Topic: PXE boot to BARTPE

[wires]

after reading thru the forums i found out that the PXE boot to BARTPE tutorial in contribs.org is outdated, doesnt seem to have valid information on the guide.. i am trying to follow the guide and trying to bypass some info that isnt relevent anymore for the sme server but i still cant get this to work in linux, tftpd32 on windows works though. please correct any steps, i just typed what i did from the tutorial. http://wiki.contribs.org/PXE_booting_to_BARTPE

Assumptions
You are a network/server administrator and know what TFTP, BARTPE and PXE -a network boot- means. Your SME SERVER is your DHCP server.

my comment
somehow i have problems with DHCP server with the sme server and my computers, seems to me that only the computers are capable of the DHCP server. (i tried this tutorial on my windows pc with tftpd32 and the connections work perfect)

all the commands from the tutorial:

1. install tftp server ---> http://wiki.contribs.org/Tftp_server

2. download BARTPE on your local pc: http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder


3. create a BARTPE disk using WINDOWS SERVER 2003 source OR use WINDOWS XP SP2 source replacing the following file with the newer version from the WINDOWS SERVER 2003 SP1
C:\pebuilder3110a\BartPE\I386\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ramdisk.sys download the WINDOW 2003 SERVER SP1: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=22CFC239-337C-4D81-8354-72593B1C1F43&displaylang=en


4. you now have a BARTPE.ISO


5. extract only the following files from the WINDOWS SERVER 2003 SP1 (using winrar) and expend them using dos prompt. You only need the ramdisk.sys file if you don't have a WINDOWS 2003 SERVER source to build your BARTPE from. See above section

ntdetect.com
ramdisk.sy_
setupldr.ex_
startrom.n1_

expand ramdisk.sy_
expand setupldr.ex_
expand startrom.n1_

6. copy the following files to the SME SERVER in the "/tftpdboot" directory

ntdetect.com
setupldr.exe
startrom.n12
bartpe.iso

7. login to sme server with root access and rename the following files (the files are case-sensitive and need to be named exactly as follows)

ntdetect.com (lower-case)
NTLDR (rename the setupldr.exe to NTLDR, all caps)
startrom.0 (rename the startrom.n12 to startrom.0) (This is a ZERO)
BARTPE.ISO (all caps)

8. still in "/tftpdboot" directory create a winnt.sif file

nano -w winnt.sif

add the following to winnt.sif

[SetupData]
BootDevice = "ramdisk(0)"
BootPath = "\i386\System32\"
OsLoadOptions = "/noguiboot /fastdetect /minint /rdexportascd /rdpath=bartpe.iso"

9. create a directory and name it pxelinux.cfg

mkdir pxelinux.cfg

10. move inside directory pxelinux.cfg and create a file named default

cd pxelinux.cfg
nano -w default

add the following to default

prompt 1
implicit 0
timeout 600
default foo
LABEL bartpe
   kernel startrom.0

11. Summary of contents of TFTPBOOT dir
[root@server tftpboot]# ls -la

total 941492
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root      4096 Dec  3 15:43 .
drwxr-xr-x  27 root root      4096 Nov 30 13:31 ..
-rw-r--r--   1 root root 159930368 Dec  3 14:18 BARTPE.ISO
-rw-r--r--   1 root root     47772 Mar 24  2005 ntdetect.com
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    278016 Mar 24  2005 NTLDR
-rw-r--r--   1 root root     13204 Sep  4  2006 pxelinux.0
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root      4096 Apr 18  2007 pxelinux.cfg
-rw-r--r--   1 root root     24466 Mar 24  2005 startrom.0
-rw-r--r--   1 root root   1473787 Apr  5  2006 vmlinuz
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       169 Dec  3 15:44 winnt.sif

NOW, only thing that you need to do is make sure you rebooted your sme7 system with "signal-event post-upgrade; signal-event reboot"

Boot client PC where you want to network isntall operating systems like windows xp. Client pc should detect sme7 server tftpd and show you a menu in monitor.

[wires]

first my /tftpboot directory has the following:

total 100
-rw-r--r--  1 root admin  155 Apr  3 00:49 aastra.cfg
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root  4096 Mar 29 16:24 F1000
-rw-r--r--  1 root admin   12 Apr  3 00:49 OS79XX.TXT
-rw-r--r--  1 root admin 1188 Apr  3 00:49 polycom-locals.cfg
-rw-r--r--  1 root admin  110 Apr  3 00:49 RINGLIST.DAT
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    23 Apr  3 00:46 seldir
-rw-r--r--  1 root admin  188 Apr  3 00:49 SIPDefault.cnf
-rw-r--r--  1 root admin  690 Apr  3 00:49 snom300.htm
-rw-r--r--  1 root admin  729 Apr  3 00:49 snom320.htm
-rw-r--r--  1 root admin  729 Apr  3 00:49 snom360.htm
-rw-r--r--  1 root admin  729 Apr  3 00:49 snom370.htm
-rw-r--r--  1 root admin  162 Apr  3 00:49 spa1000.cfg
-rw-r--r--  1 root admin  162 Apr  3 00:49 spa2000.cfg
-rw-r--r--  1 root admin  162 Apr  3 00:49 spa2002.cfg
-rw-r--r--  1 root admin  162 Apr  3 00:49 spa2102.cfg
-rw-r--r--  1 root admin  162 Apr  3 00:49 spa3102.cfg
-rw-r--r--  1 root admin  162 Apr  3 00:49 spa841.cfg
-rw-r--r--  1 root admin  162 Apr  3 00:49 spa901.cfg
-rw-r--r--  1 root admin  162 Apr  3 00:49 spa921.cfg
-rw-r--r--  1 root admin  162 Apr  3 00:49 spa922.cfg
-rw-r--r--  1 root admin  162 Apr  3 00:49 spa941.cfg
-rw-r--r--  1 root admin  162 Apr  3 00:49 spa942.cfg
-rw-r--r--  1 root admin  162 Apr  3 00:49 spa962.cfg
-rw-r--r--  1 root admin  161 Apr  3 00:49 spaPAP2T.cfg
-rw-r--r--  1 root admin 1064 Apr  3 00:49 XMLDefault.cnf.xml

i need to add the following files

ntdetect.com
NTLDR
startrom.0
BARTPE.ISO

create the following directory/files

winnt.sif
pxelinux.cfg
default

I am missing these files and i dont know where the author of the tutorial got them from.

vmlinuz
pxelinux.0

the problem might be that i dont have enough system memory to install windows xp from network using BARTPE.ISO

i later find out that i needed Thinclient installed in the server ---> http://wiki.contribs.org/Thinclient

[wires]

with this configuration PXE Boot timeout all the time and cannot load any image...

anyone have this working and wants to share steps to make it work ?

thanks


edit: i recently installed smeserver-thinclient-ts-2.2-1.noarch.rpm which is giving i guess more possibilites to make this work!

[FraunhoferIFF]

Do you have tftp_remap.conf ?

I use Thinclient for Remote Installation Service  RIS.

here my tftp_remap.conf

Code: [Select]

rg \\ / # Convert backslashes to slashes
#r       ^/winxp2/ /home/e-smith/files/ibays/ris/files/winxp/i386   # Convert relative paths to their absolute position
#r       ^/winxp/ /home/e-smith/files/ibays/ris/files/winxp/  # Convert relative paths to their absolute position
rg A a # lower case
rg B b # lower case
rg C c # lower case
rg D d # lower case
rg E e # lower case
rg F f # lower case
rg G g # lower case
rg H h # lower case
rg I i # lower case
rg J j # lower case
rg K k # lower case
rg L l # lower case
rg M m # lower case
rg N n # lower case
rg O o # lower case
rg P p # lower case
rg Q q # lower case
rg R r # lower case
rg S s # lower case
rg T t # lower case
rg U u # lower case
rg V v # lower case
rg W w # lower case
rg X x # lower case
rg Y y # lower case
rg Z z # lower case

sorry for my english .. i am German

Marcel

[wires]

i dont, but thanks i will try it when i get back home.

thanks

[wires]

mm where should i put the file though ?

with my current setup, the machine says:

CLIENT MAC ADDR: XX XX XX XX XX XX GUID: XXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXXXX
CLIENT IP: XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX MASK: XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX DHCP IP: XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
GATEWAY IP: XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
PXE-E11: ARP timeout
PXE-E11: ARP timeout
PXE-E38: TFTP cannot open connection
PXE-M0F: Exiting Intel Boot Agent.
Missing operating system

[FraunhoferIFF]

Code: [Select]

[root@open-exchange ~]# config show tftpd
tftpd=service
    UDPPort=69
    access=private
    directory=/tftpboot
    log=normal
    privilege=r
    remap=/tftpboot/tftp_remap.conf
    status=enabled
    timeout=normal
    user=root
[root@open-exchange ~]# config show thinclient
thinclient=service
    defaultbase=Winxp
    status=enabled
    tftpserver=Self

[wires]

thanks i will try it when i get back home.

[wires]

a how-to is seriously needed, nothing is working here... i just want to mention that my sme server is running in serveronly mode, not sure if that might be the issue or not and my ASDL router is running DHCP. It's hard to understand why sme server has to release DHCP address to service the local network also.

[wires]

i found the problem, i had to redirect connections to the sme server using my ADSL firewall settings. Now it's almost working !! lol...

this is my default file

prompt 10
default bartpe

LABEL bartpe
   kernel memtest
   append initrd=bartpe.iso

i get this error...

PXELINUX 3.36 2007-02-10 Copyright .........
.....

Trying to load: pxelinux.cfg/default
boot: 
Could not find kernel image:memtest
boot:

this is frustrating ... do i have to build my own images using the computer ?

[wires]

got it working with DSL (dam small linux)
http://cdprojekte.mattiasschlenker.de/Public/DSL-frominitrd/1.5-0.0/

but i still need to find out a grub like boot and how to install windows xp using a linux box... this is so much harder than i thought it would be

[Jáder]

i found the problem, i had to redirect connections to the sme server using my ADSL firewall settings. Now it's almost working !! lol...

this is my default file

Here is mine... lot of images working.
You do not have to create your images, use those provided by CD/DVDs .

Code: [Select]

[root@tigre ~]# cat /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default
default memtest
prompt 10
timeout 120
display opcoes.msg

label thinstation
  kernel thinstation/vmlinuz
  append ramdisk_blocksize=4096 initrd=thinstation/initrd root=/dev/ram0 ramdisk_size=524288 console=ttyS3 vga=791
label memtest
  kernel memtest
label ubuntu
  kernel ubuntu/linux
  append vga=normal initrd=ubuntu/initrd.gz  --
label sme8
  kernel sme8/vmlinuz
  append initrd=sme8/initrd.img headless text selinux=0

label sme8.linux
  kernel sme8/vmlinuz
  append initrd=sme8/initrd.img
label sme8.text
  kernel sme8/vmlinuz
  append initrd=sme8/initrd.img text
label sme8.ks
  kernel sme8/vmlinuz
  append ks initrd=sme8/initrd.img

label freespire.install
  menu label ^Install Freespire
  kernel freespire/vmlinuz
  append boot=casper initrd=freespire/initrd.img live=install quiet splash --
label freespire.desktop
  menu label ^Run Freespire from CD
  kernel freespire/vmlinuz
  append boot=casper initrd=freespire/initrd.img live=desktop quiet splash --
label freespire.xforcevesa
  menu label Start Freespire in safe ^graphics mode
  kernel freespire/vmlinuz
  append boot=casper initrd=freespire/initrd.img live=desktop quiet splash xforcevesa --

label pmagic
  kernel pmagic30/grldr
  append initrd=pmagic30/pmagic/initrd root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk_size=200000

label nas.lite
  kernel memdisk
  append initrd=naslite-smb.img
label pmag7
  kernel memdisk
  append initrd=pmag7d2.img
label dos.rede
  kernel memdisk
  append initrd=new.corpnet.img

label dos.ndis
  kernel memdisk
  append keeppxe initrd=new.corpnet.img

label dos71
  kernel memdisk
  append keeppxe initrd=MSDOS710.IMG
label dos71B
  kernel memdisk
  append keeppxe initrd=MSDOS71B.IMG

label sme7
  kernel sme7/vmlinuz
  append initrd=sme7/initrd.img headless text selinux=0
label sme7.linux
  kernel sme7/vmlinuz
  append initrd=sme7/initrd.img
label sme7.text
  kernel sme7/vmlinuz
  append initrd=sme7/initrd.img text
label sme7.ks
  kernel sme7/vmlinuz
  append ks initrd=sme7/initrd.img

label drvimg-1
   kernel drvimg-1.img

label drvimg-2
  kernel drvimg-2.img
label easyrec51
  kernel easyrec51.img
label easyrec6
  kernel easyrec51.img
label g2k3
   kernel g2k3.img
label MSCLIENT
   kernel MSCLIENT.img
label RH71
   kernel RH71.img

label FreeNAS
   kernel freenas.img


All files without a path on this file are on /tftpboot (e.g. some .img files)

Good luck... PXE rules!

Jáder

[wires]

ok, so u mean i have to download, for exemple freenas (FreeNAS-i386-LiveCD-0.69.4276.iso) then i have to create an image from it and upload it to sme server tftpboot/freenas and link to it from default file ?


ps.. i broke pxe hahaha, fresh sme7 install and trying to redo everything about pxe but i get TFTP open timeout , again!!. i think it has something to do with thinstation.conf.network, that file i huge.

enabled
self
default

[Jáder]

ok, so u mean i have to download, for exemple freenas (FreeNAS-i386-LiveCD-0.69.4276.iso) then i have to create an image from it and upload it to sme server tftpboot/freenas and link to it from default file ?

No!
Means you need to download .iso of FREENAS, mount it a mnt directory of your SME server, copy files from it to /tftpboot diretory and change some lines on default file to include it  (and as info put it also on file show a list to you).

Let me try to redo my steps for SME7:
1) mount SME7 iso
mount /home/e-smith/files/ibays/iso/files/smeserver7.iso /mnt/pendrive/ -o loop

2) copy files below from /mnt/pendrive/isolinux to /tftpboot/sme7 dir of tftpboot

[root@tigre tftpboot]# ls -la sme7/
total 11376
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root    4096 Aug  2  2008 .
drwxr-xr-x  12 root root    4096 Apr  4 14:58 ..
-r--r--r--   1 root root 4251337 Nov 20 13:55 initi586.img
-r--r--r--   1 root root 4263559 Nov 20 13:54 initrd.img
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root    4096 Aug  2  2008 pxelinux.cfg
-r--r--r--   1 root root 1545983 Nov 20 13:54 vmlinuz
-r--r--r--   1 root root 1538625 Nov 20 13:55 vmlzi586

note that /mnt/pendrive/isolinux/isolinux.cfg is the source of info to your new entry on file called default .

3) Try it.

4) if you get on a page of SME7 server asking from where install... you're almost there. Just copy (or link) sme7 content to your web server and inform that path during install.

[wires]

very helpfull thank you.

I found out about this website http://unattended.sourceforge.net/ which offers so many with doing a network windows installations. i am amazed and this works so perfectly that i wish a sme contrib existed for it.