This command creates the configuration files for network booting using
pxelinux and DHCP.
KERNELNAME is the file name of the kernel that will be booted. This
kernel will mount the root filesystem via NFS. You can add
additional kernel parameters and define some FAI specific flags. For
each host one configuration file is created. The file name of the
configuration file is its IP address in upper case hexadecimal. HOST
can be a host name, an IP address or the keyword "default".
OPTIONS
-B
Set default values for FAI_FLAGS. This is the same as -f
verbose,sshd,reboot
-c
Copy an existing config file to one or more hosts or templates and enable
them for network booting.
-C CFDIR
Use CFDIR as the configuration directory. Default is /etc/fai. You can
also set the environment variable FAI_ETC_DIR.
-D DIR
Set the directory for the network boot configuration to
DIR. The default value is /srv/tftp/fai/pxelinux.cfg/.
-d
Disable network booting for HOST. This renames the config file adding
the suffix .disable to it.
-e
Reenable network booting for HOST. This renames the config file removing
the suffix .disable from it, so the next time it uses the PXE configuration.
-f fai_flags
Set FAI_FLAGS. The flags must be comma separated.
-F
Set default values for FAI_FLAGS. This is the same as -f
verbose,sshd,createvt
-h
Show simple help and version.
-i
Set parameters for booting the FAI install kernel (proper initrd, boot from nfs). This does not set FAI_ACTION
-I
Same as -i but also sets FAI_ACTION=install. So a fully automatic
installation will be performed. ATTENTION! This will erase most of the
data on the local disks of the install clients.
-k parameters
Set kernel append parameters.
-l
List the configuration for all hosts in short format. If PATTERN is
given, list only hosts matching PATTERN. Lists hostname, FAI_ACTION,
kernel name and IP address in hex. Use -le, to list only enabled hosts,
-ld to list only disabled hosts, -lt to list only templates,
-lo to list only hosts that do not match any of the
previous categories, and -lg to list the configuration for all hosts,
sorted and ordered by groups (enabled, disabled, templates, others).
Note that a combination of multiple -l options is not supported and that
in listing mode no other action will be performed.
-L
List the configuration for all hosts. Also list the kernel append parameters.
If PATTERN is given, list only hosts matching PATTERN.
-n
Do not create configuration but show what would be done. This also
enables the verbose flag.
-o
Do localboot via PXE. Do not boot via network card, but use next boot
device which is specified in the BIOS. Normally this is the local disk.
-p
Preserve existing config files. The default is to overwrite an
existing config file.
-P
Add the pxelinux option IPAPPEND 3 to the config file. This will add
two variables to the kernel command line, that are also defined as
variables inside FAI.
Use SUFFIX to determine which kernel and initrd to use.
-S
Same as -i but also sets FAI_ACTION=sysinfo.
-u URL
Set FAI_CONFIG_SRC to URL. If not set the value from fai.conf inside
the nfsroot will be used.
-v
Create verbose output.
EXAMPLES
fai-chboot -l
List the configuration for all hosts.
fai-chboot -iFv atom02 atom03 dom kueppers
The hosts atom02, atom03, dom and kueppers will boot the FAI install
kernel. FAI_ACTION will not be set unless specified with option
-k or -I. You can also use the script class/LAST.var on the install server
to set FAI_ACTION.
fai-chboot -FSv atom02
The host atom02 will boot the FAI install kernel but with FAI_ACTION sysinfo.
fai-chboot -IBv atom02
The host atom02 will be installed. ATTENTION! All data on the local
hard disks are lost in most cases, because we want to install a new
system. After the installation the host automatically reboots.
fai-chboot -v atom-localboot atom03
Next time atom03 will boot the kernel atom-localboot.
node03 will be installed using the configuration space
/srv/fai/clusterconf, which is mounted from faiserver via NFS.
fai-chboot memtest86+ atom02
The host atom02 will boot the memory test. Install the package
memtest86+ and copy the executable memtest86+.bin to /srv/tftp/fai
without the .bin suffix.
fai-chboot -o default
All hosts, that do not have a PXE configuration for their IP-address
will do a localboot, i.e. booting from local disk.
fai-chboot -vc lenny64 james007
This command will tell the host james007 to use the template called lenny64.
Beforehand, you have to manually create the template
and save it to /srv/tftp/fai/pxelinux.cfg/lenny64.tmpl.
NOTES
Currently only PXE boot is supported. BOOTP configuration can be
managed using the tlink utility.
This program is part of FAI (Fully Automatic Installation). See the FAI manual for more information on how to use fai-chboot. The FAI homepage is http://fai-project.org.