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I am setting up an Ubuntu 12.04.4 LTS PXE server. So here are the steps I proceeded with:

  1. Setup my DHCP server
  2. Setup my TFTP server
  3. Setup my NFS server
  4. I place the initrd.gz and kernel in the tftp directory.
  5. I created the pxelinux.cfg directory in the tftp directory and placed a default file.
  6. I placed the files in the nfs directory.

The installation is not working looks like NFS is not exporting any of the media installation files. This is the content of my default file:

prompt 1
timeout 20
default install
label install
    menu label ^Install Ubuntu
    kernel iso-image/ubuntu12.04amd64/install/vmlinuz
    append file=http://"server IP"/iso-image/ubuntu12.04amd64/preseed/preseed.seed interface=eth1 priority=critical locale=en_US.UTF-8 console-setup/ask_detect=false keyboard-configuration/layoutcode=us netboot=nfs nfsroot="Server IP":/srv/boot/iso-image/ubuntu12.04amd64 initrd=iso-image/ubuntu12.04amd64/install/netboot/ubuntu-installer/amd64/initrd.gz

Can anyone help please?

user9517
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Tanios191
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  • Check your logs for relevant messages. – user9517 May 25 '14 at 10:22
  • I already checked them I didn't find anything related to nfs. As my PXE client booted I tried ALT+F2 and entered console then checked the output of the command cat /var/log/syslog | grep nfs. I didnt find something relevant. – Tanios191 May 25 '14 at 10:29
  • Any new suggestions? I am sorry lain for my question's structure I am newbie here. – Tanios191 May 25 '14 at 10:33

1 Answers1

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you have to understand the content of pxelinux.cfg

i.e the line

kernel iso-image/ubuntu12.04amd64/install/vmlinuz

expects you to have created iso-image/ubuntu12.04amd64/install/vmlinuz under your TFTP root path

also the line 

append file=http://"server IP"/iso-image/ubuntu12.04amd64/preseed/preseed.seed interface=eth1 priority=critical locale=en_US.UTF-8 console-setup/ask_detect=false keyboard-configuration/layoutcode=us netboot=nfs nfsroot="Server IP":/srv/boot/iso-image/ubuntu12.04amd64 initrd=iso-image/ubuntu12.04amd64/install/netboot/ubuntu-installer/amd64/initrd.gz

expects "server IP" to be replaced by the "real" IP of your server and also have created the expected directory structure under the corresponding NFS/HTTP/TFTP root directories

also if you are not using preseed you should erase

file=http://"server IP"/iso-image/ubuntu12.04amd64/preseed/preseed.seed

etc etc.

unfortunately booting PXE is not just cut and paste a pxelinux.cfg; you have to carefully see all of those included options.

edit: your NFS component

nfsroot="Server IP":/srv/boot/iso-image/ubuntu12.04amd64

also needs to have the valid IP an also assumes you are exporting the directory that holds /srv/boot/iso-image/ubuntu12.04amd64

Pat
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