[ipxe-devel] [PATCH] Format HTTP Range with unsigned long long

[Michael Brown]

On 31/05/17 10:33, Linus Lüssing wrote:
>>    #!ipxe
>>    set repo http://server/path/to/distro
>>    kernel ${repo}/images/pxeboot/vmlinuz \
>>       initrd=initrd.img \
>>       root=live:${repo}/LiveOS/squashfs.img
>>    initrd ${repo}/images/pxeboot/initrd.img
>>    boot
>>
>> This doesn't actually use HTTP SAN booting: instead you load the
>> kernel+initrd directly and passing a kernel command-line argument which
>> tells the initrd where to find the rest of the distro.
> 
> I was hoping not having to extract kernel/initrd/rootfs for every LiveOS
> I want to add. Being able to just throw in ISOs directly would have been
> so convenient :D.

You could just mount the ISO (with -o loop) and have the mount point 
accessible via HTTP.

You could plausibly also have a server-side script which extracts files 
from the ISO on the fly, which would save you from even having to mount it.

> PS: Is there some documentation regarding SAN you would recommend?
> I'm a little curious now how difficult it might be to teach Linux
> to map a SAN device to a place where a LiveOS could find and mount
> it as root device by default.

It's almost certainly possible, but won't be supported by default in any 
distro.  You'd end up having to modify the ISO image, at which point 
it's simpler just to extract the contents anyway.

Michael