Is PBA broken?

[drock]

I just installed AMAHI for the first time and I like the look and feel. I'm not a new linux user but I haven't touched Fedora since version 4 and so it will take a bit to get back up to speed.

I am writing this message because after tonights install, it is apparent that PBA is no longer functional? I setup one of my desktops for network boot and after getting an IP/etc, it hangs at the "TFTP" prompt. I checked through services in control panel and I don't even see that TFTP is running (although I'm not 100% sure, if it runs through INETD or XINETD, then I may not be see it... like I said, its been a while).

So, any ideas on how to get PBA working on this box? I am building this specifically for system (bare metal) backups of all of my home systems and would really like to use the network booting function to do it.

Regards,
Dave

[cpg]

pba is an aging star. it has served the amahi community for a long time. we were looking for a replacement and we found one in redo backup.

we can add you as collaborator to redo if you want.

now, you are correct. it should not show up on the servers tab. it's not really a server proper.

we will retire PBA soon, since we have redo (and clonezilla).

as far as debugging - can you check:

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rpm -q amahi-netboot

should be amahi-netboot-0.1-5.noarch.

as well as copy your /etc/xinetd.d/tftp file here or fpaste it.

[drock]

pba-netboot is not installed. Results from 'rpm -q amahi-netboot' are as follows:

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[root@home-storage share]# rpm -q amahi-netboot package amahi-netboot is not installed

After my post last night, I did notice that neither xinetd nor tftp where even installed. I installed them through yum and then enabled tftp in hopes that it would work but it appears that there is additional configuration that is needed. When I try to connect via PXE client, I now get a "file not found" error. tftp file is as follows:

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root@home-storage xinetd.d]# cat tftp # default: off # description: The tftp server serves files using the trivial file transfer \ # protocol. The tftp protocol is often used to boot diskless \ # workstations, download configuration files to network-aware printers, \ # and to start the installation process for some operating systems. service tftp { disable = no socket_type = dgram protocol = udp wait = yes user = root server = /usr/sbin/in.tftpd server_args = -s /var/lib/tftpboot per_source = 11 cps = 100 2 flags = IPv4 } [root@home-storage xinetd.d]#

I am seriously considering setting up Clonezilla in place of PBA so maybe my best approach is to contrib as a beta tester and install the clonezilla package (in lieu of installing CloneZilla SE as standalone?).

Regards,
Dave

[drock]

more update.
I installed amahi-netboot and I am getting a little further. It connects to the server and then after selecting (PBA) as the boot image, it loads linux (from the server) and then dumps me to an 'Insert#' prompt where I have no keyboard (USB keyboard). I read a post last night with this exact same behavior. I'll go research the thread and see if there is anything else I can do to get this to work.

Rergards,
Dave

[cpg]

insert is the linux distro in PBA. if it dumps you to the prompt, your hardware may not be supported by insert.

[drock]

So I am assuming that the kernel version used in the PBA client distro is an old kernel then? Is that why it is broken for some people?

[moredruid]

it's indeed a quite old kernel, I ran into some issues as well.

[bigfoot65]

You can use the Clonezilla Live CD to boot as well. Boot your client using the CD, then select Samba for your backup and it will store the images on your HDA.

This is how I initially started before Clonezilla was available as a netboot app for Amahi. It works the same, just a different boot process. Also you can follow the guide in the wiki (http://wiki.amahi.org/index.php/Clonezilla) for performing backups.

Hope this helps.

[drock]

Has anyone successfully replaced PBA boot image which appears to be an old Knoppix setup) with a clonezilla live boot image? In effect, tt should be just like booting from a CD on the client, only you do it through PXE network boot).

I tried playing with DRBL last night but all I managed to do was hose up my DHCP server.

[bigfoot65]

Clonezilla has been packaged as an Amahi App. See http://www.amahi.org/apps/upcoming.