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Re: hardcoded config




Hello,

On Fri, 26 Sep 2003 03:31:30 +0200, Baurjan Ismagulov wrote:
> I'm looking for a PXE second-stage loader to use with a Broadcom 5702
> gigabit card. Currently I can use netboot without problems as a primary
> boot loader off a floppy disk (with a 3Com card). What I want to see is:
> 
> 1. PXE ROM gets the IP address and file name via DHCP.
> 
> 2. PXE ROM loads netboot from the server.
> 
> 3. Netboot gets the IP address from the same server using UNDI stack.
> 
> 4. Netboot loads some predefined file, name of which is compiled-in.
> 
> Is there a way to do (4)? As far as I could see, it is not present in
> netboot. If I add such an option, what are the chances of it being
> included into the netboot distribution? Do you see other solutions (the
> goal is not to have complicated DHCP/BOOTP server on Windows server)?

Use the Broadcom NDIS2 driver (unfortunately, Broadcom doesn't offer
a packet driver, but I will work on a generic UNDI driver for the
Broadcom 5702 in the near future as soon as I have the hardware
available), and replace your current PXE bootrom with the netboot
bootrom in the system: for example you can include the netboot bootrom
into the system BIOS (possible with Award and AMI BIOS) and either remove
the existing PXE bootrom from the system BIOS if it's installed there,
or turn it off using the means provided by the manufacturer (using
a setup program or something alike). Then you don't need to have a seperate
boot file for the operating system.
Another approach would be to put the path hardcoded into the bootrom code
(it's around line 106 in file netboot/bootrom/kernel/boot/boot.c - you
need to rewrite it a little bit) and recompile the whole bootrom.
And a third solution would be to wait a couple of months: I'm presently
working on mknbi-mgl to generate a boot image file which can be loaded
using a commercial PXE bootrom. This way it would be possible to write
a small MGL script (just a few lines) which takes an arbitrary, user-
defined DHCP tag, or a hard-coded file name if you like, and return it
as a boot image file name to the bootrom. Since I'm presently short of
time this implementation will still take some time, but initial changes
are already implemented. Help is always appreciated...

gero.

-- 
Gero Kuhlmann             Tollenbrink 18      Groote Gracht 33
gero@gkminix.han.de       30659 Hannover      26723 Emden
gero.kuhlmann@arcor.de                        04921/997561

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