iPXE and Service Pack for ProLiant (SPP)

[JorellF]

I am trying to deploy SPP over the network using EFI, it works when in legacy mode, but soon we will be switching over to EFI. The servers are ML110s, ML350s, DL380s, and more...

The current message that keeps being displayed is:

vfs unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)

the only answer I can find for this error is the kernel needs to be 3.16+, the kernel is currently 3.12.38-44

SPP is 2016-10

iPXE is compiled from git source on 2017-01-17 build 26050

I also tried syslinux.efi, it crashes. grub2 is unable to retrive a DHCP address. elilo reports token is too long.

the ipxe menu contains:

kernel http://${ipserver}/data/hp_spp/${hpsppver}/vmlinuz initrd=initrd.img rootfstype=ramfs
initrd http://${ipserver}/data/hp_spp/${hpsppver}/initrd.img
imgargs vmlinuz media=net rw ramdisk_size=1099688 root=/dev/ram0 init=/bin/init iso1mnt=/mnt/bootdevice loglevel=3 ide=nodma ide=noraid nopat pnpbios=off vga=791 splash=silent hp_fibre showopts noexec32=off numa=off nox2apic ipappend 2 TYPE=MANUAL AUTOPOWEROFFONSUCCESS=no AUTOREBOOTONSUCCESS=no iso1=nfs://${ipserver}/opt/planb/data/hp_spp/${hpsppver}/${hpsppiso} iso1opts=timeo=120,nolock,bg,ro
boot

[Jimmy Vance]

I don't have iPXE setup, but here is an entry from my grub.cfg file for UEFI PXE boot. The SPP kernel image can boot the ISO over HTTP and that is the method I use in the lab.

menuentry 'HPE SPP 2016.10.0 HTTP' --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
        echo 'Loading Kernel ...'
        linuxefi /spp2016.10.0/vmlinuz media=net rw root=/dev/ram0 ramdisk_size=1083840 init=/bin/init loglevel=3 vga=791 splash=silent hp_fibre showopts TYPE=MANUAL AUTOPOWEROFFONSUCCESS=no iso1=http://10.10.0.15/hpespp/SPP2016100.20
16_1009.185.iso iso1mnt=/mnt/bootdevice
        echo 'Loading initial Ramdisk ...'
        initrdefi /spp2016.10.0/initrd.img
        }

[JorellF]

I am unable to use grub because net_bootp returns with couldn't autoconfigure efinet0. I need to use dhcp because there are several subnets and more then one server will be running SPP at the same time.

ipxe needs to be used due to its ability to use php menus.

[Jimmy Vance]

Not suggesting you use grub. Just showing a working SPP UEFI PXE boot configuration that happens to use grub2. You should be able to move the syntax and make it work with iPXE

[JorellF]

I have already tried those commands with no success.

[Jimmy Vance]

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@JorellF wrote:

I have already tried those commands with no success.

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have you tried HTTP instead of NFS?

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@JorellF wrote:
I also tried syslinux.efi, it crashes. grub2 is unable to retrive a DHCP address. elilo reports token is too long.

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I too had no success with syslinux and UEFI.  I was using ELILO, but recently switched over to using grub2.  My DHCP configuration decides if the system is legacy or UEFI and directs TFTP to use either pxelinux.0 for legacy systems, or bootx64.efi for UEFI systems. 

[JorellF]

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have you tried HTTP instead of NFS?

 Produces the same error

Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)
CPU: 0 PID: 1  Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 3.12.38-44-default #1

I too had no success with syslinux and UEFI.  I was using ELILO, but recently switched over to using grub2.  My DHCP configuration decides if the system is legacy or UEFI and directs TFTP to use either pxelinux.0 for legacy systems, or bootx64.efi for UEFI systems. 

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what was you conf for ELILO?

[Jimmy Vance]

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@JorellF wrote:

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what was you conf for ELILO?

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image=/spp2016.04.0/vmlinuz
    label=sppnfs201640
    description = "SPP 2016.04.0 Manual NFS"
    initrd=/spp2016.04.0/initrd.img
    append="media=net rwroot=/dev/ram0 ramdisk_size=1083840 init=/bin/init loglevel=3 ide=nodma ide=noraid nopat pnp
bios=off vga=791 splash=silent hp_fibre showopts noexec32=off numa=off nox2apic TYPE=MANUAL AUTOPOWEROFFONSUCCESS=no
 iso1=nfs://10.0.0.10/spp/SPP2016040.2016_0317.20.iso iso1mnt=/mnt/bootdevice"

[JorellF]

I still get the error "Token is too long".

but Thank you.

[JorellF]

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The error that I get is:

vfs unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)

 the only answer I can find for this error is the kernel needs to be 3.16+, the kernel is currently 3.12.38-44

SPP is 2016-10 

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How can I update the kernel in initrd.img to version 3.16?

What linux distro would I need to use to update the initrd.img?