ipxe.lkrn from menu.c32

[aruzsi]

Hi,

PXE->pxelinux.0 (3.86) ->pxelinux.cfg/default:
DEFAULT resccd/menu.c32
PROMPT 1

LABEL ipxe
MENU LABEL iPXE - chainload iPXE from a PXE capable NIC
KERNEL ipxe.lkrn
initrd tinycore.ipxe

tinycore.ipxe:

#!ipxe
dhcp
kernel http://freenas.hu:9080/bzImage lang=hu kmap=hu
initrd http://freenas.hu:9080/tinycore.gz
boot

The result when I choose from the menu:
Loading ipxe.lkrn........
Loading tinycore.ipxe...ready
iPXE initialising devices...ok


iPXE 1.0.0+ -- Open Source ........
Features: VLAN HTTP iSCSI DNS ...
DHCP (net0 08:00:27:....)...... ok
http://freenas.hu:9080/bzImage... 10%

and that's all. It was running in VBox.

In VMware (7.0) the situation is absolutelly different.
And I haven't tested it on KVM and real machines...

Am I doing something wrong?

TIA,
Ruzsi

[robinsmidsrod]

I would urge you to test it out on some real hardware before you test in a virtual machine. There are so many issues that surrounds net-booting in virtual machines. You are also aware that if you load ipxe.lkrn inside pxelinux you must have support by native ipxe drivers. VMWare is supposed to work, but I'm not exactly sure which emulated adapter to use. I would by default assume the Intel e1000 is the best to use, as it is usually the best supported adapter.

[aruzsi]

Hi,

Thanks for your information.
PXE environment is used in virtual system. I boot real hardware very rarely.

Now I try the next config with VMware+VBox+KVM (qemu):
Booting the normal pxelinux.0 (3.86). I got a menu (with menu.c32).
From the menu I can choose some not local file loading (usually HTTP) with ipxe.lkrn where the kernel option is: dhcp && name_of_the_ipxe_script.

It seems working. Of course I tried out many combinations which aren't working. I think it is my failure because I don't know exactly when and how the boot process is happening (for example if I want to boot from a remote iso over HTTP and memdisk).

I would like to read some HowTo or WiKi about making ipxe roms for VMware (for Win), VBox (it is very hard using correct expansion (pxe)rom) and KVM (it is the best documented, maybe it is enough for me and in the last version ipxe rom is default).

TIA,
Ruzsi