iPXE not working as expected.

[gregw]

Hello,

We have an iPXE server that has worked for us for years (in a network of 1000's of hosts and vendors) and never had issues, till we upgraded proxmox to version 5. Now we are unable to boot over the network for automated installs, for any guests on the proxmox cluster.

I searched the forum here and found a few people with similar issues but no work arounds or fixes reported, sorry if i missed one.

it complains there is no such file (undionly.kpxe).

Is there a solution to correct this?

I'm a bit surprised there is a problem as about 100% of our other PXE clients are using Intel's implementation of PXE, I see proxmox using iPXE roms, yet our iPXE server and they don't seem to get along.

thanks!
greg

 

[fabian]

could you please post the complete error message, and the output of "pveversion -v"? did you check the server logs - do the guests make a connection, or is there nothing?

 

[LnxBil]

What virtual network device are you using for this?

 

[gregw]

with my tail between my legs I sneak away quietly hoping I'm not noticed.

As I was gathering data for you I seen what the problem was and corrected it, thanks for the replies.

I was attempting to bring up a machine in the server network, the only one where we have a very restricted DHCP range. Most everything here is static IP'd. 99% of the PXE/DHCP requirements are from the desktop and HPC network. I noticed we did not have option 66 (boot server name) in the scope. Once I added that the proxmox guest booted as expected.

again thanks for your reply.

greg

 

[LnxBil]

I suggest to use the mac prefix settings in PVE to be able to distinguish PVE clients from other clients. This works very well and was a feature I requested in PVE 4. Thanks again for its implementation!

 

[gregw]

Think you are posting in the wrong place LnxBil, your comment isn't related in any way to the conversation here.

 

[LnxBil]

I post in the perfect place:

If you use a MAC prefix in PVE, you can boot a special PXE environment for you PVE-based hosts. I have a vast setup for PXE for multiple different systems and like to distinguish them by MAC, so that e.g. all notebooks from one vendor or even special models have their own PXE setup, menu, settings etc.

 

[gregw]

Actually it isn't related at all... For the record, vendors had this in place since the conception of MAC addresses the day Xerox implemented them. The OUI is the first 6 hex digest, assigned to various vendors. This isn't a LnxBil idea.

I was going to ask how your comments are related to my OP issue, but I've the feeling there is nothing to be won or gained here. Thanks for sharing your opinions.

have fun!
-g