Boot a VM from PXE

[listerthrawn]

Is it possible to PXE boot a VM?

I've created a VM and set the boot device to network but now it won't start at all. I get the following in the log: -

qm[8196]: VM 104 start failed: command '/usr/bin/kvm -monitor unix:/var/run/qemu-server/104.mon,server,nowait -vnc unix:/var/run/qemu-server/104.vnc,password -pidfile /var/run/qemu-server/104.pid -daemonize -usbdevice tablet -name Test2 -smp 1 -boot can -vga cirrus -tdf -localtime -rtc-td-hack -k en-gb -drive file=/var/lib/vz/images/104/vm-104-disk-1.raw,if=ide,index=0,boot=on -drive file=/var/lib/vz/template/iso/NetKVM-and-viostor.iso,if=ide,index=2,media=cdrom -m 512 -net tap,vlan=0,ifname=vmtab104i0,script=/var/lib/qemu-server/bridge-vlan -net nic,vlan=0,model=rtl8139,macaddr=DE:1D7:C5:1A:AE -id 104 -cpuunits 1000' failed with exit code 1

Am I doing something stupid?

Thanks

Chris

 

[fluke]

Yes, I have done it without problems using e1000 network. I would suggest just to create a simple test VM to check that pxe boot is working and then implement it on your existing VM's.

 

[listerthrawn]

That's just what I've done, created a bog standard VM and changed the boot device to Network. I've set the network card to e1000 but no difference.

The only thing I can think is that my network set up is slightly different to the norm with vmbr0 having bond0 attached to it which is the 2 physical network connections (active/passive)

 

[fluke]

I just tested booting from pxe from a vmbr1, where I have bonding (802.3ad) configured, the VM boots successfully but it takes 1-2 minutes until it gets successfully address from DHCP, so bonding for sure causes trouble with PXE.

 

[listerthrawn]

Hmm.

Mine doesn't get that far. The VM never actually starts, just drops straight back stopped in the web interface giving the error I posted in my first post.

Are you using 1.5? Maybe it's a bug? I'll have to try with 1.4.

Thanks

 

[fluke]

Hmm.

Mine doesn't get that far. The VM never actually starts, just drops straight back stopped in the web interface giving the error I posted in my first post.

Are you using 1.5? Maybe it's a bug? I'll have to try with 1.4.

Thanks

I am using 1.5. If you change the VM not to boot from network, does it start?

 

[dietmar]

What versions do you use exactly - please can you post the output of

# pveversion -v

 

[listerthrawn]

Yes it does.

Doesn't get anywhere but at least I can see the Bochs/Qemu BIOS page with no bootable devices shown.

As soon as I add in the 'Network' option it just fails immediately.

Thanks

 

[listerthrawn]

pve-manager: 1.5-5 (pve-manager/1.5/4627)
running kernel: 2.6.18-1-pve
proxmox-ve-2.6.18: 1.5-4
pve-kernel-2.6.18-1-pve: 2.6.18-4
qemu-server: 1.1-11
pve-firmware: 1.0-3
libpve-storage-perl: 1.0-7
vncterm: 0.9-2
vzctl: 3.0.23-1pve6
vzdump: 1.2-5
vzprocps: 2.0.11-1dso2
vzquota: 3.0.11-1
pve-qemu-kvm-2.6.18: 0.9.1-4

Edit: - I've just ran an update and upgraded to all the latest packages. New result is: -

pve-manager: 1.5-5 (pve-manager/1.5/4627)
running kernel: 2.6.18-1-pve
proxmox-ve-2.6.18: 1.5-4
pve-kernel-2.6.18-1-pve: 2.6.18-4
qemu-server: 1.1-11
pve-firmware: 1.0-3
libpve-storage-perl: 1.0-8
vncterm: 0.9-2
vzctl: 3.0.23-1pve6
vzdump: 1.2-5
vzprocps: 2.0.11-1dso2
vzquota: 3.0.11-1
pve-qemu-kvm-2.6.18: 0.9.1-4

 

[dietmar]

I can confirm the bug. There is no PXE ROM in pve-qemu-kvm-2.6.18.

 

[listerthrawn]

I've moved to 2.6.32 and it does seem to be working now. I don't get an IP from the RIS server but I'm one step closer...

Thanks

Chris

 

[dietmar]

I just uploaded a fix for 2.6.18 - maybe you can update and test again?

 

[webcart]

Hello,
I spent the whole day banging my head against the wall, until I realized that must be virtualization-related.

I have Proxmox VE installed from proxmox-ve_1.5-4627-3.iso image and the virtual machine I created doesn't boot via PXE.
Here is what I see in the PXE server log:

Feb 25 15:45:12 srv20 dhcpd: DHCPDISCOVER from a2:a7:63:69:0b:9a via eth0
Feb 25 15:45:13 srv20 dhcpd: DHCPOFFER on 66.xxx.yyy.zzz to a2:a7:63:69:0b:9a via eth0

I am pretty sure PXE boot server is working OK, because the whole Proxmox VE was installed via PXE earlier today
But the VM keeps saying "No IP address".

 

[tom]

yes, pxe boot is not perfect ... the next KVM version used in Proxmox VE (26.24/2.6.32 branch only) should work as expected. I already got Windows installed from network using WDS - so as soon as the internal testing is finished we will release this.

 

[listerthrawn]

yes, pxe boot is not perfect ... the next KVM version used in Proxmox VE (26.24/2.6.32 branch only) should work as expected. I already got Windows installed from network using WDS - so as soon as the internal testing is finished we will release this.

Did this pass internal testing? Does PXE booting work well now? (For 2.6.32 branch anyway)

Thanks