[mythtv-users] Network Booting

[Andy Laurence]

Jason G wrote:
>> I'm doing a network boot of my system via NFS.  It's working quite
>> well over 100-mbit network.

Excellent!

>> My basic setup is that I have a main server that provides data
>> storage (TV, Video, MP3), NFS, DNS, DHCPd, MySQL, etc.  This server
>> does not run any myth backend on it, though.

OK.  Where is your backend running?

>> I had originally planned to use a compact flash to IDE adapter to
>> put a linux kernel on that would go and fetch the root filesystem
>> via NFS.  This idea was probably going to work, but I discovered
>> part way through that process that the motherboard (Asus P4G8X) I
>> had purchased supports PXE booting.  This is the process that I went
>> for in the end.  Basically, PXE is built into the BIOS and
>> essentially makes the system POST, then it gets an IP address via
>> DHCP.  At this point, it issues a cry for help by attempting to load
>> a kernel.  Once it gets this, it boots almost the same as it would
>> with a local disk.
>>
>> I've written up some of my configuration/experiences here:
>> http://home.comcast.net/~sredni.vashtar/mythtv/myth.html

Fantastic!  I'll take a read.

>> Information about PXE booting linux can be found here:
>> http://syslinux.zytor.com/pxe.php  It was fairly easy and
>> straightforward to setup, and I don't think that I needed to compile
>> anything (the only file I used from the syslinux/pxelinux
>> distribution was pxelinux.0, which is prebuilt for you).

OK.

>> Unfortunately, I don't know how well all this will work on the
>> laptops it sounds like you're going to use.  If they have a network
>> boot option in the BIOS, you could be nearly all set.  If not, I'm
>> not sure what you'd be able to do.  You _might_ be able to boot from
>> a PCMCIA->CompactFlash adapter, but I don't know if that's possible.
>> The adapter's certainly exist, but I don't know if they're bootable.

I've yet to find a laptop that will boot from a PCMCIA>CF adapter.  All the
laptops have floppy drives, so I was intending to emulate a PXE boot with a
boot floppy.  This should get a DHCP address, and download a kernel from
what I'm told.  I'm a little unsure of exactly how it'll work, but we shall
see, or not!  I've also spotted a couple of rack-mount servers in the corner
of the workshop, which should do nicely for a backend, and my new web/mail
server.  I'll see if they're being skipped soon!  Thanks for the info.

Cheers,
Andy
-- 
http://ha.andylaurence.co.uk
http://projects.andylaurence.co.uk