SPARC Netboot how-to?

[chris_andrew]

Hi,

I have been having problems booting Dapper on my Ultra 10 (it fails at "Booting Linux"). This may be an issue with booting burnable media. It has been suggested that I try a netboot.

I have no idea how to do this. Can anybody help me?

My Ultra is networked and the image (regular ISO?) will be located in:

192.168.0.x /home/chris/downloads/sparc

on an x86 box.

Many thanks,

Chris.

[netztier]

http://www.hermann-uwe.de/blog/help-...sparc-ultra-10

Might just be what you are looking for. Of course, you'll need the boot.img from ubuntu, not from Debian...

Here, this should do the trick:

http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports...4/netboot/2.6/

Good luck!

kind regards

Marc

[chris_andrew]

Marc,

Thanks for the netboot advice. I haven't tried it yet. The thing that gets me is that I can install Aurora, Debian Sarge and Gentoo, without any problems. I just can't do Etch or Dapper. I'm guessing it's not a CD media issue. Does anybody else have any thoughts? The netboot idea is good, but if sparc64 is going to get a big following (fingers crossed), then it will need to be able to boot from CD.

Cheers,

Chris.

[netztier]

Hi Chris

You might be running into a SILO issue:

https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu...ilo/+bug/40119

Updating the OpenPROM seems to help, and most of the suggestions in that thread mention network booting as a remedy.

If I can't get the issue with the CD-ROM drive in my last Ultra 60 fixed anytime soon, I'll have to netboot too.

regards

Marc

[chris_andrew]

Marc,

Thanks for your advice. I checked-out the URL. I am going to see whether a newer image is available, then may try the net-boot. It seems that if it is in OBP problem, then when the Dapper sparc64 server image is released, it will have to specify a minimum OBP version number. Will report any findings.

Many thanks,

Chris.

[jbalders]

Originally Posted by chris_andrew I have been having problems booting Dapper on my Ultra 10 (it fails at "Booting Linux"). This may be an issue with booting burnable media. It has been suggested that I try a netboot.

Condensed version
(assuming MAC: 00:03:ba:0c:df:5c IP: 192.168.1.45)
1) (on the x86 box) apt-get install rarpd tftpd
2) mkdir /tftpboot (or somewhere else, just make sure you make the appropriate changes below)
3) cd to the directory created in #2, and get the boot.img from here:
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...4/netboot/2.6/
4) ln -s boot.img C0A8012D
5) echo 00:03:ba:0c:df:5c 192.168.1.45 >> /etc/ethers
6) /etc/init.d/rarpd restart
7) check that the tftpd line in /etc/inetd.conf exists. Example for this configuration:
tftp dgram udp wait nobody /usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/sbin/in.tftpd /tftpboot
restart or SIGHUP inetd, if you made any changes
8 ) on the sun: boot net

The process goes something like this:

1) the sun RARPs for an IP address.
2) the PC sees this, looks in /etc/ethers, and replies with the IP address that matches the mac address from the request
3) the sun attempts to connect via TFTP to the system that replies to its RARP request and tries to pull /C0A8012D
4) the installer grabs everything it needs via the internet, or local mirror. (apt-proxy is your friend!)

Note that C0A8012D is a hexidecimal representation of the IP address: 192=C0 168=A8 1=01 45=2D. The calculator in Dapper will help you translate it (in scientific mode) if you can't do it in your head.

This process works well on my Netra X1's and Ultra 5's. I haven't tried it on anything else yet, although I may be trying it on an e450 soon.

I've had problems with my Suns recognizing a CD-R burned at high speed. I reburned it at 8x or 4x (don't remember), and it worked. It's hard to say whether it was the Suns, the CD, a bad burn, or the speed that caused the problem though. YMMV

A couple of warnings:

1) This method does a desktop install by default -- I'm still trying to figure out a way to get it to do a server install
2) There's an issue in the Linux kernel dealing with the "Host Protected Area" on Seagate ST320413A drives (used in some of my Netra X1's), which essentially renders them useless in kernels greater than 2.6.11. I added to an existing bug report about this at launchpad.net.

Good luck,

Jeff

[jbalders]

Originally Posted by jbalders 1) This method does a desktop install by default -- I'm still trying to figure out a way to get it to do a server install

I found the answer:

boot net preseed/url=http://192.168.1.20/ubuntu-server.seed

That assumes that 192.168.1.20 is running Apache and the .seed file (which I obtained my mounting the SPARC ubuntu-server ISO and copying it) is placed in the root of that web server.

Jeff

[chris_andrew]

Jeff,

I like the sound of this, could you be a bit more verbose with your description. I sort of follow, but would prefer a bit more explanation.

Thanks,

Chris.

[chris_andrew]

I have a Dapper image for sparc, is this the same as the "seed" that you refer to?

Thanks,

Chris.

[jbalders]

Originally Posted by chris_andrew I have a Dapper image for sparc, is this the same as the "seed" that you refer to?

As I understand it, the ".seed" file pre-populates some of the questions that the installer asks you about. This should be a tiny text file.

I think the boot.img file is nothing but a kernel and initrd combined in a single file, and is currently in the neighborhood of 7MB.

I actually had a problem with Netbooting my Ultra 5's. They would get through the install, up to actually installing the packages, and then hang. I still haven't figured out what the problem was. I was working from a serial console, so the whole process was extremely slow and time consuming, and couldn't spend any more time with it, so I had to install from CD.

Jeff