I have been testing 2.4.0 from epel-testing. So far, I have been successful in PXE booting Ubuntu-12.04.1-server, 64bit. Since I am off today, so this afternoon I decided to try to PXE boot Ubuntu 12.10 desktop.
Setting up cobbler as usual, watching the initrd.gz and linux file retrieved successfully. Now, upon Download installer component, I got a window that displays:
"The installer failed to download a file from the mirror. This may be a problem with your network, or with the mirror. You can choose to retry the download, select a different mirror, or cancel and choose another installation method.
Downloading a file failed: Retry Change mirror Cancel
Alt-F4 into the logging vt, I saw (manually transcribed):
[...] Nov 15 23:13:34 choose-mirror[3541]: INFO: suite/codename set to: quantal/quantal Nov 15 23:13:34 choose-morror[3541]: DEBUG: command wget -q http://192.168.1.3:80/cblr/ks_mirror/ubuntu-12.10-desktop-x86_64/dists/quant... -O - | grep ^Architecture Nov 15 23:13:34 anna-install: Queueing udeb quantal-support for later installation Nov 15 23:13:34 main-menu[384]: DEBUG: resolver (libc-udeb): package doesn't exist (ignored) Nov 15 23:13:34 main-menu[384]: DEBUG: resolver (libnewt0.52): package doesn't exist (ignored) Nov 15 23:13:34 main-menu[384]: INFO: Menu item 'download-installer' seelected Nov 15 23:13:34 main-menu[384]: gpgv: Signature made Wed Oct 17 18:36:03 2012 UTC using DSA Kkey ID FBB75451 Nov 15 23:13:34 net-retriever: gpgv: Nov 15 23:13:34 net-retriever: Good signature from "Ubuntu CD Image Automatic Signing key cdimage@ubuntu.com" Nov 15 23:13:34 net-retriever: Nov 15 23:13:34 anna[3566]: cat: can't open '/tmp/net-retriever-3570-deduplicate/*': no such files or directory
I double checked the cobbler server's Apache access_log and error_log, no clues so far. Would appreciate a hint or two as to how to go from here.
Regards,
-- Zack
I think that I have some clues now. See the following two find results:
[root@cobbler ks_mirror]# cd ubuntu-12.04.1-x86_64/ [root@cobbler ubuntu-12.04.1-x86_64]# find . -name "*installer*" ./dists/precise/restricted/debian-installer ./dists/precise/main/debian-installer ./pool/main/g/grub-installer ./pool/main/g/grub-installer/grub-installer_1.68ubuntu5_amd64.udeb ./pool/main/b/base-installer ./pool/main/b/base-installer/base-installer_1.122ubuntu7.1_all.udeb ./pool/main/n/net-retriever/download-installer_1.29ubuntu1_all.udeb ./pool/main/libd/libdebian-installer ./pool/main/libd/libdebian-installer/libdebian-installer4_0.79ubuntu2.1_amd64.deb ./pool/main/d/debian-installer-utils ./install/netboot/ubuntu-installer [root@cobbler ubuntu-12.04.1-x86_64]# cd ../ubuntu-12.10-desktop-x86_64/ [root@cobbler ubuntu-12.10-desktop-x86_64]# find . -name "*installer*" ./install/netboot/ubuntu-installer
Nothing!
James, I know this is not cobbler's job to ensure that a distro is ready for PXE boot, but perhaps it's still a good idea to put in a check just to ensure that necessary essentials are available? Do you need me to open an issue on cobbler github?
Regards,
-- Zack
On Thu, Nov 15, 2012 at 4:02 PM, Zack Perry zack.perry@sbcglobal.netwrote:
I think that I have some clues now. See the following two find results:
[root@cobbler ks_mirror]# cd ubuntu-12.04.1-x86_64/ [root@cobbler ubuntu-12.04.1-x86_64]# find . -name "*installer*" ./dists/precise/restricted/debian-installer ./dists/precise/main/debian-installer ./pool/main/g/grub-installer ./pool/main/g/grub-installer/grub-installer_1.68ubuntu5_amd64.udeb ./pool/main/b/base-installer ./pool/main/b/base-installer/base-installer_1.122ubuntu7.1_all.udeb ./pool/main/n/net-retriever/download-installer_1.29ubuntu1_all.udeb ./pool/main/libd/libdebian-installer
./pool/main/libd/libdebian-installer/libdebian-installer4_0.79ubuntu2.1_amd64.deb ./pool/main/d/debian-installer-utils ./install/netboot/ubuntu-installer [root@cobbler ubuntu-12.04.1-x86_64]# cd ../ubuntu-12.10-desktop-x86_64/ [root@cobbler ubuntu-12.10-desktop-x86_64]# find . -name "*installer*" ./install/netboot/ubuntu-installer
Nothing!
James, I know this is not cobbler's job to ensure that a distro is ready for PXE boot, but perhaps it's still a good idea to put in a check just to ensure that necessary essentials are available? Do you need me to open an issue on cobbler github?
Here is a relevant Ask Ubuntu entry that seemed to have helped the user
though it looks like you have found the same issue.
http://askubuntu.com/questions/204786/unable-to-install-12-10-with-pxe
Basically like you found you need to mirror the ubuntu-installer directory for this to work.
The Ubuntu Desktop CD is usually assumed to be the CD you won't use if you want to netboot things. Most would go with the server install or the alternative CD for such a task.
Regards,
Andrew
Regards,
-- Zack
cobbler mailing list cobbler@lists.fedorahosted.org https://lists.fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/cobbler
Hi Andrew, Thanks for the pointer! I found it too and spotted an oddity: It seems that Ubuntu has introduced a new utility: cobbler-ubuntu-import that handles importing Ubuntu ISO files correctly. If so, perhaps we should take a look of it and James, perhaps we should incorporate it? See also this: http://voices.canonical.com/shang.wu/2011/08/31/oneiric-ubuntu-orchestra-ser... I am going to download Ubuntu cobbler package and check it out. Will report back to the list. Regards, -- Zack [...] Here is a relevant Ask Ubuntu entry that seemed to have helped the user though it looks like you have found the same issue. http://askubuntu.com/questions/204786/unable-to-install-12-10-with-pxe
Basically like you found you need to mirror the ubuntu-installer directory for this to work. The Ubuntu Desktop CD is usually assumed to be the CD you won't use if you want to netboot things. Most would go with the server install or the alternative CD for such a task.
Regards, Andrew [...]
Hi Andrew and James, Found it: http://packages.ubuntu.com/quantal/all/cobbler/filelist /usr/bin/cobbler-ubuntu-import I will read the source and see what it does. James, do you think that we need to open an issue about this? Regards, -- Zack
My cobbler 2.4.0 test install of Ubuntu 12.10 desktop x86_64 and server x86_64 both failed at "Install the system step". For desktop: the complain is a corrupted Packages.gz. The complain persisted even after I mounted the original iso, and copied the Packages.gz to the /var/www/cobbler/ks_mirror/ubuntu-12.10-desktop-x86_64/dists/quantal/main/binary-amd64 For server: the complain (from reading Alt-F4) are the following: [...][...] main-menu[380]: INFO: Menu item 'live-installer' selected[...] base-installer: error: Could not find any live images[...] main-menu[380]: WARNING **: Configuring 'live-installer' failed with error code 1[...] main-menu[380]: WARNING **: Menu item 'live-installer' failed. Getting Ubuntu to PXE boot seems to be a black art with the regular cobbler, as new as 2.4.0. Perhaps one way to do it is to install Ubuntu's cobbler (2.2.2), run its cobbler-ubuntu-import bash shell script, create the /var/www/cobbler/ks_mirror/ubuntu-12.10-{desktop,server}-x86_64 subdirectories, and then scp the resulting subdirectory to my SL 6.3 based cobbler server running 2.4.0! If anyone who has succeeded PXE booting Ubuntu 12.10, whether desktop or server, it would be great if you could outline what you did to get things going. Regards, -- Zack
On Fri, Nov 16, 2012 at 12:14 AM, Zack Perry zack.perry@sbcglobal.netwrote:
My cobbler 2.4.0 test install of Ubuntu 12.10 desktop x86_64 and server x86_64 both failed at "Install the system step".
For desktop: the complain is a corrupted Packages.gz. The complain persisted even after I mounted the original iso, and copied the Packages.gz to the /var/www/cobbler/ks_mirror/ubuntu-12.10-desktop-x86_64/dists/quantal/main/binary-amd64
That is a known issue with the x86_64 ISO currently available (date of 10/17 I believe). I think Jorgen had a workaround that he shared on the mailing list, beyond that it's broken on Ubuntu's end.
cobbler@lists.fedorahosted.org
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Andrew Hamilton -
James Cammarata -
Zack Perry