pxe problem after DS server renaming
mla
September 2nd, 2009
In my previous post I asked about problem with console connection.
This problem was fixed after suggestion to change the server name in ODBC.
I successfully connected to the console and could see all machines.
So I marked the suggestion as solution.
However, when I drug and drop the image to the computer icon, image install didnot happen...
I decided to check PXE. When click PXE configuration error message appear. Saying that pxe is not properly installed.
See attach. It is in French but I believe is easy to understand.
My Altiris installation is on virtual machine so I always can return to my working server.
But ideally I need to rename the server.
I checked all services. There is no reference to server name.
Any ideas?
Thx.
MIchael.
PXE
Hi Michael,
You may need to re-install the PXE services. You will also more than likely have to rebuild/refresh your PXE images as they will more than likely be pointing to the old host name.
Hope this helps.
It means the rule is: if you
It means the rule is: if you want to kill DS - rename it.
Correct?
bhawver,Good suggestion, but
bhawver,
Good suggestion, but I'm not entirely sure that he will need to reinstall the PXE. If he edits his PXEManager.ini file and chances the line DataStorePath to the new name of the server, and PXE.ini file at line ServerName to that of the new server he should be able to get in and get it working. He will, as you said need to refresh his PXE images. Also if the IP changed, the PXE.ini file will need to be edited at line ServerIP and DeploymentServerAddress. After these changes have been enacted, restart all PXE services and it should work.
If your question was answered, mark the anwser as the solution
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found KB for the same message. It says PXE corrupted :(
https://kb.altiris.com/display/1/articleDirect/index.asp?aid=33148&r=0.8702509
I can try to reinstall PXE again. But before I reinstalled DS I uninstalled PXE and PXE manager.
I will wait your suggestion.
What we are talking about
What we are talking about regarding refreshing your images is actually called regenerating them. Open up PXE manager, then check the box next to the preboot OS you use and click Regenerate.
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I use Linux preboot.
I use Linux preboot.
Regenerated. Saved. Restarted server. D-Drop new installation image to the client.
The same problem:
pxe-E74 No MAN_INFO or OS_INFO options found.
Well, it was worth a
Well, it was worth a try...Sounds like you will need to follow the steps in that kb article you found. I wonder what it is within the PXE that locks it up so badly when the server is renamed.
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some progress
Pikoshi,
before reading your message I reinstalled PXE only, it didn't work. Then I uninstalled PXE and reinstalled whole DS with the option to keep previous database.
The result I can see all machines. PXE works. I can open PXE configuration.
Just for fun I checked ini files that you mention. Server name is fine (actual server name).
I don't no what you mean by refresh images...
Server address wasn't change.
Current problem:
When I drug and drop image to the machine icon, the box restarts and boots to installed Windows, bypassing my boot image.
Before, boot to Windows the message on screen:
Altiris, inc. X86PC PreBoot...
PXE-E74: NO MAN_INFO or OS_INFO options found.
Exiting Intel PXE ROM
Looks like it cannot find boot image.
What should I check?
We are really close to the solution :)
Thanks all.
Michael.
You could try deleting all
You could try deleting all your PXE boot images and starting again from scratch. By the way, what was the reason for you needing to rename your DS server? Just curious. :)
-Geo
Don't forget to mark the solution to your forum post if it has been answered!
As you're in the mood for fiddling...
How about renaming each of your PXE boot menu options, adding some text. For instance, "WinPE" becoming "WinPE-1", "Linux 6.9" becoming "Linux 6.9-1" etc..
Then save this and see what happens.
Kind Regards,
Ian./
P.S. As for your previous PXE problems before your re-install, I suspect that your DS security keys got scambled -your PXEManager.txt log file would probably had a few "cipher authentication failure" messages. Resyncing your security keys with PXEKeyMatch.exe (in tech support folder) usually helps (though sometimes DSKeyGen also required). Not useful now, but perhaps next time??! ;-)
Ian Atkin
Senior Developer for the ICT Support Team,
Oxford University, UK
To George: I need to rename
To George:
I need to rename the server in order to keep computer naming policy intact.
We don't have servers with stars name or desktops with car names :)
The original machine was converted from P2V. The new name should reflect that it is Virtual now.
Sure, it is not end of the world and I am close to give up with that idea and leave my working VM with old name...
I tried your suggestions: rename and save my boot image (it is Linux), then tried to regenerate - the same result.
What is interesting that Remove button is greyed out. When I try to add new image OK button is greyed out.
I unchecked default for my existing image and tried to create a new one as default. No success.
Before, I will finish with this... Is there Altiris instructions for renaming DS server.
If yes I can try it again on clean VM. May be there are preparation steps before screwing up the server after reanaming...
Thanks,
Michael.
I doubt the benefit of having
I doubt the benefit of having "VM" in the hostname of a Deployment Server outweighs the cost of all the time spent and productivty lost. But, it seems to have been a fun and educational exercise. :)
How about since you have a backup VM of the DS in the unchanged state, you revert back to that and start the renaming process from scratch with the document that Ian provided the link to? Maybe the outcome will be better for you this time.
-Geo
Don't forget to mark the solution to your forum post if it has been answered!
I succeded to create a new
I succeded to create a new default Linux image, moved it on top. The same error message.
Looks like the KB that I found before explains that this error message means PXE server corruption.
I will try to reinstall it one more time and that's it...
The following KB gives the
The following KB gives the full process for renaming a deployment server,
https://kb.altiris.com/display/1/kb/article.asp?ai...
Its worked a treat for me in the past.
Kind Regards,
Ian./
Ian Atkin
Senior Developer for the ICT Support Team,
Oxford University, UK
Ian, I have some progress
Ian,
I have some progress after reinstalling again PXE only.
Boot image loads.
Here are the messages that appear when PXE image loads:
Loading Linux...
Tftp prefix menuoption 160\x86PC --------- MY NOTE: in previous image it was menu option 130 (don't know what it means)
Please wait while Altiris (pxe boot) loads
NO VOLUME Groups found.
Completing installation.
Fixup flags cleared.
Fixup completed.
Configuring eth0 (DHCP)
Install succeded
Altiris Deployment Agent for Linux....
/#
After that the client reboots....
Looks like now it cannot find the installation image.
May be you have an idea?
Thx.
Machine in DS?
Is the machine, that had the above screen output, already in the DS console? If so, that would explain the reboot if there is not a job assigned to it. It boots up, it checks in and if there is no work to do it reboots.
As for the "menuoption" question, each PXE image is assigned a menuoption number. So, if your previous PXE boot was option 130, and you created a new one, that might be a separate option.
I completely agree with
I completely agree with bhawver. Your PXE is now actually working!! So well done. If you do a search in the console using the computers MAC address you should find it.
Your PXE server is delivering successfully the Linux automation image to the client. It has unzipped the root.gz filesystem and then bootstrapped into Linux.
What are you expecting to happen now that isn't?
Kind Regards,
Ian./
Ian Atkin
Senior Developer for the ICT Support Team,
Oxford University, UK
The machine name is in
The machine name is in DS console.
I drug and drop my distribution image on this machine icon. It restarts. Loading boot image.
Not extracts my distribution image.
And restarts again.
The distribution image was not changed and I don't see any option related to server name in image configuration.
May be some configuration files...
In DS console when the client machine is highlighted I can see the status:
RDeploy: Image doesn't open for reading (translation from French)
After couple of restarts with messages about successful boot image load I have other really BAD messages on screen.
Some of them:
CIFS VFS:cifs_mount failed w/return code = -5
mount error 5 = Input/output error
asmbmount: chile returned 255
asmbmount : retrying without domain
Cifs vfs: send error in sessSetup = -13
Cifs vfs: cifs_mount failed w/return code = -13
mount error 13 = Permisssion denied
rc.agent: warning: no express mount found!
install-as
automation
Install Succeeded
Altiris....
/#
Looks like it cannot find distribution image.
With this bunch of errors probably you can point me to right direction.
Thanks.
Permissions Error
It doesn't appear that Linux is able to mount to your express share. More than likely this is due to a bad username and/or password. You may need to refresh/rebuild your PXE image to ensure that the correct username and password are being used (I would retype it, don't assume that it is correct). If you are not using a domain account, it may be trying to connect using the old machine name (i.e. OLDSERVERNAME\username vs. NEWSERVERNAME\username).
The other thing I would check is try to connect to that share using that username and password from a Windows box. Can you connect? Is there a problem with that account? Is it locked out or disabled? Does it have an expired password?
bhawver, express share is
bhawver,
express share is accessible from any computer for any user.
For PXE image...
I created a new one but didn't see any question about user/password
What I don't see in PXE configuration is Yes for In use by DS column.
For my initial boot image that I removed default option there is Yes In use by DS column.
If you can point me where to check user/password for the image I will appreciate.
Also,
what I find strange that there are two types of messages on client when boot.
One is that you refer to and the other is kind of clean see one post above.
So the situation is not so nice with all this... PXE is definetely fixed, but there is something else.
I will try couple of more things. If not will return to old server image.
Thanks all for your time.
Permissions / In use by DS
A couple of items here.
When refreshing your PXE image, you will want to edit Boot Menu option that you are having a problem with. Then you want to edit the image.
When the Boot disk creator opens, you will then want to click the back button, and then step through the wizard. It should ask or have a spot during the wizard.
As for the "in use by DS", you will need to goto the job that you are hoping to have use this particular boot option and modify that and ensure that the PXE option is selected and isn't set to AUTO or the wrong automation client.
Hope this helps.
bhawver,I did what you
bhawver,
I did what you suggested. In the Deployment image my previous boot was choosen. So I selected the latest one. And it shows in use by DS now.
With this I am one step forward but still have another problem (error) that sure not related anymore to PXE.
But I think may be related to the server renaming.
Now, after loading boot image I have a nice blue strip with showing time for image distribution... But it fails with the error:
The file could not be opened. For more info see rd072A72.log.
I attach the log file and print screen of Distribution image config.
Nothing was changed in path name. But may be somewhere it still refers to old server name with the same file path.
We are really close :)
What do you suggest?
Thanks for your tips. It is another step forward.
I installed first DS with Altiris guys. And second on another subnet by myself. But I am not doing it everyday...
Also, installation is one thing but troubleshooting the other. And I don't have enough hands on experience with that.
Michael.
Log / Print Screen
Hi Michael,
Did you attach the log and print screen yet? I would be interested in seeing these.
-B
Sorry didn't attach it first
Sorry didn't attach it first time.
Here is the error in LOG file:
*****************************************************
Error description:
The file could not be opened.
(Note: The file does not exist.)
(Filename: /mnt/images/final/image.img)
Possible causes:
A file that was expected to exist does not exist.
You do not have permission for this operation on the file or directory.
Possible resolutions:
Make sure the file exists and is accessible.
If the missing file is part of this program, reinstall the program.
Fix the permissions on the file or directory.
==================== Technical details ====================
Logfile = created Tue Sep 8 14:08:24 2009
Build = rdeployt 6.9 (9020)
Cmdline = /mnt/ds/RDeploy/Linux/rdeployt -noprompt -md -f/mnt/images/final/image.img -mcint:172.20.33.255 -dsconfig:./Temp/c5000108.cfg
Status = 41 (0x29)
Source file = imglib/fio/osfile.cpp
Line number = 287 (0x11f)
Stack trace = 0x80b23b8 0x80b2cdc 0x80b99a5 0x804ba37 0x804d952 0x804e185 0x8051deb 0x805d73e 0x804edaf 0x805aee5 &Known=0x8156860
File name = /mnt/images/final/image.img
Note = The file does not exist.
Imaging library revision = 9020 (linux-x86-release build, Fri Oct 10 23:53:24 2008)
********************************************************************
On pic you can see the error that appears when I click for image browsing. And the message says: The name or path contains non valide characters. ---- THIS is weird a bit . For me it's just indication that something screwed up.
Once, when I closed the message I got another one :
The message was: Could not find server "my_new_server_name\sqlexpress" in sysservers. Execute sp_addlinkedserver to add the server to sysservers.
I reffered to KB for server renaming provided by Ian.
In Server Manager I run New query. And run the commands required:
*************************************************
If the SQL server is on the same server as Deployment Server it will be necessary to run a SQL query in SQL Query
Analyzer to update the internal SQL server setting.
In Query Analyzer, run the following commands:
sp_dropserver 'OldServerName'
go
sp_addserver 'NewServerName', 'local'
go
Stop and restart SQL Server to update the global variable @@servername with the correct server name.
Use SQL Query Analyzer, run the following command to verify the correct server name:
SELECT @@servername
*************************************************************
For some reason when run SELECT @@servername, I have no output. So may be my changes not takes effect.
Also, I am not sure about the syntax for the command from the error I showed above:
"Execute sp_addlinkedserver to add the server to sysservers."
I guess something should be fixed in SQL now. In properties of SQL and other places I see NEW server name.
My DS is usuable for many things but not for image distribution now.
Thx.
Michael.
HERE is the print screen:
I know this is going to sound
I know this is going to sound like a stupid question, but did you remember to add a mount point in the config of your Linux Preboot for /mnt/images? I know when I had to rebuild our preboot enviroment I forgot to add a mount point for our images.
In your case the second line should look like //NewServerName/ImageLocation /mnt/images
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I didn't add the mount point for distribution image. Need help.
You are right... there is no mount point for distribution image.
Pls see the pic.
It still doesn't work. Images folder is shared as images. Inside is Final folder in which the img resides.
I added the second line. Tried both what you see on pic and //server_name/images/final /mnt/images/final
With the mount what you see on pic it gives the same error (cannot find the file).
When I add /final the client restarts.
It is a good indication that my mount point path is wrong. Again Images is shared final is inside.
Images Mount
When creating a mount point in your PXE, you will want to do it this way:
//*server_name*/images /mnt/images
Linux will not try to mount any further down than the /mnt/*folder*
Also, I assume that you are replacing *server_name* with your actual server name or IP. Just thought I'd throw that out there, because there is nothing more frustrating than to spend all that time trouble-shooting then to find a mistake (which we are all capable of) that is causing most of your headaches.
Glad to see you are progressing though!
I agree that it is waste of time from one hand, but
there were different issues... with your help most of them were fixed.
It is not a rush for me that's why I continue after next success. Sorry for the time of all participants.
Sure that new server name is real name...
Also, the location of the image was always there images/folder/*.img and it worked before server renaming.
Let me try one more time and I ask moderator to remove this long thread...
Thanks.
Not sure if this is the problem...
Not sure if this is the problem, but I think your slashes are wrong in the name/path. In all of my image jobs in Linux your example would be:
.\images\final\image.img
This is assuming that you are not doing multiple mounts and that your images folder resides in the express share.
If it resides somewhere else, can you verify that the mount is correct?
If the mount is correct, I would suggest changing it to be:
\mnt\images\final\image.img
-B
it is SQL related issue
bhawver,
as I mentioned the image file was not in images directory before renaming the server. So it is not a problem.
One post above I mentioned SQL related message and told that I cannot run commands.
BUT it is enough! Thanks for everyone and sorry. I will probably leave the server with old name. Or may be later will try by using the link provided by Ian.
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