code from https://gist.github.com/2769396 shows how it's possible to boot the VMware installer directly from iPXE without using mboot.c32. You might be able to adapt it to your Xen loader.

Code:

# Based on details from http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.vsphere.upgrade.doc_50%2FGUID-2F0D4696-3681-4C13-9552-5280C6406376.html

set base-url http://XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX/

kernel ${base-url}tboot.b00

imgargs tboot.b00 ks=${base-url}ks.cfg

module ${base-url}b.b00

module ${base-url}useropts.gz

module ${base-url}k.b00

module ${base-url}a.b00

module ${base-url}s.v00

module ${base-url}weaselin.v00

module ${base-url}tools.t00

module ${base-url}imgdb.tgz

module ${base-url}imgpayld.tgz

boot

RE: ipxe and mboot.c32 - MultimediaMan - 2012-08-09 15:41

That didn't work, but again Robin, you've shown me some things to look for, and how to look for them. Thank you!

ESXi5 works, Xen Works (sort of), but ESXi4.1 is still vexing me. I have the edited ISO file, and that works (very well, in fact). Documenting how it works is harder than trying to get everything working in iPXE. Tongue

RE: ipxe and mboot.c32 - loper.t2h - 2013-07-20 14:27

(2012-08-09 14:06)robinsmidsrod Wrote: This code from https://gist.github.com/2769396 shows how it's possible to boot the VMware installer directly from iPXE without using mboot.c32. You might be able to adapt it to your Xen loader.

Code:

# Based on details from http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.vsphere.upgrade.doc_50%2FGUID-2F0D4696-3681-4C13-9552-5280C6406376.html set base-url http://XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX/ kernel ${base-url}tboot.b00 imgargs tboot.b00 ks=${base-url}ks.cfg module ${base-url}b.b00 module ${base-url}useropts.gz module ${base-url}k.b00 module ${base-url}a.b00 module ${base-url}s.v00 module ${base-url}weaselin.v00 module ${base-url}tools.t00 module ${base-url}imgdb.tgz module ${base-url}imgpayld.tgz boot

Dear Robin,
Have you tested this scriplet? On which version of ESX and which version/commit of iPXE? I'm having same problems, as described here: http://forum.ipxe.org/showthread.php?tid=6815&pid=8733#pid8733 on the latest ver of ESX (5.1). Only boot via mboot.c32 and tftpboot works.

RE: ipxe and mboot.c32 - robinsmidsrod - 2013-07-20 17:36

I've gotten feedback that ESXi 5.1 doesn't seem to work with this approach (although 5.0 used to work). I'm not a regular esxi user, so I'm not sure what they might've changed.

Be aware that mboot.c32 actually decompresses the files before handing them over to the kernel. iPXE doesn't do that. If the files are gzipped you might need to manually gunzip them and rename them back to the original name (even with the .gz extension) for things to work. I can't recall who on our IRC channel debugged this approach a lot, but I seem to recall they got stuck somewhere. My suggestion is to just enable IMAGE_COMBOOT support in iPXE and use mboot.c32 for now.

RE: ipxe and mboot.c32 - loper.t2h - 2013-07-20 18:08

(2013-07-20 17:36)robinsmidsrod Wrote: If the files are gzipped you might need to manually gunzip them and rename them back to the original name (even with the .gz extension) for things to work.

Tried that but without any result. Same as with gzipped.

(2013-07-20 17:36)robinsmidsrod Wrote: My suggestion is to just enable IMAGE_COMBOOT support in iPXE and use mboot.c32 for now.

With mboot.c32 it works fine, even over HTTP. But the goal is to get the same with iPXE, any idea?

RE: ipxe and mboot.c32 - robinsmidsrod - 2013-07-24 12:46

The only idea I have is to enable debugging for comboot and figure out how you can enable debugging on the esxi side so it can actually tell you more about why things are failing.

What does file(1) tell you about all those files you're trying to load with multiboot, are they all normal uncompressed linux initrds, or something else?

RE: ipxe and mboot.c32 - loper.t2h - 2013-07-24 13:38

(2013-07-24 12:46)robinsmidsrod Wrote: What does file(1) tell you about all those files you're trying to load with multiboot, are they all normal uncompressed linux initrds, or something else?

Code:

> file b.b00

b.b00: gzip compressed data, was "vmkBoot.ELF32", from Unix, last modified: Wed May  1 04:51:29 2013

> file net_e100.v00

net_e100.v00: gzip compressed data, was "stage.vtar", from Unix, last modified: Thu Aug  2 05:49:08 2012

As you can see, some of these files are gzip files, but some are special vmware-tar format files (mainly drivers).

I followed the thread on http://lists.ipxe.org/pipermail/ipxe-devel/2012-September/001846.html and http://lists.ipxe.org/pipermail/ipxe-devel/2012-September/001846.html but with the same results as described there.

Modules are being loaded (httpd logs shows some GETs) but probably not uncompressed. The main file (loaded with kernel option) and ungzipped:

Code:

> file tboot.b00

tboot.b00: gzip compressed data, from Unix, last modified: Wed Mar 14 02:16:55 2012, max compression

> file tboot

tboot: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), statically linked, stripped

Also the mboot.c32 is modified by VMware in some way (comparing to original syslinux's version) to load these files... Only something like this works (with mboot from ESX installation ISO):

Code:

kernel -n mboot.c32 ${url}/mboot.c32

imgargs mboot.c32 -c ${url}/iso-esx-ks.cfg

boot mboot.c32

Tested on ESXi ver 5.1.0U1 (Update 1 @ 2013-05-04-001).

RE: ipxe and mboot.c32 - robinsmidsrod - 2013-07-24 14:05

Okay, here is what you need to do. I'm going to use tboot.b00 as an example.

Code:

file tboot.b00

# if not gzip compressed, do nothing

# if gzip compressed

mv tboot.b00 tboot.b00.gz

gunzip tboot.b00.gz

# if gzip compressed, but actually ending in .gz

gunzip useropts.gz

mv useropts useropts.gz

The important thing is that all files need to be uncompressed, but the filename loaded must stay the same.

RE: ipxe and mboot.c32 - loper.t2h - 2013-07-24 14:26

(2013-07-24 14:05)robinsmidsrod Wrote: The important thing is that all files need to be uncompressed, but the filename loaded must stay the same.

Already tested, as described in ipxe-devel lists (ref in previous post):

Brandon Penglase Wrote:3. All of the modules are actually gzip'd. I used this script
(http://node4.smart-serv.net/~brandon/esxi-script.sh also attached)
to extract almost all of the modules, and rename them back to what
they were called. The ones I don't gunzip are the ones ending in .gz
or similar format, as iPXE does handle them, and it seems the kernel
wants to unpack them itself. From what I was finding, the kernel
would never boot for me when I included all of these as-shipped from
VMWare.

Result? Same as with compressed version - fade-to-black afrer boot command

RE: ipxe and mboot.c32 - robinsmidsrod - 2013-07-25 12:30

Then I have no other good solutions for a pure iPXE-based boot. Use mboot.c32 and try to ask vmware why it's not working? I do know there are people dealing with iPXE at VMware, so they should know what you're talking about.

RE: ipxe and mboot.c32 - loper.t2h - 2013-07-25 13:25

(2013-07-25 12:30)robinsmidsrod Wrote: Then I have no other good solutions for a pure iPXE-based boot. Use mboot.c32 and try to ask vmware why it's not working? I do know there are people dealing with iPXE at VMware, so they should know what you're talking about.

Ok, thanks for your help

RE: ipxe and mboot.c32 - Izaac - 2014-02-25 23:07

So to go back in time and answer the original poster's question, the following snippet of an iPXE script will work to boot the XenServer 6.2 installer, provided two conditions are met.

First, that the contents of the ISO hierarchy are mirrored into a webserver directory, e.g. /var/www/xenserver

Second, that the mboot.c32 from boot/pxelinux/mboot.c32 is symlinked to the root of this hierarchy, e.g. ln -s boot/pxelinux/mboot.c32 /var/www/xenserver/mboot.c32

Code:

:xen-install

set 210:string http://pxe.server.example.net/xenserver/

set 209:string http://pxe.server.example.net/xenserver/boot/isolinux/isolinux.cfg

chain http://pxe.server.example.net/xenserver/boot/pxelinux/pxelinux.0