Amahi Netboot PXE resurrection

[damonq]

I've Been trolling about the forums, wiki, and google at large trying to locate information on setting up pxe server/amahi netboot.

Thus far have
- installed the net-boot rpm
- configured to network install fedora 14 according to wiki post:
http://wiki.amahi.org/index.php/Fedora_ ... rk_install
- configured Multi-layer menus with vesamenu.c32 using updated syslinux files similar to
http://forums.amahi.org/viewtopic.php?f ... 3&start=20
- added and booted Partedmagic, Clonezilla, dban, hdt, memtest, grub4dos

Have run into a wall with system rescue cd
Thus far, using tftp it times out
have tried using nfs, smb, http memtest methods from information around the web with no luck.

Would be happy to post progress on the wiki to help anyone else interested.

[bigfoot65]

Awesome. I have done many of those as Amahi apps. You may have to use NFS for System Rescue CD. There are many Live CDs that will only work that way.

We also have an NFS app, which installs NFS. You still have to manually configure the exports, but it does work.

[damonq]

Ubuntu 11.10 Live CD 32 bit success:
based on this info:
http://www.howtogeek.com/61263/how-to-n ... tu-livecd/
got ubuntu live cd running in a virtualbox using nfs
- extracted iso into a folder:
/usr/share/amahi-netboot/tftp/images/ubuntu/11.10-desktop-i386/
- following into pxeconfig/default menu

LABEL Ubuntu Livecd 11.10
MENU LABEL Ubuntu Livecd 11.10
KERNEL /images/ubuntu/11.10-desktop-i386/casper/vmlinuz
APPEND root=/dev/nfs boot=casper netboot=nfs nfsroot=192.168.x.xx:/usr/share/amahi-netboot/tftp/images/ubuntu/11.10-desktop-i386 initrd=images/ubuntu/11.10-desktop-i386/casper/initrd.lz quiet splash --

nfs setup: /etc/exports
/usr/share/amahi-netboot/tftp/images/ubuntu/11.10-desktop-i386/ *(ro,async,no_wdelay,insecure_locks,no_root_squash,insecure)

[bigfoot65]

Great. Would you mind adding this stuff to the wiki? Will be easier if we can keep it in one place and organized for others to find.

There should be some netboot pages already in place. You may be able to use them.

[damonq]

Update: Linux Mint
linuxmint-12-gnome-dvd-32bit.iso
extracted to folder:
/usr/share/amahi-netboot/tftp/images/mint

Added to pxeconfig/default

LABEL Mint
MENU LABEL mint
KERNEL /images/mint/casper/vmlinuz
APPEND root=/dev/nfs boot=casper netboot=nfs nfsroot=192.168.x.xx:/usr/share/amahi-netboot/tftp/images/mint initrd=images/mint/casper/initrd.lz quiet splash --

added to etc/exports
usr/share/amahi-netboot/tftp/images/mint/ *(ro,async,no_wdelay,insecure_locks,no_root_squash,insecure)

just works

[bigfoot65]

Awesome...looking forward to seeing this documented in the wiki, that is if you have time These are the advanced features that many users desire, but don't know how to do.

By simplifying it in the wiki, we can help others enjoy the same functionality without all the hassle. Also, I might consider adding these as Amahi one-click apps in the future. That would make it even simpler.

[damonq]

Mr Bigfoot,
Logged on to wiki and familiarizing myself with it the nuances of mediawiki vs dokuwiki, which I've used to document my info. Is it preferable edit/add on the existing Netboot page or start a new article/s, for noobs like me?

[bigfoot65]

Mr Bigfoot,
Logged on to wiki and familiarizing myself with it the nuances of mediawiki vs dokuwiki, which I've used to document my info. Is it preferable edit/add on the existing Netboot page or start a new article/s, for noobs like me?

It would not hurt to start a new page. We can either merge into the existing one later or link to it. That will give you a bit more freedom to organize it.

[damonq]

Have setup pages in wiki with screenshots
http://wiki.amahi.org/index.php/Amahi_Netboot_for_noobs
http://wiki.amahi.org/index.php/Netboot ... Tutorial_2
http://wiki.amahi.org/index.php/Netboot ... Tutorial_3

tried to make it as "windows friendly" as possible
Please feel free to comment "constructively" at least more than "u suck"
Problems I noted
Updating the amahi-netboot package would to the latest syslinux version 4.05
No vesamenu.32 installed with amahi-netboot
Update default menu with more options

[bigfoot65]

Thanks for the update. It is on the long list of things to do. Not a priority at the moment, but we will get to it eventually. If you could file a bug on it, that would help keep it from getting forgotten.

We have Parted Magic as a one-click install along with a few others (Clonezilla, gParted, Redo Backup and Recovery, xPUD, etc).

http://www.amahi.org/apps/parted-magic
http://www.amahi.org/apps/clonezilla
http://www.amahi.org/apps/redo-backup-and-recovery
http://www.amahi.org/apps/xpud

Note that the vesamenu.32 is not required. It looks nice, but not mandatory for the netboot apps to work. Personally, I think the blue background is easier to read.

The current build of amahi-netboot contains the minimal packages needed. While it does need updating to be the latest, it is functional and not broken. I have been using it for quite some time with no problems.

There is some guidance in the wiki that shows you how we build the netboot apps. It has served us quite well so far. Keep in mind this is the install script for the one-click apps.

http://wiki.amahi.org/index.php/Netboot_Template

I hope you don't mind if I do some tweaking of your pages to make them better.