Re: Using PC-Sysinstall for automated network installs of FreeBSD

Mark Saad

unread,

Nov 19, 2012, 9:13:04 AM11/19/12

to

On Nov 17, 2012, at 12:19 AM, Warren Block <wbl...@wonkity.com> wrote:

> On Fri, 16 Nov 2012, Mark Saad wrote:
>
>> On Nov 16, 2012, at 8:44 PM, Warren Block <wbl...@wonkity.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On Fri, 16 Nov 2012, Warren Block wrote:
>>>
>>>> Trying to start this from SYSLINUX almost works. My menu config just does
>>>
>>> Actually, it does work on a real machine. It stalls on a VirtualBox VM during or after the NFS root mount.
>>
>> Strange , I will test it on virtualbox when I get some time next week . I did a lot of the testing initially on VMware esxi 4.0 and I did not have any issues related to VM stuff . What version of vbox did you use ? What network interface choice did you use in vbox ?
>
> VirtualBox 4.1.22, FreeBSD 9-stable amd64 host. Only the "PCnet-FAST III (Am79C973)" can pxe-boot, and only in bridged mode.

Does this nic pxe boot other versions of FreeBSD ? Isn't there a way to make it think it has a intel em nic?

---
Mark saad | mark...@longcount.org

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Warren Block

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Nov 19, 2012, 10:24:21 AM11/19/12

to

On Mon, 19 Nov 2012, Mark Saad wrote:

>
> On Nov 17, 2012, at 12:19 AM, Warren Block <wbl...@wonkity.com> wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 16 Nov 2012, Mark Saad wrote:
>>
>>> On Nov 16, 2012, at 8:44 PM, Warren Block <wbl...@wonkity.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Fri, 16 Nov 2012, Warren Block wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Trying to start this from SYSLINUX almost works. My menu config just does
>>>>
>>>> Actually, it does work on a real machine. It stalls on a VirtualBox VM during or after the NFS root mount.
>>>
>>> Strange , I will test it on virtualbox when I get some time next week . I did a lot of the testing initially on VMware esxi 4.0 and I did not have any issues related to VM stuff . What version of vbox did you use ? What network interface choice did you use in vbox ?
>>
>> VirtualBox 4.1.22, FreeBSD 9-stable amd64 host. Only the "PCnet-FAST III (Am79C973)" can pxe-boot, and only in bridged mode.
>
> Does this nic pxe boot other versions of FreeBSD ?

I have not tried anything other than 9.x, will give 8.x a try when
possible.

> Isn't there a way to make it think it has a intel em nic?

Yes, but the emulated Intel does not have a boot ROM. There are methods
to add a boot ROM, but my attempts at that were not successful and I
have not gotten back to it.

Warren Block

unread,

Nov 21, 2012, 12:45:52 AM11/21/12

to

On Mon, 19 Nov 2012, Mark Saad wrote:

>
> On Nov 17, 2012, at 12:19 AM, Warren Block <wbl...@wonkity.com> wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 16 Nov 2012, Mark Saad wrote:
>>
>>> On Nov 16, 2012, at 8:44 PM, Warren Block <wbl...@wonkity.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Fri, 16 Nov 2012, Warren Block wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Trying to start this from SYSLINUX almost works. My menu config just does
>>>>
>>>> Actually, it does work on a real machine. It stalls on a VirtualBox VM during or after the NFS root mount.
>>>
>>> Strange , I will test it on virtualbox when I get some time next week . I did a lot of the testing initially on VMware esxi 4.0 and I did not have any issues related to VM stuff . What version of vbox did you use ? What network interface choice did you use in vbox ?
>>
>> VirtualBox 4.1.22, FreeBSD 9-stable amd64 host. Only the "PCnet-FAST III (Am79C973)" can pxe-boot, and only in bridged mode.
>

> Does this nic pxe boot other versions of FreeBSD ? Isn't there a way to make it think it has a intel em nic?

Either this is VirtualBox weirdness as I would like to believe, or more
likely user error, because now I've managed to boot FreeBSD 8 and 9 with
this setup. Don't know what the difference was.