DealingWithiPXE - Revision history

STEPHANE GERARD stgerard@vub.ac.be: /* Solution */

2017-10-21T13:49:36Z

Solution

@@ Line 46: / Line 46: @@
 rm pxe-virtio.rom
 ln -s 1af41000_new.rom pxe-virtio.rom
 </pre>

STEPHANE GERARD stgerard@vub.ac.be: /* Solution */

2017-10-21T13:45:30Z

Solution

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:45, 21 October 2017
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	4. Replace the old rom by the new one :		4. Replace the old rom by the new one :

	4.1 The new virtio rom with the embedded script in ipxe/src/bin/1af41000.rom		4.1 The new virtio rom with the embedded script is ipxe/src/bin/1af41000.rom

	4.2 Copy this file to the hypervisor :		4.2 Copy this file to the hypervisor :

STEPHANE GERARD stgerard@vub.ac.be: /* Solution */

2017-10-21T13:44:20Z

Solution

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:44, 21 October 2017
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	4.1 The new virtio rom with the embedded script in ipxe/src/bin/1af41000.rom		4.1 The new virtio rom with the embedded script in ipxe/src/bin/1af41000.rom

	4.2 Copy this file to the hypervisor :		4.2 Copy this file to the hypervisor :

Line 38:		Line 39:
	scp ipxe/src/bin/1af41000.rom hypervisor:/usr/share/qemu-kvm/1af41000_new.rom		scp ipxe/src/bin/1af41000.rom hypervisor:/usr/share/qemu-kvm/1af41000_new.rom
	</pre>		</pre>

	4.3 Change a symlink so that the new rom is used (on the hypervisor) :		4.3 Change a symlink so that the new rom is used (on the hypervisor) :

	<pre>		<pre>
	cd /usr/share/qemu-kvm		cd /usr/share/qemu-kvm

STEPHANE GERARD stgerard@vub.ac.be: /* Solution */

2017-10-21T13:43:46Z

Solution

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:43, 21 October 2017
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	<pre>		<pre>
	scp ipxe/src/bin/1af41000.rom hypervisor:/usr/share/qemu-kvm/1af41000_new.rom		scp ipxe/src/bin/1af41000.rom hypervisor:/usr/share/qemu-kvm/1af41000_new.rom
			</pre>
			4.3 Change a symlink so that the new rom is used (on the hypervisor) :
			<pre>
			cd /usr/share/qemu-kvm
			rm pxe-virtio.rom
			ln -s 1af41000_new.rom pxe-virtio.rom
	</pre>		</pre>

STEPHANE GERARD stgerard@vub.ac.be: /* Solution */

2017-10-21T13:40:50Z

Solution

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:40, 21 October 2017
Line 31:		Line 31:

	4. Replace the old rom by the new one :		4. Replace the old rom by the new one :

			4.1 The new virtio rom with the embedded script in ipxe/src/bin/1af41000.rom
			4.2 Copy this file to the hypervisor :

			<pre>
			scp ipxe/src/bin/1af41000.rom hypervisor:/usr/share/qemu-kvm/1af41000_new.rom
			</pre>

STEPHANE GERARD stgerard@vub.ac.be: /* Solution */

2017-10-21T13:35:53Z

Solution

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:35, 21 October 2017
Line 10:		Line 10:

	1. Git clone the iPXE code :		1. Git clone the iPXE code :

			<pre>
	git clone git://git.ipxe.org/ipxe.git		git clone git://git.ipxe.org/ipxe.git
			</pre>

	2. Get into the ipxe git dir and download the script in it :		2. Get into the ipxe git dir and download the script in it :

			<pre>
	cd ipxe		cd ipxe
	wget ...		wget ...
			</pre>

	3. Build iPXE :		3. Build iPXE :

			<pre>
	cd src && make EMBED=../nic-menu.ipxe && cd ..		cd src && make EMBED=../nic-menu.ipxe && cd ..
			</pre>

	Note : During our first attempt, we've got an error saying that lzma.h was missing. It was fixed by installing the package xz-devel.		Note : During our first attempt, we've got an error saying that lzma.h was missing. It was fixed by installing the package xz-devel.

	4. Replace the old rom by the new one :		4. Replace the old rom by the new one :

STEPHANE GERARD stgerard@vub.ac.be: /* Solution */

2017-10-21T13:34:54Z

Solution

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:34, 21 October 2017
Line 8:		Line 8:

	Here is the detailed recipe of the solution that we applied on our hypervisors :		Here is the detailed recipe of the solution that we applied on our hypervisors :

			1. Git clone the iPXE code :
			git clone git://git.ipxe.org/ipxe.git

			2. Get into the ipxe git dir and download the script in it :
			cd ipxe
			wget ...

			3. Build iPXE :
			cd src && make EMBED=../nic-menu.ipxe && cd ..

			Note : During our first attempt, we've got an error saying that lzma.h was missing. It was fixed by installing the package xz-devel.

			4. Replace the old rom by the new one :

STEPHANE GERARD stgerard@vub.ac.be: /* Solution */

2017-10-21T13:26:11Z

Solution

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:26, 21 October 2017
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	== Solution ==		== Solution ==

	Instead of downgrading to gPXE (the past pathetic workaround), there's a better way that consists in customizing the rom by embedding ~~a menu~~ in it. The generic method to embed scripts is described [here http://ipxe.org/~~embed~~].		Instead of downgrading to gPXE (the past pathetic workaround), there's a better way that consists in customizing the rom by embedding an iPXE script in it. The generic method to embed scripts is described [http://ipxe.org/embed here], and iPXE scripting is explained [http://ipxe.org/scripting here]. We needed a script that tries all the NICs, and we have found [https://gist.github.com/robinsmidsrod/3871687 this cool iPXE menu] on GitHubGist (it does a bit more than just trying all the NICs in turn, its default behaviour...).

			Here is the detailed recipe of the solution that we applied on our hypervisors :

STEPHANE GERARD stgerard@vub.ac.be: /* Solution */

2017-10-21T13:09:19Z

Solution

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:09, 21 October 2017
Line 5:		Line 5:
	== Solution ==		== Solution ==

	Instead of downgrading to gPXE (the past pathetic workaround), there's a better way that consists in customizing the rom by embedding a menu in it.		Instead of downgrading to gPXE (the past pathetic workaround), there's a better way that consists in customizing the rom by embedding a menu in it. The generic method to embed scripts is described [here http://ipxe.org/embed].

STEPHANE GERARD stgerard@vub.ac.be: Created page with "== Problem == New hypervisors come with iPXE installed instead of gPXE. This is not a problem in itself since iPXE brings a lot of new interesting features compared to gPXE. ..."

2017-10-21T13:06:29Z

Created page with "== Problem == New hypervisors come with iPXE installed instead of gPXE. This is not a problem in itself since iPXE brings a lot of new interesting features compared to gPXE. ..."

New page

== Problem ==

New hypervisors come with iPXE installed instead of gPXE. This is not a problem in itself since iPXE brings a lot of new interesting features compared to gPXE. But the virtio iPXE ROM that's provided by default doesn't behave as it should with VMs that have several NICs : it only tries to boot from the first found NIC and then it stops if the boot failed, instead of trying the other NICs. For us, it's a big problem since many VMs have two NICs : the first one is the public, and the second one is the private, and that's the one that will be used to pxe-boot.

== Solution ==

Instead of downgrading to gPXE (the past pathetic workaround), there's a better way that consists in customizing the rom by embedding a menu in it.