Ignite lan boot

[Ruan_3]

Hi everyone,

I would like to know whether my procedure for setting up boot from lan for Ignite is correct. I want to set this up for K, N and A class servers. Our Ignite server is a V 2250. Do the clients support lan boot? Does the server support lan boot?

The steps I want to follow are as follows:

1. Edit /etc/opt/ignite/instl_boottab and reserve the client IP address for each host for which I would like to configure lan boot (by using the MAC addr)

2. Enable instl_bootd by uncommenting the corresponding line in /etc/inetd.conf and restarting inetd

3. Reboot the client(s) and do a search lan install

4. Boot from the Ignite server

Does this look OK or am I missing something?

Regards
Ruan

[Yang Qin_1]

You have to add:
2.1 edit /etc/exports to add lines like:
/var/opt/ignite/clients -anon=2
/var/opt/ignite/recovery/archives/server1 -anon=2
/var/opt/ignite/recovery/archives/server2 -anon=2

2.2 run exportfs

2.3 Make sure on your Ignite server, nfs.client, nfs.core and nfs.server are running.

3. interrupt autoboot and type:
boot lan.IP_of_Ignite_Server install

reply "Interact with IPL?> " with "N"


Yang

[Ralph Grothe]

Just one addition.
I find it too cumbersome to export every new archive share for eache newly added backed up ignite client.
Therefore I prefer to exportfs the whole archives share to hosts of the whole LAN segment.
e.g. (replace 123.123.123 with your network IP part)

# exportfs
/var/opt/ignite/clients -anon=2,access=@123.123.123
/var/opt/ignite/recovery/archives -anon=2,access=@123.123.123


Also I prefer booting any ignite client that I need to recover and which still has a HP-UX running with the bootsys command from the ignite server.
It has the nice -S option which allows ssh RSA authorization.
On the other hand if you need to rebuild the client from scratch then ISL thereon as described is your friend.

[Ruan_3]

Hi,

Also, our servers have multiple NICs. Very few of the servers use the built-in NIC. The two additional NICs are configured with an 11.2.16.0 and 11.2.20.0 address respectively.

Can I unplug either of the network cables of the client and plug it into the built-in NIC for lan booting?

Thnx,
Ruan

[Yang Qin_1 · Accepted solution]

Yes, you can plug any LAN cable to build-in LAN as long as it is in the same subnet with your Ignite server and the speed is suitable for your build-in LAN card. Some build-in card can only accept 100 FD, so, if you plug a cable with 100 FD, you may have problem.

Yang

[Yang Qin_1]

soryy, I meant "if you plug a cable with 1000 FD, you will have trouble"

Yang

[Ruan_3]

Hi,

I have just seen that the recovery archives are identified by MAC address. The MAC address will obviously not be the same when booting from the internal NIC.

Is there a procedure to get around this?

Thanks,
Ruan

[Yang Qin_1]

Here you are:

On Ignite server:

1. cp -rp mac_of_orig_image mac_to_be_rebuild

2. ln â s mac_to_be_rebuild name_for_rebuild_server

3. MAC address need to all in uppercase.

Yang

[Ruan_3]

Yang,

Thanks for all the info!

Do you know how to set the duplex options? Also, our Ignite version is quite old: B.4.3.91... Any known issues?


Is there any way to check whether a client will be able to see the Ignite server without actually doing a reboot?

Thanks.

[Yang Qin_1]

You meant duplex option for a NIC (lan0, lan1)? Try lanadmin -X 100FD <#>

As long as you have a good Ignite image, you should not have problem for server rebuild/recovery/clone. Of course, if you can upgrade you Ignite server and clients before you rebuild the servers, it will be better.

You can use Ignite GUI and configure the server you want to ignite. By doing so, you will know if you will have a problem to Ignite that server or not. However, if to_be_rebuild server is not in the same subnet, when that server is running, you can always setup communication with you Ignite server. While when you try to boot from lan, you need to put both of them in the same subnet otherwise client you will have trouble to Ignite.

You can still run Ignite rebuild for a server in different subnet but you need a Ignite gateway server which is up and running and in the same subnet with you to_bu_rebuild server. You need to configure that server as a Ignite gateway server.

Yang

[Ralph Grothe]

As for the deviating MAC address of the internal NIC (that most clients can only boot from) and the normally used one,
I think that you can use the -l option of the make_net_recovery command (though I haven't tried it yet, because I connected my ignitable servers to the built-in NIC (usually lan0)).

maybe you could try something like
(optionally add the -p switch and look at latest/recovery.log of the client on your iux server if it worked)

echo /usr/sbin/make_net_recovery -v -l $(lanadmin -a 0|awk -F" = " '{print toupper($2)}') -P s -s your_iux_server -x inc_entire=vg00 | batch

[Ruan_3]

Hi,

So last night I attempted a lan boot on our development server.

sea lan yields:

P0 10/12/6.2 lan.0

sea lan install yields:

Unknown device

I then tried boot lan install, but the system just goes into a loop...

Retrying Boot Device...
Boot Device not ready.

and eventually:

Failed to initialize


ENTRY_INIT
Status = -4

I tried both network cables (connected to the 11.2.16.0 and 11.2.20 nw respectively). The ignite server also has two NICs configured with addresses in the aforementioned ranges.

Will an ethereal trace (nw trace) on the ignite server show any traffic on ports 1067 and 1068 (instl_bootd ports).

Is it best to have instl_bootd via inetd?

Regards,
Ruan

[Yang Qin_1]

If one of NICs on your Ignite server configured with IP 11.2.16.2, then plug the cable with IP subnet 11.2.16.# to lan0 on client server (to be rebuilt). use boot command like this:

boot lan.11.2.16.2 install

Yang

[Ruan_3]

Yang,

Thanks, but I have tried that route already. Any other suggestions? Why does search lan install say unknown device?

Also, should the link lights on the NIC of the client not flash while the boot process is in progress?

Regards,
Raan

[Yang Qin_1]

It looks like you have more than one NIC on that client server.

When you run boot lan.11.2.16.# install, the message "BCH Directed LAN Path: /x/x/x/x.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx" point to which NIC? is it 10/12/6.2? If not, you have to plug the cable to the othe NIC.

Yang

[Ruan_3]

Hi,

A little more info on the ongoing saga. The internal card is only a 10M card (Ethernet instead of Fast Ethernet). The ports on the nw switch are forced to 100M Full Duplex. So just plugging the cables from one of these ports will not work apparently.

Will have to speak to the nw admins and see if they can sort this out.

Regards,
Ruan

[Ruan_3]

Hi,

So the nw admin configured a free port to be autoneg. Tested this by connecting a fly lead and enabling the internal card. Can ping server on address allocated to card.

I am going to try the lan boot on Sunday again. Is the Ignite recovery screens presented the same as when booting off an ignite tape?

Regards,
Ruan

[Yang Qin_1]

Recovery menu from disk image and tape are the same.

Yang.

[Ruan_3]

Thanks Yang!

Will let you know what the result is.

Regards,
Ruan

[Ruan_3]

Hi,

So i tried the LAN boot yesterday. Still failed , but the status is now -7 any ideas?

Thanks,
Ruan

[Ruan_3]

Hi,

One of the boot options on our development server (K-Class) is:

BOot INSTALL boot from hp-ux install server using core lan station

I will try this option tonight and let you know what the status is.

Regards,
Ruan

[Yang Qin_1]

If the error is something like: "failed to initialize entry_init status = -7" it means that it cannot find the install kernel or the boot device does not exist.

Check the following link, it may help.
http://www4.itrc.hp.com/service/cki/docDisplay.do?docLocale=en_US&docId=200000080062877


Yang

[Ruan_3]

Hi,

That is exactly the message I receive. Will have to check what boot install yields.

Will keep you posted,
Ruan

[Paul Gerke]

I don't know if this is the proper way to do this but...

Ruan,
Thank you for asking this question. Since they answered my similar question, I recommend lots of points for Yang and Ralph.

Yang and Ralph,
Thanks to both of you! Your responses about setting up to ignite a server using another server's image told me exactly what I wanted to know!

Paul