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  • 1.  Pxe booting esxi5

    Posted Oct 12, 2011 01:57 PM

    Hi,

    I'm trying to install Esxi 5.0 via pxe on a Dell M610 blade. While the server is able to detect the pxe MAC address file on the tftp server, it displays the following error

    Trying to load pxelinux.cfg/01-00-26-b9-fd-7c-28

    Unknown keyword in config file

    Unknown keyword in config file
    Unknown keyword in config file

    Unknown keyword in config file

    Missing parameter in config file

    Unknown keyword in config file

    Missing parameter in config file

    Unknown keyword in config file
    Unknown keyword in config file

    This is what's in the config file which I got from the ESXi 5.0 documentation

    DEFAULT esx/5.0/menu.c32
    MENU TITLE ESXi-5.0.0-469512-standard Boot Menu
    NOHALT 1
    PROMPT 0
    TIMEOUT 80
    LABEL install
      KERNEL esx/5.0/mboot.c32
      APPEND -c esx/5.0/boot.cfg
    MENU LABEL ESXi-5.0.0-469512-full ^Installer
    LABEL hddboot
    LOCALBOOT 0x80
    MENU LABEL ^Boot from local disk
    Under /tftpboot, there is a esx directory which contains the files for 5.0 esxi.
    root@server1:/tftpboot/esx/5.0>ls
    a.b00         ima-qla4.v00  net-cnic.v00  sata-ata.v00  scsi-mpt.v00
    ata-pata.v00  imgdb.tgz     net-e100.v00  sata-sat.v00  scsi-mpt.v01
    ata-pata.v01  imgpayld.tgz  net-e100.v01  sata-sat.v01  scsi-mpt.v02
    ata-pata.v02  ipmi-ipm.v00  net-enic.v00  sata-sat.v02  scsi-qla.v00
    ata-pata.v03  ipmi-ipm.v01  net-forc.v00  sata-sat.v03  scsi-qla.v01
    ata-pata.v04  ipmi-ipm.v02  net-igb.v00   scsi-aac.v00  s.v00
    ata-pata.v05  isolinux.bin  net-ixgb.v00  scsi-adp.v00  tboot.b00
    ata-pata.v06  isolinux.cfg  net-nx-n.v00  scsi-aic.v00  tools.t00
    ata-pata.v07  k.b00         net-r816.v00  scsi-bnx.v00  uhci-usb.v00
    b.b00         mboot.c32     net-r816.v01  scsi-fni.v00  upgrade
    block-cc.v00  menu.c32      net-s2io.v00  scsi-hps.v00  useropts.gz
    boot.cat      misc-cni.v00  net-sky2.v00  scsi-ips.v00  vmware-esx-base-osl.txt
    boot.cfg      misc-dri.v00  net-tg3.v00   scsi-lpf.v00  vmware-esx-base-readme
    efi           net-be2n.v00  ohci-usb.v00  scsi-meg.v00  weaselin.i00
    efiboot.img   net-bnx2.v00  safeboot.c32  scsi-meg.v01
    ehci-ehc.v00  net-bnx2.v01  sata-ahc.v00  scsi-meg.v02
    root@server1:/tftpboot/esx/5.0>
    I tried a manual install via a cd and it works fine so it seems like the problem is with the config and the not the iso itself.
    Anyone run into this problem before?

    Thanks



  • 2.  RE: Pxe booting esxi5

    Posted Oct 12, 2011 07:37 PM

    My syslinux version is 3.11. Not sure if that is the issue. I think esxi 5 needs 3.86 or higher but I haven't seen anything in the official documentation about this



  • 3.  RE: Pxe booting esxi5

    Posted Oct 14, 2011 09:46 PM

    I was able to resolve this issue by upgrading syslinux to 4.02.  This is a litle annoying because both RHEL5 and SLES11 have syslinux below 3.86.