NAME¶
fai-chboot - manage the network boot configuration files
SYNOPSIS¶
fai-chboot [OPTION]... KERNELNAME HOST...
fai-chboot -l[e|d|t|o|g] [PATTERN]
fai-chboot -e HOST...
fai-chboot -d HOST...
fai-chboot -c HOST|TEMPLATE HOST|TEMPLATE...
fai-chboot -i [OPTION]... HOST...
fai-chboot -I [OPTION]... HOST...
DESCRIPTION¶
This command creates the configuration files for network booting using pxelinux
and DHCP.
KERNELNAME is the file name of the kernel that will be booted. This kernel will
mount the root filesystem via NFS. You can add additional kernel parameters
and define some FAI specific flags. For each host one configuration file is
created. The file name of the configuration file is its IP address in upper
case hexadecimal or its MAC address with the prefix "01-". HOST can
be a host name, an IP or a MAC address or the keyword "default".
OPTIONS¶
- -B
- Set default values for FAI_FLAGS. This is the same as -f
verbose,sshd,reboot
- -c
- Copy an existing config file to one or more hosts or
templates and enable them for network booting.
- -C CFDIR
- Use CFDIR as the configuration directory. Default is
/etc/fai. You can also set the environment variable FAI_ETC_DIR.
- -D DIR
- Set the directory for the network boot configuration to
DIR. The default value is /srv/tftp/fai/pxelinux.cfg/.
- -d
- Disable network booting for HOST. This renames the config
file adding the suffix .disable to it.
- -e
- Reenable network booting for HOST. This renames the config
file removing the suffix .disable from it, so the next time it uses the
PXE configuration.
- -E
- Add FAI_FLAG initial. This causes setup-storage to disable
preserving partitions. This may erase (therefore option E) data on the
disk.
- -f fai_flags
- Set FAI_FLAGS. The flags must be comma separated.
- -F
- Set default values for FAI_FLAGS. This is the same as -f
verbose,sshd,createvt
- -h
- Show simple help and version.
- -i
- Set parameters for booting the FAI install kernel (proper
initrd, boot from nfs). This does not set FAI_ACTION
- -I
- Same as -i but also sets FAI_ACTION=install. So a fully
automatic installation will be performed. ATTENTION! This will erase most
of the data on the local disks of the install clients.
- -k parameters
- Set kernel append parameters.
- -l
- List the configuration for all hosts in short format. If
PATTERN is given, list only hosts matching PATTERN. Lists hostname,
FAI_ACTION, kernel name and IP address in hex. Use -le, to list
only enabled hosts, -ld to list only disabled hosts, -lt to
list only templates, -lo to list only hosts that do not match any
of the previous categories, and -lg to list the configuration for
all hosts, sorted and ordered by groups (enabled, disabled, templates,
others). Note that a combination of multiple -l options is not
supported and that in listing mode no other action will be performed.
- -L
- List the configuration for all hosts. Also list the kernel
append parameters. If PATTERN is given, list only hosts matching
PATTERN.
- -n
- Do not create configuration but show what would be done.
This also enables the verbose flag.
- -o
- Do localboot via PXE. Do not boot via network card, but use
next boot device which is specified in the BIOS. Normally this is the
local disk.
- -p
- Preserve existing config files. The default is to overwrite
an existing config file.
- -P
- Add the pxelinux option IPAPPEND 3 to the config file. This
will add two variables to the kernel command line, that are also defined
as variables inside FAI.
Example: BOOTIF=01-08-00-27-12-34-56
ip=123.45.9.99:123.45.9.11:123.45.9.254:255.255.255.128
- -s SUFFIX
- Use SUFFIX to determine which kernel and initrd to
use.
- -S
- Same as -i but also sets FAI_ACTION=sysinfo.
- -u URL
- Set FAI_CONFIG_SRC to URL. Setting this variable is
mandatory for operation of FAI.
- -v
- Create verbose output.
EXAMPLES¶
- fai-chboot -l
- List the configuration for all hosts. fai-chboot -FSPv -u
nfs://faiserver/srv/fai/config atom02 The host atom02 will boot the FAI
install kernel but with FAI_ACTION sysinfo.
- fai-chboot -l tmpl
- All templates are lsited.
- fai-chboot -IBPv -u nfs://faiserver/srv/fai/config
atom02
- The host atom02 will be installed. ATTENTION! All data on
the local hard disks are lost in most cases, because we want to install a
new system. After the installation the host automatically reboots.
- fai-chboot -vSP -s2.6.18-4-amd64 faiserver
- Booting kernel vmlinuz-2.6.18-4-amd64
append initrd=initrd.img-2.6.18-4-amd64 ip=dhcp
faiserver has 1.2.3.4 in hex 01020304
Writing file /srv/tftp/fai/pxelinux.cfg/01020304 for faiserver
- fai-chboot -IFv -u nfs://faiserver/srv/fai/clusterconf
node03
-
node03 will be installed using the configuration space /srv/fai/clusterconf,
which is mounted from faiserver via NFS.
- fai-chboot memtest86+ atom02
- The host atom02 will boot the memory test. Install the
package memtest86+ and copy the executable memtest86+.bin to /srv/tftp/fai
without the .bin suffix.
- fai-chboot -o default
- All hosts, that do not have a PXE configuration for their
IP-address will do a localboot, i.e. booting from local disk.
- fai-chboot -vc lenny64 james007
- This command will tell the host james007 to use the
template called lenny64. Beforehand, you have to manually create the
template and save it to /srv/tftp/fai/pxelinux.cfg/lenny64.tmpl.
- fai-chboot -iFPv atom02 atom03 dom kueppers
- The hosts atom02, atom03, dom and kueppers will boot the
FAI install kernel. FAI_ACTION will not be set unless specified with
option -k or -I. You can also use the script class/LAST.var on the install
server to set FAI_ACTION.
NOTES¶
Currently only PXE boot is supported.
SEE ALSO¶
fai-mirror(1)
- /usr/share/doc/syslinux/pxelinux.doc.gz
- The pxelinux documentation.
-
This program is part of FAI (Fully Automatic Installation). See the FAI manual
for more information on how to use fai-chboot. The FAI homepage is
http://fai-project.org.
-
AUTHOR¶
Thomas Lange <lange@informatik.uni-koeln.de>
