[yocto] PXE Boot NFS not working

[Hussin, Mohamad Noor Alim]

You are using PXE with legacy BIOS as you use pxelinux.0 . To configure PXE with legacy BIOS follow these instruction
Note: PXE server IP = 192.168.1.2
Target IP = 192.168.1.1

On PXE server

1.       make sure DHCP, NFS & TFTP services are up and running.

2.       change the filename "pxelinux.0"; in /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf. Then restart your DHCP service.

3.       Put your kernel to /path/to/tftpboot/image/ and extract your rootfs to /srv/rootfs/.

4.       Create a file in /path/to/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default. The content should like this

include menu.cfg

default vesamenu.c32

prompt 0

timeout 5

label Manual Netboot genericx86-64

menu label Netboot genericx86-64

linux image/bzImage

append root=/dev/nfs rw nfsroot=192.168.1.2:/srv/rootfs,hard,tcp,intr ip=dhcp

if you want to use PXE with GRUB, bootx64.efi, you need to enable UEFI  instead of legacy BIOS in BIOS configuration. Follow these instruction.
on PXE server

1.       make sure DHCP, NFS & TFTP services are up and running.

2.       change the filename "bootx64.efi"; in /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf. Then restart your DHCP service.

3.       Put your kernel to /path/to/tftpboot/image/ and extract your rootfs to /srv/rootfs/.

4.       If you want to get into GRUB,

a.       comment the commands from /path/to/tftpboot/grub/grub.cfg to avoid grub automatically load the kernel from network.

b.      On GRUB, press "TAB" key to list available command. Or you can try use this command

                                                               i.      net_bootp

                                                             ii.      linux (tftp,pxeserverip)/image/bzImage root=/dev/nfs rw nfsroot=192.168.1.2:/srv/rootfs,hard,tcp,intr ip=dhcp

                                                            iii.      boot

5.       if you want boot automatically to NFS, create a file called grub.cfg in /path/to/tftpboot/grub.cfg. your grub.cfg should look like this

Set timeout 5

menuentry " genericx86-64" {

    linux image/bzImage root=/dev/nfs rw nfsroot=192.168.1.2:/srv/rootfs,hard,tcp,intr ip=dhcp

    initrd image/initrd

}

6.       When your device boot, it will download bootx64.efi and the message something like this
>>Start PXE over IPv4.

Station IP address is 192.168.1.1

Server IP address is 192.168.1.2

NBP filename is bootx64.efi

NBP filesize is 1137016 Bytes

Downloading NBP file...

NBP file downloaded successfully.

Please note that I did not use initramfs or initrd as my kernel already have network module build-in. To build your kernel with network module, you need to know which module need to build-in into your kernel. Simply boot your device using *.hhdimg from USB stick. Then check loaded kernel module from your device.
$ lsmod
Find the module something with network. Yes it is a little bit tricky.

Build your kernel in host machine.
$ bitbake virtual/kernel -c menuconfig
A menu will popup and search your kernel module using key "/". Make sure symbol module [*] indicate build-in.
$ bitbake virtual/kernel

You also can create a kernel bundle with initramfs.  Read this https://www.yoctoproject.org/docs/2.5/mega-manual/mega-manual.html#building-an-initramfs-image.
Maybe need to ask someone who are expert on kernel development on how to enable build-in kernel module.


Regards,
Alim Hussin

From: Raymond Yeung [mailto:rksyeung at hotmail.com]
Sent: Friday, April 27, 2018 1:12 AM
To: Hussin, Mohamad Noor Alim <mohamad.noor.alim.hussin at intel.com>; yocto at yoctoproject.org
Subject: Re: PXE Boot NFS not working


Follow-up to my previous post, after seeing the reply below suggesting me not to use initramfs (but initrd is usable, right?).  BTW, I don't use bootx64.efi.  Instead, I use pxelinux.0 along with the other lib***.c32 files.



  1.  Is there a way to verify if GRUB (that I'm using) supports networking or not?  It seems to have very limited user commands available.
  2.  How do I get into GRUB?  I'd been into GRUB, more like accidentally.  The reply below refers to grub.cfg.  Is this cfg file stored on target, or on host (like pxelinux.cfg)?
  3.  How do I configure my build (and what yocto tool to use, if any) in order to get my network driver part of kernel, instead of being a LKM that isn't there when I need it for NFS boot?

________________________________
From: Hussin, Mohamad Noor Alim <mohamad.noor.alim.hussin at intel.com<mailto:mohamad.noor.alim.hussin at intel.com>>
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2018 12:26 AM
To: Raymond Yeung; yocto at yoctoproject.org<mailto:yocto at yoctoproject.org>
Subject: RE: PXE Boot NFS not working


Refer to my post here https://lists.yoctoproject.org/pipermail/yocto/2018-April/040860.html



Don't use initramfs/initrd as it not working.





Regards,

Alim Hussin




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