[ipxe-devel] Chain load iPXE from PXELINUX

[James A. Peltier]

We actually chainload the ISO that is generated from WDS or the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit.  This avoids all the problems that you are running into.  We had several issues getting the method you describe to work properly.

----- Original Message -----
| 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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-- 
James A. Peltier
IT Services - Research Computing Group
Simon Fraser University - Burnaby Campus
Phone   : 778-782-6573
Fax     : 778-782-3045
E-Mail  : jpeltier at sfu.ca
Website : http://www.sfu.ca/itservices
          http://blogs.sfu.ca/people/jpeltier
I will do the best I can with the talent I have