Re: usb memory stick for linux

On 28 May 2009, Bambleweeny uttered the following:
Many laptops and motherboards with onboard LAN can boot from the
network using Intels PXE boot protocol. You'll need a local DHCP
server with the capability to set extended options (not usually a
feature of domestic broadband routers),

Well, not necessarily. The protocol says you need that, but I've
found that my new machines (with Realtek and Intel gigabit cards
respectively) don't need any extended options at all: just this:

allow booting;
allow bootp;

group {
next-server 192.168.14.18;
filename "pxelinux.0";

host mutilate {
hardware ethernet 00:24:8c:0f:64:18;
fixed-address 192.168.14.20;
}

host spindle {
hardware ethernet 00:e0:81:c0:91:1a;
fixed-address 192.168.14.15;
}
}

(and the usual pxelinux configuration state).

It may be that if pxelinux isn't helping out, you need extended options
to pass down the info that pxelinux can put in its config file: but I'm
not sure how you'd manage to boot Linux over PXE without pxelinux...

The pxelinux homepage has more on this, including what extended options
you might need if you're unlucky.


It is notably annoying that one of my machines will only boot from PXE
if you bash the keyboard and force it to via the boot menu (always
preferring the local hard disk), while the other one always prefers PXE:
only turning off PXE in the BIOS or killing the DHCP server will stop it
booting off the network.

Even high-end server PC hardware is still PC hardware and thus sucks,
I suppose.

a tftp server

H. Peter Anvin's tftp-hpa is good here.

and possibly an
NFS server.

Well, you have to get your rootfs from somewhere, whether nfsroot or
initramfs...
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: network booting
    ... requires a DHCP server somewhere on your LAN ... and does a proper 'diskless boot'. ... I did actually research PXE a bit while getting the DHCP/TFTP code ... downloaded code to talk to the network card. ...
    (comp.sys.apple2)
  • pxeboot with IBM x335: failure
    ... I'm trying to boot an IMB x335 server via PXE. ... BIOS drive A: is disk0 ...
    (freebsd-stable)
  • Re: installing Ubuntu via PXE using tftpd32
    ... If possible, boot from CD-ROM or DVD, and install from there! ... turned off the windows firewall and the routers own DHCP server. ... Are you wanting to do a PXE install over a wireless LAN? ...
    (comp.os.linux.setup)
  • Re: Ghosting an XP machine
    ... I would like the ability to push ... I installed the 3Com PXE server which came with GSS 2.0 ... I created the TCP/IP Network boot image using Ghost with the session ... I started GhostCast Server and clicked accept clients for the session ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • PXE boot from X4100 - Solaris 10 11/06
    ... I am having real problems getting Solaris 10 11/06 x64 booting from PXE ... # Start off by initialising DHCP ... enable PXE boot by creating ... This E-mail is from IPC Media Ltd, a company registered in England and ...
    (SunManagers)