R. F. Grant wrote: > Hi all, > > We recently got some new PCs with more recent hardware. The existing FAI > setup we had no longer worked with the new hardware - presumably because the > fai kernels we were using (Fai 3.1.8) did not contain the necessary drivers. > > I began setting up a new FAI server from scratch on a new PC (so as not to > break the existing FAI server which still works for all our older PCs). > > The fai versions I am using are: > > fai-client 3.2.4 > fai-doc 3.2.4 > fai-quickstart 3.2.4 > fai-server 3.2.4 > > The PC I am installing the server on is running Ubuntu Feisty: > > Linux 2.6.20-16-generic #2 SMP Tue Feb 12 05:41:34 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux > > I am trying to install Ubuntu Gutsy onto the client PCs (since the Gutsy > kernel > contains the necessary hardware drivers). > > Doing a manual install of Gutsy on a new PC works just fine. > > The trick, then, seems to be getting a correctly functioning kernel for FAI > to use. As far as I can tell, the requirements are: > > 1) Must be able to run the hardware (so at least 2.6.22) > 2) Must be patchable so that unionfs will work > > After trying many kernels, I also find an extra annoyance. The new PCs > contain > Intel Q35 motherboards which contain a known bug: they will not boot from a > regular kernel unless you add pci=nommconf or acpi=off. There is a patch > that > is supposed to fix this for 2.6.24 kernels, although I have not had much > luck > with this. > > Anyway, I finally managed to build a kernel that would boot the new > hardware. > I built it by: > - installing a new PC with Ubuntu Gutsy by hand > - downloading the 2.6.24.2 kernel source > - downloading the correct unionfs patch for this kernel > (unionfs-2.2.4_for_2.6.24.2.diff.gz) and applying it (no error messages) > - copying the existing kernel config file from Gutsy's 2.6.22 kernel (and > running make menuconfig to add unionfs to the kernel) and using > it to build a new 2.6.24 kernel > > Installing this kernel on the new PC, it booted up fine as long as I > included > the comment pci=nommconf in the boot parameters. > > (I tried the kernel patch to fix the mmconf problem, but that kernel refused > to boot.) > > Anyway, I then installed the newly created 2.6.24.2 kernel in the nfsroot on > the fai server, and then copied the linux-image and initrd files to > /srv/tftp/fai. I tweaked the config file in pxelinux.cfg to refer to > this new > kernel. Then I set fai going. (We run a dhcp server to kickstart FAI with > a network book. This all seems to work just fine.) > > Fai starts up, finds the correct kernel, and begins loading drivers. (If > I do > not include the pci=nommconf bit in the pxelinux.cfg file then it just hangs > almost immediately, but it seems to start working in the usual way if I do > include it). However, it then crashes out with a kernel panic: > > Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init! > > This occurs just after loading drivers for USB, Sata drives and the CD > drive. > > I have also tried building a kernel from the Ubuntu gutsy archive > (2.6.22-14.52)and managed to apply the unionfs patch (albeit with some > error messages). This > will also boot the new hardware (with the pci=nommconf option) but > crashes in > the same way when booting with FAI. Interestingly, this kernel will > *occasionally* boot an older pc into FAI, but more often than not it > hangs just > before loading the unionfs stuff. (I have been unable to reproduce building > this kernel as well - it always crashes out during the build of the unionfs > stuff, so I'm not sure what magic I used the first time round.) > > So, the questions: > - If a kernel will boot the PC in normal circumstances, > is it unreasonable to assume that it should also just work as the fai > kernel? > (assuming unionfs is correctly working, of course...) > - Is adding a boot tag pci=nommconf in the fai pxelinux.cfg file likely > to causeproblems? > - Are there any known problem in trying to use FAI to install ubuntu gutsy > (from a feisty server) > - Does anyone have any idea how to resolve this problem? > > I can, of course, provide any other information required. Fai does not get > far enough to start producing logs, though... > > Sorry for the long post - just trying to explain what has been a long and > frustrating process thus far... >
Hello I'm also setting up FAI to install new Ubuntu distributions. Currently I'm working on Hardy Heron. The ubuntu kernels (gutsy, hardy) have problems mounting unionfs over FAI nfsroot. Therefore I use plain Debian Etch kernel on my TFTP server to boot my install clients. I also build my nfsroot from Debian Etch bootstrap. On the install clients I do install ubuntu kernels which work as expected. Regards, Eymen Alyaz
