From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Dec 11 13:38:24 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7F11D106566B for ; Sun, 11 Dec 2011 13:38:24 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from dura-zell@dynamik.ddns.net) Received: from mail.jupiter.dynamik.ddns.net (p57A214AC.dip0.t-ipconnect.de [87.162.20.172]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CE3B18FC13 for ; Sun, 11 Dec 2011 13:38:23 +0000 (UTC) Received: from adrastea.jupiter.dynamik.ddns.net (adrastea.jupiter.dynamik.ddns.net [192.168.20.5]) by mail.jupiter.dynamik.ddns.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8C7653848FC for ; Sun, 11 Dec 2011 13:18:54 +0000 (UTC) X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at dynamik.ddns.net Received: from mail.jupiter.dynamik.ddns.net ([192.168.20.4]) by adrastea.jupiter.dynamik.ddns.net (adrastea.jupiter.dynamik.ddns.net [192.168.20.5]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with LMTP id ho127WmNJumn for ; Sun, 11 Dec 2011 13:18:52 +0000 (UTC) Received: from [192.168.23.99] (phenom2.neptun.dynamik.ddns.net [192.168.23.99]) by mail.jupiter.dynamik.ddns.net (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id F03B63848B2 for ; Sun, 11 Dec 2011 13:18:51 +0000 (UTC) Message-ID: <4EE4ADBB.9030501@dynamik.ddns.net> Date: Sun, 11 Dec 2011 14:18:51 +0100 From: Dura Zell User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:5.0) Gecko/20110624 Thunderbird/5.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailman-Approved-At: Sun, 11 Dec 2011 13:49:22 +0000 Subject: pxebooting different versions/variants of FreeBSD X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 11 Dec 2011 13:38:24 -0000 Hi I'm planning to setup a machine wich should provide several versions of FreeBSD and their respective amd64 and x86 variants. Addtionally the user should have the option to install the selected os(es) locally. Currently I'm using pxelinux.0 from syslinux to create a text-based menu for the user to select the desired option like this: 1. diskless boot FreeBSD 8.0 amd64 2. Install FreeBSD 8.0 amd64 locally 3. diskless FreeBSD 8.0 x86 4. Install FreeBSD 8.0 x86 locally 5. Recovery System In fact I'm planning to provide some more FreeBSD versions and some linux distros too, but there is no problem with that currently and the above example is the one I'm using for testing now. gpxelinux chains the regular /boot/pxeboot and gives it control to do the rest wich works fine and I'm able to boot into a testbed installation of FreeBSD. Unfortunately for me, pxeboot relies on the dhcp-option "root-path" to be set to know where to find where the rootfs sits. As the user should be able to select the version to install freely, I can't preconfigure this on a machine basis (by using the mac address as identifier). Is there a way to circumvent the need need of the dhcp option "root-path" and set it instead manually via a config file or as parameter? If not: How can I achieve my goal of pxebooting the different versions of FreeBSD? with kind regards, Sven