DL380G3 - PXE - Broadcom BCM5703 - DHCP not working

[Simon Marley]

I have a DL380 G3, I am trying to boot to a PXE server, the machine will not collect an address from the DHCP server. The server has two Broadcom BCM5703 Nics. One is disabled.

Has anyone seen this before??

[Rob Leadbeater]

Hi,

I've seen problems similar to this on a heavily loaded LAN yes. The first time I tried to install a batch of blade servers, I tried to get them all (15) to install in one hit. The amount of network traffic that was generated as the servers started to pull their installation images from the PXE server meant that some of the boxes didn't get a timely response from the DHCP server.

However having said that, there could be lots of other reasons for a machine not getting an address...

If you detail your network environment a little more it may help others come up with more solutions.

Cheers,
Rob

[Henrik Svarrer]

Yes,

Have you tried to upgrade the firmware?

[Simon Marley]

No I haven't. Do you mean the firmware on the server or the Broadcom NIC's?

One strange thing, the server will pick up a dhcp address within windows 2003 if I configure it to use DHCP, but won't when trying to connect to a PXE server pre OS load. !!! Bizzare

[Rob Leadbeater]

What type of switch is the server connected to ?

[Simon Marley]

Cisco Catalyst 4507R / Gigabit Switching Module. default Vlan, Port configured as an access port.

[Rob Leadbeater]

If you haven't already try configuring portfast on the relevant switch port(s):

So you've got something like this:

interface GigabitEthernet6/4
switchport access vlan 10
switchport mode access
spanning-tree portfast

[Simon Marley]

will give it a go, cheers

[Simon Marley]

Tried portfast, still no joy.

[HEM_2]

Are you getting a specific PXE Error?