NFS mount RPC error when loading kernel after PXE boot(was "Re: Vbox/PXE booting works (fwd)")

[Lawrence Stewart]

On 04/26/10 05:37, Daniel Braniss wrote:
>> On 04/25/10 23:28, Daniel Braniss wrote:
>>>> Hi Danny,
>>>>
>>>> On 04/25/10 21:39, Daniel Braniss wrote:
>>>>>> Hi Danny and all,
>>>>
>>>> [snip]
>>>>
>>>>>> mount the NFS share to pull the kernel from. I've verified that the NFS
>>>>>> configuration works, both using a separate physical machine and by
>>>>>> firing up the VM I'm trying to PXE boot with the fixit CD and mounting
>>>>>> the share from the fixit shell i.e. the problem seems to be localised to
>>>>>> the boot loader.
>>>>
>>>> [snip]
>>>>
>>>>> have you tried your pxe/diskless outside vmware?
>>>>
>>>> Yes, see above. The NFS configuration works perfectly when used inside a
>>>> vm running FreeBSD or from a physical machine. It only fails when I try
>>>> to PXE boot the vm.
>>>
>>> i'll refrase question:
>>> 	can you pxe boot a diskless client via nfs?
>>>
>>> the 'above' just says that you can nfs access, which was not my question.
>>
>> Sorry, I didn't explain myself very well. By "using a separate physical
>> machine", I meant that I can successfully PXE boot the machine on my LAN
>> which pulls the kernel over NFS and happily mounts root over NFS i.e.
>> answer to your question is yes. The second part of my testing was using
>> the mount_nfs command manually on the command line of a vbox vm which
>> was booted into the fixit cd's fixit shell.
>>
>> Everything points to my config being good and a weird loader related
>> issue. Assuming you are able to successfully pxe boot FreeBSD could I
>> ask you to please:
>>
>> - Tell me which version of FreeBSD your pxeboot sources are built from
>>
>> - Make your FreeBSD pxeboot binary available for me to download from
>> somewhere so I can try it in case it makes any difference
>>
>> Thanks for your continued input, I'm really at a loss.
> I'll try to send yu a working pxeboot, after I test it under vbox (haven't
> tried
> for some time), in the mean time make sure that your /etc/exports is realy ok

Ok thanks. It would be funny if you can no longer successfully pxeboot 
either :D

> should be at least:
> 	-maproot=root
> and does not harm:
> 	-alldirs

exports look good:

lstewart at lawrence1> cat /etc/exports
/home/lstewart/devel/pxebase -maproot=root -alldirs

lstewart at lawrence1> ls /home/lstewart/devel/pxebase
8_stable

> also, check if you are nating, or bridging, can't remember what I used.

I'm bridging.

> and one last thing, vbox/ethernet does not behave nicely after reboot
> and also make sure you choose PCnet-FAST II, the III does not work

Definitely using PCnet-FAST II, though have tried III as well. Not sure 
what you mean by "vbox/ethernet does not behave nicely after reboot".

The fact that I can PXE/NFS boot a physical machine and mount_nfs works 
in a vbox vm running the fixit shell really does point to a boot code 
related issue no? If yes, then there's only two pieces that could be 
going wrong: the etherboot code or FreeBSD's pxeboot. I'm using your 
etherboot rom, so I'm guessing that if it does work for you, then your 
pxeboot is special, or my virtual host settings are subtly different.

Cheers,
Lawrence