[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List:       npaci-rocks-discussion
Subject:    Re: [Rocks-Discuss] FW: PXE Boot Question
From:       "Greg Bruno" <greg.bruno () gmail ! com>
Date:       2006-10-31 22:13:47
Message-ID: e572dbf60610311413m58977af5h302d1a8a65058b29 () mail ! gmail ! com
[Download RAW message or body]

On 10/31/06, Ebacher, Jon <Jon.Ebacher@liberty.rolls-royce.com> wrote:
> > I have recently been experimenting with Rocks. My sandbox contains 3
> > Shuttle XPC machines. Please contain your envy!
> >
> > The frontend installed fine.
> >
> > I had difficulty convincing my compute nodes to PXE boot. This continued
> > even after putting PXE first in the boot order and disabling other boot
> > devices. I was finally able to get a PXE boot after discovering a BIOS
> > setting.
> >
> >       On Board LAN Boot ROM           Enable/Disable
> >
> > After enabling this option I successfully PXE installed a compute node.
> > Again and again and again. The archives clearly document this behavior as
> > being caused by an incorrect boot order. I reset the boot order to: 1st
> > hard drive, 2nd lan; but the behavior did not change.
> >
> > I went back and disabled the BIOS setting above and sure enough the
> > compute nodes booted up correctly. I was able to add a user and perform a
> > LINPACK benchmark (though the scores don't bear repeating).
> >
> > It appears as though the "LAN" option in the boot order only applies to an
> > add-on NIC, and that enabling the on-board LAN Boot option supersedes the
> > boot menu altogether. I intend to question Shuttle regarding this unsavory
> > (and perhaps immoral?) BIOS behavior, but my question to the ROCKS
> > community is this:
> >
> > What are the long term implications of disabling PXE boot after install.
> > Is this only an issue if the hard drive is corrupted or switched out, or
> > does this break the ROCKS support/update model in a fundamental way?

it is like you say -- you'll be fine until you swap out the boot hard
disk. if you do swap out the boot hard disk, then you will have to
boot the machine with the rocks boot CD or do your PXE trick above.

but, after you initially install the node, subsequent reinstallations
are initiated from the hard disk -- that is, the installation kernel
and initrd.img are pulled from the node's local hard disk.

on a related note, we have several shuttle nodes that we used to
develop the first version of the viz roll, and they work find with the
boot order of CD, hard disk, PXE. granted, these nodes are 2 years
old, but i would imagine that the newer shuttles should act in a
similar manner.

 - gb

[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]