[INFO] PXE (Small General Overview)

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fanthom
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Re: [INFO] PXE (Small General Overview)

Post#16 by fanthom » 19 May 2013, 20:28

please put all porteus files in '/mnt/something' (inside the initrd) and it will boot. no need for a 'from=' cheatcode.
path to .sgn file must be:

Code: Select all

/mnt/xyz/porteus/porteus-v2.0-x86_64.sgn
the reason is that linuxrc mounts all devices (also network and iso image) under /mnt/sdXY folder and searches for .sgn file there and nowhere else.
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bshogeman
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[Solved] [INFO] PXE (Small General Overview)

Post#17 by bshogeman » 24 May 2013, 21:03

Tnx, It works with only a kernel and initrd now.

For your info..
the sanboot command that ipxe uses (see it as an alternative to pxelinux.0) seems like to use the iSCSI / SAN protocol.
All linux versions that booted out-of-the-box contained some version of an iSCSI Initiator like open-iscsi.
There were also rules in udev to recognize such devices. There seems no open-iscsi module for Porteus or Slax so the idea to use sanboot to boot the iso over http ended there.
The sanboot command only works for an iso that has all files necessary for the boot in the kernel and initrd or has a kernel URL (iscsi/nfs/nbd/http) command for locating the other files.

Just for info. This is no feature request!! The advantage of NBD above NFS is that:
- it is faster
- possibility for load balancing (multiple servers serving one or more clients)
- not limited to disk images or folders. You could also use it for using a swap partition or even the memory of a remote system. Very useful if the client has not enough ram and a server has.
- more and more linux versions especially the tiny one's are making the step from nfs to nbd.
(That was one of my problems. I was looking for a small linux version that didn't use or could work without one of there protocols but was just simple and fast, and could work within the existing m$ environment. I found it. It is Porteus :) with great help on this forum.)

Both are simple to use and work with squashed images. Also both can be used on linux and windows as host platform. So can work in most environments. But you are right. As NFS modules already exists for porteus / slax /slackware and there isn't one for nbd, it is far more easy to use nfs. There are some other advantages of nbd then I named above but would it really matter in this case.. I think the answer is no. Aldo it would be nice as feature. :D
Now only fix automount of usb sticks for openbox and I am happy. But I can figure out how. I still have ideas of what I could have done wrong or is missing. I already use Porteus in the production environment and haven't received any complaints. Only people saying that it boots fast. Just what it supposed to do.

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fanthom
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Re: [INFO] PXE (Small General Overview)

Post#18 by fanthom » 24 May 2013, 21:21

hello bshogeman,

thanks for you insight about NBD protocol. will keep it in mind and if more users complains about NFS then will probably switch to it.
so far i can tell that PXE boot feature is not very popular and i was even thinking about dropping it.

happy to hear that you have found porteus useful :)
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Re: [INFO] PXE (Small General Overview)

Post#19 by bastibasti » 30 Dec 2014, 09:17

Hi all,

first of all I've been a SLAX user for years and now found Porteus by luck. I love that I can use LXDE (yes I still use 3.0.1)

However now Iam trying to integrate porteus into my pxe server (not using the pxe server built into porteus). It offers already slax, knoppix etc I want porteus as my default as lxde is best for old machines.

-> I figured out the pxe structure. Its kinda simmilar than what slax does. However the init ramdisk does not seem to load any modules. I can start the busybox shell and manually load the module and udhcpc retrieves an ip adress.

Can you tell me what iam doing wrong? there seem to be no kernel commandline added to the pxelinux.cfg in the porteus pxe server.

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Re: [INFO] PXE (Small General Overview)

Post#20 by fanthom » 02 Jan 2015, 11:19

@bastibasti

Just tried PXE boot of stock Porteus and works fine here. Please generate psinfo report on a PC where PXE does not work, upload to pastebin.com and post here.

Thanks
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[INFO] PXE (Small General Overview)

Post#21 by mrbastel » 08 Sep 2017, 13:44

Hi, i know this thread is a little bit in sleep mode.
But i want to try the same thing.
Is there a solution in the meantime provided by porteus to do a pxe boot without the default pxe script provided?
I also have a pxe boot environment where the pxe OSs are provided.
Or is it still about fiddling around on my own?

Thanks in Advanced

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