Re: etherboot & NFS problem - part of the problem solved

[Rajesh Fowkar <Mail@dempos.com>]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for sparing so much time to help me solve this etherboot problem.

>
>I think, this looks like a memory leak. How much memory do you have ?
>Check if you have added a "mem=" kernel parameter by accident.

The Linux server has got 256MB RAM. It is a PIII 550MHZ machine with RAID1 configured(Mirroring). Not added any mem= kernel parameters because without doing that the memory is detected as 256MB.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[root@rhlinux rajeshpc]# free
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:        257680     198952      58728      61216      37040     118864
-/+ buffers/cache:      43048     214632
Swap:       512888          0     512888
[root@rhlinux rajeshpc]#  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


>What tool have you used to prepare the kernel. Wich parameter du you
>have used ?

make xconfig.
Thinking that I might have done something wrong while compiling the kernel, I recompiled using the following options : ( I have indicated the options selected in brackets )

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-> Processor type & features
	- Processor Family (386)
	- Disable PIII Serial No. (Y)
	- Maximum Physical Memory (1GB)

-> Block Devices
	- Disabled options for RAID

-> Networking options
	- IP Kernel level autoconfiguration
		- BOOTP Support (Y)
		- RARP Support (Y)
-> Ethernet ( 10 or 100 Mbit )
	- NE2000/NE1000 Support (Y)

-> Appletalk Devices
	- Support (N)

-> Joystick Support (N)

-> Network File System
	- NFS Filesystem Support (Y)
	- Root Filesystem on NFS (Y)

-> Sound
	- Sound Card Support (N)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


-> 
>The interesting points are:
>
>	"VM: killing process XXXXX"

These errors are still repeating. 

Than it gives the following :

Mounting /proc			[Failed]
Starting Kernel Parameters 	[Failed]

>Perhaps it is a good idea to check the kernel itself. For example, if
>your 
>target (client) has a floppy drive, do following hack. Do a `dd' of the
>kernel
>on a floppy 
>	dd if=/tftpboot/.../vmlinuz of=/dev/fd0 bs=512
>and boot from floppy. The create a "dummy" device, which has the major 0
>and
>minor 255, like 
>	mknod /dev/nfs c 0 255
>on the linux host. After that use
>	rdev /dev/fd0 /dev/nfs
>... so the kernel is patched to boot from major 0 and minor 255. 
>(Another way is to edit with a hex editor the space, where the kernel
>saves
>major and minor of the boot device).
>
>Boot the client from floppy and everything should work (?!)

I have done all this. But when I try to boot the node from this floppy nothing happens. Just floppy is accessed and than nothing happens.

>AND: Before you do anything, read the kernel informations on the screen,
>when
>ther kernel starts to boot, if there is anything, which seems to be a
>problem.

Only problem which I found on the node was it tries to access hda which it cannot find and than it gies hda disk error and than the NFS-root mounting starts. No other error.


Thanks

Warm Regards

Rajesh

>Rajesh Fowkar wrote:
>> 
>> Hi,
>> 
>> I tried everything. Copying /etc/ld.so.cache to /tftpboot/rajeshpc/etc.
>> 
>> Used ldconfig -r /tftpboot/rajeshpc
>> 
>> But still I am getting the following messages on the Diskless node :
>> 
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> VFS: Mounted root(NFS filesystem)
>> Freeing unused kernel memory : 76K freed
>> INIT: version 2.78 booting
>> VM: killing process rc.sysinit
>> INIT: Entering runlevel: 3
>> bash: out of virtual memory!
>> VM: killing process rc
>> INIT: no more processes left in this runlevel
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> >From the above messages can anybody help me out in tracing the problem. Chris :-)
>> 
>> Thanks in advance.
>> 
>> Warm Regards
>> 
>> Rajesh
>> 
>> On Wed, Nov 01, 2000 at 11:23:14PM +0100, Christoph Plattner wrote:
>> 
>> >
>> >This problem never should occur. The libraries `/sbin/init' needs, are
>> >libc.so.6 and ld-linux.so.2. Both libraries are in /lib and have to
>> >be on the root file system, which is mounted ! To be sure, copy the
>> >/etc/ld.so.cache file to your client path (/tftpboot/rajeshpc/root/etc,
>> >or whatever). Or you can use the ldconfig tool, which is able (in
>> >newer versions, check man page) to configure on an alternate root.
>> >If, for example, /tftpboot/rajeshpc/root is the path of the root file
>> >system, then run
>> >       ldconfig -r /tftpboot/rajeshpc/root
>> >so it sets up the paths
>> >       /tftpboot/rajeshpc/root/lib
>> >and
>> >       /tftpboot/rajeshpc/root/etc/ld.so.cache
>> >
>> >I hope this helps.
>> >
>> >Another important point !
>> >
>> >Check if the network configuration for the client is correct. On my
>> >first netboot attempts (one year ago), I had a small copied root
>> >file system from the server for the client. The problem was, that
>> >the setup for the ethernet was wrong (setup from server not from
>> >client !!). So the client was configured well over BOOTP, but
>> >when the system comes up via init, it also (re)initialized the
>> >ethernet wit the "wrong" setting and suddenly the client looses
>> >the contact to the server. The first reaction was the missed
>> >libraries, then blocking for file access and finally the error
>> >NFS error 111, which means `no access to server'.
>> >
>> >So here are some items to check again !
>> >
>> >
>> >Rajesh Fowkar wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Hi Chris,
>> >>
>> >> Initially I had copied the kernel in /tftpboot and the Diskless client was booting the kernel and than giving -13 error.
>> >>
>> >> Now I thought of copying the kernel to the actual workstation directory /tftpboot/rajeshpc and changed the dhcpd.conf file to point to /tftpboot/rajeshpc/kernel.
>> >>
>> >> Now the root filesystem is getting mounted but the init part gives error since the init is I think dynamically linked. The diskless node gives a list of errors like
>> >>
>> >> killing process getty
>> >> killing process init etc.
>> >> error in mounting shared libraries etc.
>> >>
>> >> I am not getting the login prompt. All these error are reapeating on the screen.
>> >>
>> >> How can I solve this problem to get the login prompt on the Diskless client.
>> >>
>> >> Thanks in advance.
>> >>
>> >> Warm Regards
>> >>
>> >> Rajesh
>> >>
>> >> >
>> >> >First of all test the mount point on your local linux server:
>> >> >
>> >> >       bash# mount -t nfs your_server:/tftpboot/xxxxxx /mnt/tmp
>> >> >
>> >> >(Of course, you must have a /mnt/tmp directory !)
>> >> >
>> >> >Further try following to nfs root for the diskless client:
>> >> >2 ways:
>> >> >
>> >> >ONE:   Use bootloader GNU Grub. Compile it with network support
>> >> >       (uses etherboot network drivers !!)
>> >> >       Install boot loader to disk and boot from disk (on client)
>> >> >       Now you are at the GRUB prompt:
>> >> >
>> >> >       grub> bootp
>> >> >
>> >> >       (Now you see the server and client address)
>> >> >
>> >> >       grub> root (nd)
>> >> >
>> >> >       (Use the network connction as root for the boot loader (not linux !)
>> >> >
>> >> >       grub> kernel /tftpboot/xxxxxx/vmlinuz root=/dev/nfs
>> >> >                       nfsroot=ip_of_server:/tftpboot/xxxx/root ip=........
>> >> >
>> >> >       (All in one line, then the command ...)
>> >> >
>> >> >       grub> boot
>> >> >
>> >> >The advantage here is to try the kernel without any image and to use the
>> >> >kernel parameter line for the boot (no bootp or any automatic for the
>> >> >first test (see /usr/src/linux/Documentation/nfsroot.txt,
>> >> >       /usr/doc/HOWTO/mini/NFS-Root, /usr/doc/HOWTO/BootPrompt-HOWTO).
>> >> >
>> >> >The second way is to boot via ldlinux.sys (syslinux.cfg), like on the
>> >> >RedHat boot disk (!). Here in syslinux.cfg the kernel parameter line can
>> >> >also be added.
>> >> >
>> >> >I prefer GRUB for all those experiements. I added support for diskless
>> >> >boot of GRUB itself. So the boot image is nbgrub, and you never had to
>> >> >use mknbi(-linux) any more !!!
>> >> >With the use of the grub config file (menu.lst) you can also
>> >> >automatcally
>> >> >boot the linux, everything diskless !! (I use this at home !)
>> >> >
>> >> >With friendly regards
>> >> >
>> >> >       Christoph plattner
>> >> >

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