I have set up a cobbler server to kickstart/build HP ProLiant boxen of various flavors with RHEL5 I have a particularly stubborn DL380 G5 that refuses to be PXE-booted/net-installed I suspect a FUBAR from the guy that manages the DNS/DHCP, but I need more evidence. When it tries to PXE-boot, I get "PXE-E11: ARP Timeout" a few times and then, maybe, it will proceed.

From: BPezan(a)secureworks.com To: cobbler(a)lists.fedorahosted.org Subject: RE: Weird Kickstart Problem In Search of a Clue Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2011 20:37:15 +0000 I too have run into this issue. Just like Orion, the solution for me was 'spanning-tree portfast' on the switch port itself on our Cisco switches. The issue seems to be compounded by the fact that kickstart installs seem to insist on requesting a DHCP address 3 times during the install process. Which I think is why the install will sometimes progress further only to fail again at a later point. byron -----Original Message----- From: cobbler-bounces(a)lists.fedorahosted.org [mailto:cobbler-bounces@lists.fedorahosted.org] On Behalf Of Orion Poplawski Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2011 1:25 PM To: cobbler mailing list Subject: Re: Weird Kickstart Problem In Search of a Clue On 11/10/2011 09:47 AM, Dan White wrote: > I have set up a cobbler server to kickstart/build HP ProLiant boxen of > various flavors with RHEL5 > > I have a particularly stubborn DL380 G5 that refuses to be > PXE-booted/net-installed > > I suspect a FUBAR from the guy that manages the DNS/DHCP, but I need more evidence. > > When it tries to PXE-boot, I get "PXE-E11: ARP Timeout" a few times and then, maybe, it will proceed. I've seen issues somewhat similar on switches that take a long time to run spanning tree protocol checks before bringing up the port. Disabling that (port-fast in cisco lingo I think) helps. -- Orion Poplawski Technical Manager 303-415-9701 x222 NWRA/CoRA Division FAX: 303-415-9702 3380 Mitchell Lane orion(a)cora.nwra.com Boulder, CO 80301 http://www.cora.nwra.com _______________________________________________ cobbler mailing list cobbler(a)lists.fedorahosted.org https://fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/cobbler _______________________________________________ cobbler mailing list cobbler(a)lists.fedorahosted.org https://fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/cobbler

Hey Sr, I have had this problem a simple kickstart system before, and t was related to reverse DNS resolution, in my case as it was a simple environment I just used the option dns=nodns > From: BPezan(a)secureworks.com > To: cobbler(a)lists.fedorahosted.org > Subject: RE: Weird Kickstart Problem In Search of a Clue > Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2011 20:37:15 +0000 > > I too have run into this issue. Just like Orion, the solution for me was 'spanning-tree portfast' on the switch port itself on our Cisco switches. The issue seems to be compounded by the fact that kickstart installs seem to insist on requesting a DHCP address 3 times during the install process. Which I think is why the install will sometimes progress further only to fail again at a later point. > > > byron > > -----Original Message----- > From: cobbler-bounces(a)lists.fedorahosted.org > [mailto:cobbler-bounces@lists.fedorahosted.org] On Behalf Of Orion > Poplawski > Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2011 1:25 PM > To: cobbler mailing list > Subject: Re: Weird Kickstart Problem In Search of a Clue > > On 11/10/2011 09:47 AM, Dan White wrote: > > I have set up a cobbler server to kickstart/build HP ProLiant > > boxen of various flavors with RHEL5 > > > > I have a particularly stubborn DL380 G5 that refuses to be > > PXE-booted/net-installed > > > > I suspect a FUBAR from the guy that manages the DNS/DHCP, but I need more evidence. > > > > When it tries to PXE-boot, I get "PXE-E11: ARP Timeout" a few > > times and then, maybe, it will proceed

On Nov 10, 2011, at 1:11 PM, Orion Poplawski wrote: > On 11/10/2011 09:47 AM, Dan White wrote: >> I have set up a cobbler server to kickstart/build HP ProLiant boxen of various flavors with RHEL5 >> >> I have a particularly stubborn DL380 G5 that refuses to be PXE-booted/net-installed >> >> I suspect a FUBAR from the guy that manages the DNS/DHCP, but I need more evidence. >> >> When it tries to PXE-boot, I get "PXE-E11: ARP Timeout" a few times and then, maybe, it will proceed. > > I've seen issues somewhat similar on switches that take a long time to run > spanning tree protocol checks before bringing up the port. Disabling that > (port-fast in cisco lingo I think) helps. OK, that could explain the PXE-boot problem, but what about the other part ? When it gets into anaconda, it hangs on a screen that says: ----------------------- Error downloading kickstart file: Unable to download the kickstart file. Please modify the kickstart parameter below or press Cancel to proceed as an iteractive installation. http://<IP of cobbler server>/cblr/svc/op/ks/system/<system name from Cobbler> ------------------------ The URL is not the problem. I can type that URL into any other machine on the network and get the kickstart file. On the suggestion of a co-worker, I booted the same G5 with a CentOS 6 LiveCD, configured its network interface and was able to bring up the kickstart file in a ForeFox browser. I have loaded/booted several other machines from this samre server, so I am confident that the problem is not on the cobbler server. Being able to get to the KS file with the CentOS LiveCD says to me that the G5 is not the problem. I suspect the problem is somewhere between the two machines.

Hi everybody, > > Dan White&lt;ygor(a)comcast.net&gt;  wrote: > >> On Nov 10, 2011, at 1:11 PM, Orion Poplawski wrote: >> >>> On 11/10/2011 09:47 AM, Dan White wrote: >>>> >>>> I have set up a cobbler server to kickstart/build HP ProLiant boxen of >>>> various flavors with RHEL5 >>>> >>>> I have a particularly stubborn DL380 G5 that refuses to be >>>> PXE-booted/net-installed >>>> >>>> I suspect a FUBAR from the guy that manages the DNS/DHCP, but I need >>>> more evidence. >>>> >>>> When it tries to PXE-boot, I get "PXE-E11: ARP Timeout" a few times and >>>> then, maybe, it will proceed. >>> >>> I've seen issues somewhat similar on switches that take a long time to >>> run >>> spanning tree protocol checks before bringing up the port.  Disabling >>> that >>> (port-fast in cisco lingo I think) helps. >> >> OK, that could explain the PXE-boot problem, but what about the other >> part ? >> >> When it gets into anaconda, it hangs on a screen that says: >> ----------------------- >> Error downloading kickstart file: >> >> Unable to download the kickstart file.  Please modify the >> kickstart parameter below or press Cancel to proceed as an >> iteractive installation. >> >> http://<IP of cobbler server>/cblr/svc/op/ks/system/<system name from >> Cobbler> >> ------------------------ >> The URL is not the problem.  I can type that URL into any other machine >> on the network and get the kickstart file. >> On the suggestion of a co-worker, I booted the same G5 with a CentOS 6 >> LiveCD, configured its network interface and was able to bring up the >> kickstart file in a ForeFox browser. >> >> I have loaded/booted several other machines from this samre server, so I >> am confident that the problem is not on the cobbler server.  Being able to >> get to the KS file with the CentOS LiveCD says to me that the G5 is not the >> problem. I suspect the problem is somewhere between the two machines. > > I have encountered this twice in recent days.  In each case, I just > rebooted the target, and this time it worked.  Sure would like to know > what's causing this. In do have the same problem: During pre-install it says Error downloading kickstart file when I then just hit o.k. WITHOUT changing the location of the kickstart file it works! Could that be a too short timeout? Why doens't it work the first time it tries to get the kickstart file from the server? Cheers, Jens _______________________________________________ cobbler mailing list cobbler(a)lists.fedorahosted.org https://fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/cobbler

I have set up a cobbler server to kickstart/build HP ProLiant boxen of various flavors with RHEL5 I have a particularly stubborn DL380 G5 that refuses to be PXE-booted/net-installed I suspect a FUBAR from the guy that manages the DNS/DHCP, but I need more evidence. When it tries to PXE-boot, I get "PXE-E11: ARP Timeout" a few times and then, maybe, it will proceed. But then, when it gets into anaconda, it hangs on a screen that says: ----------------------- Error downloading kickstart file: Unable to download the kickstart file. Please modify the kickstart parameter below or press Cancel to proceed as an iteractive installation. http://<IP of cobbler server>/cblr/svc/op/ks/system/<system name from Cobbler> ------------------------ The URL is not the problem. I can type that URL into any other machine on the network and get the kickstart file. On the suggestion of a co-worker, I booted the same G5 with a CentOS 6 LiveCD, configured its network interface and was able to bring up the kickstart file in a ForeFox browser. I have loaded/booted several other machines from this samre server, so I am confident that the problem is not on the cobbler server. Being able to get to the KS file with the CentOS LiveCD says to me that the G5 is not the problem. I suspect the problem is somewhere between the two machines. “Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.” Bill Waterson (Calvin & Hobbes) _______________________________________________ cobbler mailing list cobbler(a)lists.fedorahosted.org https://fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/cobbler