[ipxe-devel] IPXE : Chain : Input/output error (http://ipxe.org/1d0c6239)

[Johannes Thoma]

Hello Christian,

Am 10.02.19 um 17:35 schrieb Christian Nilsson:
> On Sun, 10 Feb 2019 at 17:32, Christian Rappo <rappoc at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> When "chain http://192.168.1.10/Win2019Core.vhd" , the system display the following message: Input/output error (http://ipxe.org/1d0c6239).
>> Win2019Core.vhd is about 10GB.
>>
>> Please thanks for helping!
>> Kind regards,
>> Christian Rappo
>> Switzerland
> 
> I don't think the http stack currently support that large files.

I came across the same problem some weeks ago and solved it
by using a 64-bit build of iPXE: As pointed out by Michael,
those can be built with

   make bin-x86_64-efi/ipxe.efi
   make bin-x86_64-pcbios/ipxe.pxe

I've also made patches for 32 bit to support images over http
larger than 2 GB (in theory up to 2**63 bytes, tested with
a 32 GB image), if you really need 32 bit support now you can
apply those patches for now:

http://lists.ipxe.org/pipermail/ipxe-devel/2019-January/006471.html
http://lists.ipxe.org/pipermail/ipxe-devel/2019-January/006472.html

(@Michael: sorry for the long delay, I promise to try what you suggested
this week and get back to you).

> 
> You should find some other way to load your disk, iSCSI for example.

Currently, the only way to support diskless Windows clients I know
of is iSCSI (there might be others). As Christian Nilsson pointed
out, Windows only loads the neccessary kernel, drivers and registry
hives in the early boot process and eventually a Windows driver must
provide the System Volume somehow. Just as with Linux (and other
Unices), if the System Volume / root device is not present the
kernel BSODs / panics.

We are, however working to support boot device as DRBD device (for
diskless clients) for our (Linbit) WinDRBD kernel driver (see
https://github.com/LINBIT/windrbd) and will probably have
something useable in a few months. In our solution you would
boot Windows via iPXE and http from a DRBD device (with a small cgi-bin
wrapper) and once Windows is booted, provide the Windows System Volume
as a regular (Diskless Primary in DRBD speak) WinDRBD block device.
That way you can have setups with redundant servers as well.

What exactly are you trying to build?

Cheers,

- Johannes