How to use bootpquery to troubleshoot "PXE-E16: Valid PXE offer not received"

[John Wood_4]

I have an Ignite server that was working before the holiday break. Today I wanted to ignite a new HP Integrity client system, so I edited /etc/bootptab on the Ignite server, and then tried to LAN-boot the new client, but I keep getting the error message:

PXE-E16: Valid PXE offer not received.

I've seen the Ignite FAQ section 6.7 at http://www.docs.hp.com/en/IUX/faq.html#d0e2698 and I've done those steps, but I still get the PXE-E16 error.

I wondered if I could use bootpquery to help identify my problem. What I tried to do is to run bootpquery as follows:

# bootpquery 0017A4993DCB ether -s watsup1

bootpquery: Bootp servers not responding!

where the MAC address is that of my new client system, and watsup1 is the name of my Ignite server.

The new client system already has HP-UX installed, and from that system I can ping & telnet OK between the Ignite server and the new client system, so I know the network connectiion is OK.

I can see a bootp process running on the Ignite server. In desparation I rebooted the Ignite server, but that didn't resolve the problem.

So I think the client's bootp request is not getting to the Ignite server - but I don't know why. Is it possible to use bootbquery to help determine the problem? Or any other suggestions?

Thanks,
John.

[Tim Nelson]

I usually encounter this error when somebody else answered the DHCP request. i.e. a windows server or router on the same subnet.

To avoid this on the IA platform a direct boot option was added to the server firmware called dbprofile.

In the PA world you would still need to resolve the issue.
1) make sure to use /etc/opt/ignite/instl_boottab on the ignite server and the ignite server must be on the same subnet.
2) use ignite boot helper, i.e. create boot CD/Tape with same Ignite version of ignite server then select ignite server install, you can then provide the direct IP of the ignite server to talk to.

[Tim Nelson]

I usually encounter this error when somebody else answered the DHCP request. i.e. a windows server or router on the same subnet.

To avoid this on the IA platform a direct boot option was added to the server firmware called dbprofile.

In the PA world you would still need to resolve the issue.
1) make sure that the ignite server is on the same subnet, then "Boot lan.172.20.0.59 install" from the GSP of the server to boot.
2) use ignite boot helper, i.e. create boot CD/Tape with same Ignite version of ignite server, boot it then select ignite server install, you can then provide the direct IP of the ignite server to talk to.

[Scot Bean]

Make sure your client and server are on the same subnet. 'bootp' does not span subnets.

[John Wood_4]

Thanks for the replies. dbprofile sounds promising - but I'm not exactly sure how to use it. Here's what I tried:

Shell> dbprofile
Profile List

Profile Name: watsup1boot
Network Type: IPv4
Client IP address: 16.26.86.25
Gateway IP address: 16.26.84.1
Subnet Mask: 255.255.252.0
Server IP address: 16.26.86.25
Boot File:
Optional Data:

Shell> lanboot select -dn watsup1boot
01 Acpi(HWP0002,PNP0A03,200)/Pci(2|0)/Mac(0017A4993DCB)
02 Acpi(HWP0002,PNP0A03,200)/Pci(2|1)/Mac(0017A4993DCA)
Select Desired LAN: 1
Selected Acpi(HWP0002,PNP0A03,200)/Pci(2|0)/Mac(0017A4993DCB)


Client MAC Address: 00 17 A4 99 3D CB
Client IP Address: 16.26.86.25
Subnet Mask: 255.255.252.0
BOOTP Server IP Address: 16.26.86.25
DHCP Server IP Address: 0.0.0.0
Boot file name:
PXE-E21: Remote boot cancelled.
Exit status code: Invalid Parameter

Shell>

Do I need to set the Boot File Name too? If so, what should that be?

Thanks,
John

[John Wood_4]

I found some more info re. dbprofile.

From the EFI "help dbprofile" it says:

Note 5. Only the following configuration are currently supported:
- boot server IP has to be specified (-sip)
- boot file name has to be specified (-b)


And within the Ignite-UX Admin manual, on page http://docs.hp.com/en/5992-1959/ch06s06.html, it says:

"When creating a direct boot profile, always define the boot
file using the -b option to set the value to /opt/ignite/boot/nbp.efi.
This is required to install HP-UX."


So I created a new dbprofile called "new1" as shown below, but this still didn't work:


Shell> dbprofile -dn new1

Profile Name: new1
Network Type: IPv4
Client IP address: 0.0.0.0
Gateway IP address: 0.0.0.0
Subnet Mask: 0.0.0.0
Server IP address: 16.26.86.25
Boot File: /opt/ignite/boot/nbp.efi
Optional Data:

Shell>
Shell> lanboot select -dn new1
01 Acpi(HWP0002,PNP0A03,200)/Pci(2|0)/Mac(0017A4993DCB)
02 Acpi(HWP0002,PNP0A03,200)/Pci(2|1)/Mac(0017A4993DCA)
Select Desired LAN: 1
Selected Acpi(HWP0002,PNP0A03,200)/Pci(2|0)/Mac(0017A4993DCB)


Client MAC Address: 00 17 A4 99 3D CB .....-
PXE-E16: Valid PXE offer not received.
Exit status code: Invalid Parameter

Shell>


Do you think that perhaps my problem is not rogue DHCP servers, but a problem with my Ignite server?

Thanks,
John

[John Wood_4]

In http://www.docs.hp.com/en/IUX/faq.html#d0e2698 it says:

"Check /var/adm/syslog/syslog.log for a message from bootpd that indicates it was started when a bootpd packet was received."

I tried using another Ignite server and another client to see what entries I should get from bootpd in syslog. I lan-booted the client and got as far as the "Welcome to Ignite-UX" screen (which I thought should be enough of a test). But when I grep syslog for "boot", the only entries I see are when bootpd started when that Ignite server was booted last month.

So how can I check if my Ignite server is receiving the bootpd packet?

BTW, my problematic Ignite server 16.26.86.25 and client 16.26.86.4 are in the same IP subnet - netmask is 255.255.252.0.

Oh - I realize that I had the same IP address for client and server in my watsup1boot dbprofile (as posted previously) - my bad, sorry!

[John Wood_4]

Working now!

Now that I have fixed the watsup1boot dbprofile so that the client & server have their correct IP addresses, I am now able to download the HPUX bootloader, etc.

So a fully-specified dbprofile was the solution.

I'd still be interested to know how to determine if a bootp request reaches the Ignite server.

[Eric SAUBIGNAC]

Bonjour John,

Congratulations, you have fixed the problem by yourself ;-)



You can have "bootpd" more verbose :

- edit /etc/inetd.conf and modify "bootps" line to add "-d 1", "-d 2" or "-d 3" (fix level of verbosity [man bootpd]). It could give something like :

bootps dgram udp wait root /usr/lbin/bootpd bootpd -d 3

- tell inetd to re-read its configuration file :

inetd -c

- if it is present kill "bootpd" daemon.

Now, you will have many informations in /var/adm/syslog ... maybe too much !

After you have troubleshoot your problem, don't forget to delete option "-d X" in /etc/inetd.conf

Hope this will help

Eric

[John Wood_4]

Thanks for the last reply. I quickly tried it but it didn't work - I probably missed out a step, or mis-typed something. Using your notes I did find:

Troubleshooting BOOTP and TFTP Servers http://docs.hp.com/en/5991-6548/ch03s05.html

So at least I'll know how to do this when I next have Ignite problems.