Jumpstart Guide / PXE network installation

[Saint Aardvark the Carpeted]

John Housden disturbed my sleep to write:
>  1. I have compiled and installed a custom kernel on my PXE server
>   Â Â which works fine. I have placed my new kernel in /usr/tftpboot and
>   Â Â in the NFS root. The PXE client loads the correct kernel to start the
>   Â Â install, but after rebooting the client boots the GENERIC
>   Â Â kernel. Where is sysinstall getting this kernel from?

Is it possible that this is the GENERIC kernel installed by the
usual installation process (in other words, the same kernel you'd 
expect to see after a CD-based install)?

>  2. I have a 'shutdown' command at the end of my install.cfg script,
>   Â Â but on both a Dell Precision 610 and an IBM PC330, this does not
>   Â Â work: instead the system reboots and restarts the installation
>   Â Â unless I intercept the reboot! What am I missing?

If you're installing to, and then booting from, a hard drive, I'd check the
BIOS boot order.  
 
>  3. I get a prompt 'loading module ida.ko failed'. This is for Compaq
>   Â Â Smart RAID, but I did not configure this option in my custom
>   Â Â kernel. Presumably, I have not configured the list of kernel
>   Â Â modules correctly?

No idea, I'm afraid.
>
>  Any pointers gratefully received - this has been driving me nuts for too
>  long now!
>  This is my first post to the list.

I had to set up PXE booting for work, and it took me a *long* time
to figure out, too.  If you've got this far, you're doing great.  If you've
not checked out this link, it's well worth a look:

	http://www.tnpi.biz/computing/freebsd/pxe-netboot.shtml

Hope that helps!

-- 
Saint Aardvark the Carpeted
aardvark at saintaardvarkthecarpeted.com
Because the plural of Anecdote is Myth.