Terminal Service Problem

[chunky]

I'm attempting to use the latest KNOPPIX release and six computers with PXE support as a server and five clients. I boot the first system off the CD, configure the IP address and tell the terminal services script to include the driver for the Broadcom 440 and verify the appropriate IP range and start the processes.

Starting a client machine and having it boot from the LAN provides the KNOPPIX terminal server client screen and starts the boot process. At this point it fails to mount the cdrom via nfs.

There is a message about DHCP resetting, but following this it shows that eth0 has the appropriate assigned IP address. From the "server" machine, I see the arp entry for the client, but can't ping it. Maybe there isn't enough networking stuff loaded at this point to reply to ICMP packets.

I'm new to PXE booting and am not sure how to diagnose this from here does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks,
C.

[chunky]

I was able to get a laptop to boot via PXE without any problems. After thinking about this last night, I recalled that I had a similar problem with PXE booting and Symantec Ghost. PXE would boot the system and ghost would launch but when it came time for ghost to connect back to the multicast server, it would never connect. It worked fine if I booted the systems from the ghost floppy.

It looks like something is screwy with these Dell 2350s and the Broadcom 4400 NICs.

If anyone has any ideas, let me know.

Thanks,
C.

[johnb]

hi I think that pxe is not your problem. The nodes seem to be booting correctly from your description. It seems like a network error. If you can, try the default network settings.
johnb

[chunky]

Thanks for the reply.These machines are isolated on their own VLAN and are using the default settings. It works fine with a Toshiba laptop booting via PXE. The Dells load the initial part of the process, but fail to connect via NFS after that. If there were network issues, wouldn't the first part fail as well?
C.

[johnb]

Here are some of my notes with added comments to get a network bootable OpenMosix cluster running. There may be better options. Also make sure there are no other DHCP servers that are running on this network. Things to do:

Set Static IP
Set-up and start knoppix-terminalopenmosixserver
Re-start OpenMosix
Set-up and monitor nodes/cluster

Here we go:

Set Static IP

Click on the Penguin->Network/Internet-> Networkcard configuration:

Use DHCP broadcast -> No

Please enter IP Address ...

(change to) 192.168.0.254

OK

Please enter Network Mask ...

(default) 255.255.255.0

OK

Please enter Broadcast Address ...

(change to)192.168.0.255

OK

Please enter Default Gateway

(default) 192.168.0.254


Please enter Nameservers

192.186.0.254(default)

The terminal should close in a bit, let it do its work.

You can check your work by opening Knoppix Icon (pengiun) -> Root Shell ->

ifconfig




Set-up and start knoppix-terminalopenmosixserver:

Still got that root shell?

/etc/init.d/knoppix-terminalopenmosixserver restart

This will give more info than just using the penguin icon -> Services -> Start KNOPPIX Openmosix Terminal Server

Information about the Knoppix Terminal Server -> OK

Setup (Re)configure server and restart -> OK

Choose network device conection->eth0 Netzwerkkarte_0 (default) -> OK

IP Address range for clients(default allows 50 IP address!) -> OK

Client Hardware
You are being asked here info about the nic card in your client/node.
Some are checked by default, these are probably quite common.For more info about your nic try:

cat dmesg |less

Use the space bar to move thru the pages. For my nic it happens to be via-rhine.o "Via Rhine PCI Fast Ethernet driver" Make sure that you get an x in those boxes. This window seems a little flakey at times .



Options

secure -> leave checked unless there is a reason to have root access on all nodes.

textmode ->uncheck This is an important option (some of the magic imho). A complete copy of knoppix operating system will be available to all nodes. For the first few times its worth un-checking this box just to see your node boot-up into a gui, from a network boot. No cd or hardrive necessary.
For regular use if you are the only one using this cluster or only have one monitor or want to save the gui overhead cost on (all) your nodes. ->leave default a x mark in the box.
If you want to have a gui on the (all) nodes. -> uncheck the box

Leave the other check boxes alone for now.->ok



Client boot options(any options that the node might need knoppix cheat codes appy here

I needed to add the following, your cheats may vary:

knoppix xmodule=vesa
knoppix dma


Try knoppix failsafe as a cheat option if you are having problems booting nodes correctly.

Starting Server

Yes

Your screen output should look something like(this is from a hardrive install):

root@groove:/home/johnb# /etc/init.d/knoppix-terminalopenmosixserver restart
Making Mini Rootdisk.
1+0 records in
1+0 records out
6144000 bytes transferred in 0.020725 seconds (296452034 bytes/sec)
Generating public/private dsa key pair.
Created directory '/root/.ssh'.
Your identification has been saved in /root/.ssh/id_dsa.
Your public key has been saved in /root/.ssh/id_dsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
f9:16:b2:51:0e:5e:5f:4f:35:3c:70:19:47:ee:78:ce root@groove
Starting OpenBSD Secure Shell server: sshdcp: cannot stat `/dev/systty': No such file or directory
1+0 records in
1+0 records out
6144000 bytes transferred in 1.109769 seconds (5536288 bytes/sec)
82.1%
Starting DHCP server: dhcpd3.
Starting portmap daemon: portmap.
Starting NFS common utilities: statd.
Exporting directories for NFS kernel daemon...done.
Starting NFS kernel daemon: nfsd mountd.
Starting domain name service: named.

Re-start OpenMosix to check all is well:

/etc/init.d/openmosix restart

(if you are running Quantain it is /etc/init.d/quantian-openmosix restart ).

You should have similar output:

openMosix: Using map file /etc/openmosix.map
openMosix: WARN: Invalid configuration in map-file /etc/openmosix.map
openMosix: Falling back to autodiscovery mode using /usr/sbin/omdiscd
Stopping openMosix...
openMosix: All remote processes were expelled and no further remote processes accepted.
Initializing openMosix...
Local processes already allowed to leave automatically.
automatic load-balancing already enabled.
Remote processes now allowed in.
MFS access already enabled.
openMosix configuration was successful :)

Set-up and monitor nodes/cluster:

openmosixview &

That should get you going. You can now boot your nodes hopefully all is well

johnb