Specifications

Remote Booting Linux on Intel Processors (CERN Variant)
Concurrent Technologies Page 26 of 30
• “losetup /dev/loop0 rootfs” Attach rootfs to loop device
• “mkfs.ext2 -F -i 2000 rootfs” Create an EXT2 file system
• “mkdir /mnt/loop” Make a mount directory
• “mount –o loop rootfs /mnt/loop” Mount the root file system file
15. Transfer the root file system into the mounted root file system file,
• “cp -a /tftpboot/ClientRamDisk/* /mnt/loop”
16. Detach the root file system file,
• “umount /mnt/loop”
• “losetup -d /dev/loop0“
17. Compress the root file system file,
• “cd /root/netboot”
• “gzip –9 rootfs“
18. The “rootfs.gz” file now contains a compressed image of part of the root file system for the
Client. The next step is to create an Etherboot boot image to boot the Client.
How to create an Etherboot image
• Type either “mknbi-linux --rootdir=/dev/ram bzImage rootfs.gz > LinuxBootImage.nbi”
• Or If you are using a board without a VGA adapter, or simply wish to use a serial console
then type this command instead, “mknbi-linux --rootdir=/dev/ram --
append=”console=ttyS0,9600” bzImage rootfs.gz > LinuxBootImage.nbi”
• Copy the image to the TFTP directorty “cp LinuxBootImage.nbi /tftpboot”
How to create a PXE Image
• Ensure the PXELINUX configuration files “/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/C04354AB” and
“/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/C04354AB” have the correct “APPEND initrd=rootfs.gz
root=/dev/ram rw” statement, or if you are using a board without a VGA adapter, or
simply wish to use a serial console then use “APPEND console=ttyS0,9600
initrd=rootfs.gz root=/dev/ram rw”
• “cp /root/netboot/bzImage /tftpboot/”
• “cp /root/netboot/rootfs.gz /tftpboot/”
NOTE: If using a VP 31x/02x replace ttys0 with ttys2 in the above to specify the serial port
located on the processor board’s front panel.
19. Reboot the client machines. Each client should execute a BOOTP request, TFTP the boot
image, and start the Linux kernel mounting its basic root file system from RamDisk and
mounting /home and other directories via NFS from the server, running the normal Red Hat
interactive service start up scripts and finally running the local commands as described in
each clients “.custom.rc” file.
Concurrent Technologies Etherboot Extensions Package
This software extends the normal remote booting capabilities provided by Etherboot. It allows a
Concurrent Technologies board to be configured to boot an operating system from on-board Flash memory.
The package contains three main files,