Hello All,

I ran into another issue with my PXE build out. I searched the net and
found many people with the same issue, but there was either no response
or their solution would not work for my needs (requiring access to
software I don't have). What I am after with this is a completely
unmanaged automated install of a client on boot.

I am using dnsmasq as my DNS, DHCP, and TFTP server.

I have a server and a client. The client boots off the network card with
PXE. It asks for and receives a IP from the DHCP server and proceeds
with pulling the TFTP information. The TFTP server passes it a
pxelinux.0 file along with the "default" configuration. The
configuration has a kickstart file and the client continues with a
flawless install of SL6.1. After the install, the client reboots...and
the whole process starts over and over and over again. I know why it
does this (the default boot option is to install), but I can't figure
out how to control it.

What I would like is a process where I boot the clients from an off
state, have them do a fresh install, and then reboot into the new
install. Nothing is stored on these nodes and a fresh install goes
rather quickly so I don't mind this option.

At first I tried scripting an option that just toggled the tftp default
menu but it wasn't working very smoothly as not all my hosts boot at
equal speeds.

I attempted chainloading in the tftp but just made a mess and I didn't
get any different results. Most likely due to me not understanding it
properly. I am open to pointers.

I thought I could do it inside of DNSMasq, but I couldn't find a good
example and my attempts didn't work.

I looked online and found projects like systemimager.org but I am
already doing most of what they provide. I attempted to reverse their
perl scripts but that is a bigger project then I initially thought. What
I did like about this project was the ability to tell it to allow a
single host or a group of hosts to reinstall or to boot off the hard disk.

I have gotten some great pointers from this list so far and I am really
hoping someone might have another for me. Any ideas?

Thanks!

~Stack~