Deployment Solution

Ok...
I got some major problem with our PXE-server....
Enviroment:
Three sites (cities), one Altiris server, one PXE-server (same server).

IP-subnets @
Site 1:
172.20.0.0 /255.255.0.0
172.21.0.0 /255.255.255.0

Here is the Altiris and PXE-server....same machine.

Site 2:
195.84.27.192 /255.255.255.0
+ 18 more

Site 3:
192.168.70.0 /255.255.255.0
+ 10 more

We use ip-helpers at Site 1 & 2 and there no DHCP options. At Site 3 we use DHCP-option 60 and 66 (but I think they dosent work) and no ip-helpers. Two DHCP servers at every site.

Our resoloution for this is GETSRV intelligence and it has been working fine for 2-3 years.
But now since we moved our office and relocated our datastore to co-location it will not work anymore.

To the problem:

The problem is that the client who does the PXE-request gets an DHCP-adress, like it should, calling for PXE-server get contact but then no more. I've seen this when tracing in Wire Shark.
If I restart the "PXE-server service" the first client who does a PXE-request gets the PXE menu as it should...but if I restart the client the problem are there again.

It's getting an DHCP-adress but when the PXE-menu suppose to run we only got "Altiris .inc X86PC PreBoot..." and it starts to write dots every second.


I have reinstalled the PXE-server software 5-6 times and it always works fine for 3-4 days and then it hangs or something.

I turned on all the logs in PXE Config Utility but I dont really know to look after....


So...anyone?? Have any clue??

Have you tried rebuilding the PXE images? It sounds as if PXE is doing what it should, but the pxe image is failing.

Yes I have...
One problem is, as I wrote, if I reinstall the PXE-server it will work for a couple of days and then it stops working again.
If I do a "bigger" change in one of the PXE-disk the PXE Config Utility starts to looping when I try to save. Just like the bug in one of the earlier versions.

Do you happen to have PXE installed on your other DHCP servers? Or are you running one PXE server for the entire company (sorry if I missed this in your previous post). If you are only running one PXE server and it isn't on your DHCP server, I've been told you don't want option 060 enabled. If you have more than one PXE server in a site (i.e. if it's installed on the DHCP servers), you might try disabling one of them (PXE Server) to see if the problem corrects itself. This would at least tell you where the problem lies if it is on one of the servers.

Nope, just one PXE-server.

We dosen't use DHCP option...the options at site 3 was just for a test

You mentioned that you weren't using ip-helpers? I think you have to have ip-helpers on the subnets that don't have a dhcp or pxe server.

Not sure if this is an option for you, but can you install pxe server at the site you are having a problem with? Ideally, I like to have the pxe service installed on the dhcp server, it really solved a lot of my headaches by doing that. I have PXE server installed on top of the dhcp servers at each of my sites (8 sites). This also ensures that if you can get an IP, you should definitely be able to get PXE.

[quote]"We use ip-helpers at Site 1 & 2"[/quote]

But even at site 3.


Hmm....PXE-server at the DHCP-server. I think this is not recommended..and if you use that you have to use DHCP-options

I haven't seen anything that says it is not recommended and have not seen any issues and it sure beats having to place a physical PXE server on every subnet or modify ip-helpers or other configs.

AKB 20051 and AKB 1331 have more details on this.

Like I said, I have PXE configured at 8 sites (multiple subnets per site) and it works like a champ. I do use the getsrv as well, mainly to help map local drives without having to do pxe redirection.

For what it's worth, ours are set up with PXE (DOS) on each DS server (we have 7). We have about 70 class C subnets over 40 sites, all running on one DHCP server. Routing is via Cisco layer 3 with helper addresses set for the appropriate DS server and the DHCP server. Option 60 is set on all. PXE delivers via IP, no multicast PXE delivery.