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




VERY INTERESTING !

Hi again !

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.
What tool have you used to prepare the kernel. Wich parameter du you
have used ?
The interesting points are:

	"VM: killing process XXXXX"
	and
	"bash: out of virtual memory"

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 (?!)

If the problem further exists, check the kernel setup (make xconfig in
the
kernel source directory), check especially the first menu pages
concerning
the RAM. 

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.

With friendly regards

	Christoph Plattner



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
> >> >
> >>
> 
> ===========================================================================
> This Mail was sent to netboot mailing list by:
> Rajesh Fowkar <Mail@dempos.com>
> To get help about this list, send a mail with 'help' as the only string in
> it's body to majordomo@baghira.han.de. If you have problems with this list,
> send a mail to netboot-owner@baghira.han.de.

-- 
  +--------V--------+	Christoph.Plattner@alcatel.at
  |  A L C A T E L  |	-----------------------------
  +-----------------+	Phone: +43 1 27722 3706	
         T A S		Fax:   +43 1 27722 3955
===========================================================================
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Christoph Plattner <christoph.plattner@alcatel.at>
To get help about this list, send a mail with 'help' as the only string in
it's body to majordomo@baghira.han.de. If you have problems with this list,
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