[ipxe-devel] Chain load iPXE from PXELINUX

[Lindgren Daniel]

Hello.

I've been trying to implement chainloading of Microsoft WDS from
PXELINUX. We have a PXELINUX/DHCP/TFTP server that is separate from the
WDS server (which also is a TFTP server). DHCP options 66 and 67 have
been universally set op to point to the PXELINUX server and ipxelinux.0
(basically gPXELINUX with gPXE replaced by iPXE, works very well). We've
used PXELINUX for years and want to keep it as the primary PXE boot
loader, if possible.

This is what I'm trying to accomplish:

- Client PXE boots ipxelinux.0 which runs a (compiled in) ipxe script
which chain loads a generic PHP-script that activates HTTP transfers for
PXELINUX and redirects the client to the closest TFTP-server for loading
of pxelinux.0. Activation of HTTP transfers speed up network ISO booting
5-6 times compared to TFTP transfers.
- PXELINUX is loaded and the menu is presented to the user.
- There is a menu option to start a client install using our WDS
infrastructure. I want that menu option to chain load a different
iPXELINUX ("ipxelinux_wds.0") from the same server. That version runs a
different PHP script that changes option 66/67 to point to the WDS
server and then chain loads WDS PXE boot (wdsnbp.com).

I've run into to two problems.

1) I can't successfully chainload ipxelinux_wds.0 from PXELINUX. Tried
using pxechain.com to load ipxelinux_wds.0 but nothing happens. Is there
another way to do it?

2) I've tested booting ipxelinux_wds.0 directly and it successfully
redirects option 66 and 67 for wdsnbp.com, but the WIM file doesn't
boot. It's completely loaded but the boot process stops after the image
has been transferred. If I boot wdsnbp.com directly (set DHCP options
66/67 to the WDS server), it succesfully boots the same WIM after
transfer.

If someone has an idea about the first problem, I'd really appreciate
some input.

The second problem is probably difficult to pinpoint (PXE BIOS loads
ipxelinux which chain loads wdsnbp.com), but any ideas are welcome.

Cheers,
Daniel
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