Weblog entry #12 for lykwydchykyn
See all weblog entries made by lykwydchykyn.
#12
Setting up etch as a netinstall server
Posted by lykwydchykyn on Mon 28 Jan 2008 at 17:38
I'm trying to set up a PXE netinstall server to put etch on some old laptops that don't have CDROM drives.
I have successfully set up tftp and dhcpd so that the clients boot to the installer, there's no problem there.
The trouble starts when I want to hit a repository. My plan originally was to have a local apt-mirror repository on the netinstall server and keep the whole process on its own subnet. For some reason, it wasn't working. When I point the installer to the repository, it keeps telling me it can't find a valid release file. I can pop over to another terminal and wget the release file, but the installer is saying it's not valid.
So I enabled routing on the server, and pointed it to another local mirror which I know works with network installation because I use it all the time with netinstall CD's. Still telling me it couldn't download the release file, even though I can wget the file from a second terminal.
But since I'm routing anyway, I decided to try hitting an actual debian repository, so I pointed it to the default US repo. Success! It works. But what I really want is to use my local apt-mirror, for speed reasons (and to save the debian project a little bandwidth).
Anyone know why this wouldn't work with the PXE netinstall when it does just fine with the CD netinstall?
I have successfully set up tftp and dhcpd so that the clients boot to the installer, there's no problem there.
The trouble starts when I want to hit a repository. My plan originally was to have a local apt-mirror repository on the netinstall server and keep the whole process on its own subnet. For some reason, it wasn't working. When I point the installer to the repository, it keeps telling me it can't find a valid release file. I can pop over to another terminal and wget the release file, but the installer is saying it's not valid.
So I enabled routing on the server, and pointed it to another local mirror which I know works with network installation because I use it all the time with netinstall CD's. Still telling me it couldn't download the release file, even though I can wget the file from a second terminal.
But since I'm routing anyway, I decided to try hitting an actual debian repository, so I pointed it to the default US repo. Success! It works. But what I really want is to use my local apt-mirror, for speed reasons (and to save the debian project a little bandwidth).
Anyone know why this wouldn't work with the PXE netinstall when it does just fine with the CD netinstall?
Comments on this Entry
Ok, solved my own problem!
Seems you need to add the following repo to mirrors.list on the apt-mirror:
deb http://ftp.debian.org/ etch main/debian-installer
After adding that and running apt-mirror, it worked just fine!
Now I have a lean, mean, debian-deploying machine...
Seems you need to add the following repo to mirrors.list on the apt-mirror:
deb http://ftp.debian.org/ etch main/debian-installer
After adding that and running apt-mirror, it worked just fine!
Now I have a lean, mean, debian-deploying machine...
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
I'm interested in doing this.
In more detail what steps did you go through, what packages did you need? How easy is it to create a repository mirror, and do you happen to know if it's easy to do it for multi-arch (x86, AMD64 and Sparc) and multi-level (stable/testing/sid)?
I've got an old Sparc 5 that I want to put Etch on, but it doesn't have a floppy or CD-ROM. I'm also doing lots of stuff inside VirtualBox VMs and it seems silly to be loading the local Debian Servers when I could use a local mirror.
--
"It's Not Magic, It's Work"
Adam
In more detail what steps did you go through, what packages did you need? How easy is it to create a repository mirror, and do you happen to know if it's easy to do it for multi-arch (x86, AMD64 and Sparc) and multi-level (stable/testing/sid)?
I've got an old Sparc 5 that I want to put Etch on, but it doesn't have a floppy or CD-ROM. I'm also doing lots of stuff inside VirtualBox VMs and it seems silly to be loading the local Debian Servers when I could use a local mirror.
--
"It's Not Magic, It's Work"
Adam
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
I don't know about different architectures; I've only worked with i386. But setting up apt-mirror is pretty trivial. You need a working web or ftp server and the apt-mirror package. There's a good howto here:
http://www.howtoforge.com/local_debian_ubuntu_mirror
It's pretty easy to add as many repositories and sections as you wish. Just add them to /etc/apt/mirrors.list.
As for the netinstall, it was hard to find a howto for, but eventually I figured it out. You need to install dhcp3-server and atftpd (You could use a different tftpd server, but thats the one I chose).
Once you've got that, you download the netboot.tar.gz archive from debian (you can find it here: http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/dists/etch/main/installer-i386/cu rrent/images/netboot/) and untar it to your tftp root directory.
Last of all you set up dhcpd. You create an address pool, then you add three directives to the pool:
filename "pxelinux.0";
server-name "YourServerName";
next-server xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx;
Where the xxx's represent your server's IP. The servername might work there too if you have DNS working on your network.
I know that's a bit brief, but if you get into it and get stuck feel free to drop me a line.
http://www.howtoforge.com/local_debian_ubuntu_mirror
It's pretty easy to add as many repositories and sections as you wish. Just add them to /etc/apt/mirrors.list.
As for the netinstall, it was hard to find a howto for, but eventually I figured it out. You need to install dhcp3-server and atftpd (You could use a different tftpd server, but thats the one I chose).
Once you've got that, you download the netboot.tar.gz archive from debian (you can find it here: http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/dists/etch/main/installer-i386/cu rrent/images/netboot/) and untar it to your tftp root directory.
Last of all you set up dhcpd. You create an address pool, then you add three directives to the pool:
filename "pxelinux.0";
server-name "YourServerName";
next-server xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx;
Where the xxx's represent your server's IP. The servername might work there too if you have DNS working on your network.
I know that's a bit brief, but if you get into it and get stuck feel free to drop me a line.
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
Posted by Steve (82.32.xx.xx) on Tue 29 Jan 2008 at 21:02
[ Send Message | View Steve's Scratchpad | View Weblogs ]
[ Send Message | View Steve's Scratchpad | View Weblogs ]
There is an article on PXE stuff here which is more manual.
Right now I'm doing both DHCP + TFTP via dnsmasq, so only one daemon required.
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
I think I always ended up working from the netboot instructions in the installation manual.
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]