Bless command for NetBoot/SUS Appliance

[fritz_schlapbac]

Anybody knows the correct bless command that works for the NetBoot/SUS Appliance?

I would guess that it has to be like this. But it doesn't work. I'm not sure if the tftp and the nfs pathes are correct for the appliance.

bless --netboot --booter tftp://127.0.0.1/NetBoot/NetBootSP0/netinstall.nbi/i386/booter --kernelcache tftp://127.0.0.1/NetBoot/NetBootSP0/netinstall.nbi/i386/kernelcache --options "rp=nfs:127.0.0.1:/srv/NetBoot/NetBootSP0:netinstall.nbi/NetInstall.dmg" --nextonly

The following is working: bless --netboot --server bsdp://ip-adress

But this seems not to work across subnets.

[Brad_G]

This may be stating the obvious but I'll mention it anyway. I was having problems booting across subnets using the

bless --netboot --server bsdp://ip-address

But I forgot to extend the network range on the "Listen on these subnets:" so you may want to double check that if you've got it working otherwise.

Please post the syntax of the full path if you figure it out. I'd like to use that as it would allow me to choose between multiple NetBoot images.

[Josh_S]

I have a very similar question. I am also using the NetBoot/SUS Appliance and am trying to boot to a specific image hosted on the appliance. We are working to upgrade all the machines (mixed environment of 10.6.8 and 10.7.x) machines to 10.8.x at one time. As part of this, I made a NetInstall image that auto-upgrades the machines that boot to it.

I would like to keep my standard NetBoot image the same, the one I use for Casper Imaging, and then when I need to upgrade a machine to 10.8, I can push a script that tells it to NetBoot to a specific .nbi folder. I've found a number of scripts that say that they'll do this, but they don't seem to work. I think the issue is related to the fact that I'm using the Appliance vs. a Mac OS Server to NetBoot. Does anyone know the long form of the bless command that I can use to do this? It sounds like it may vary for my 10.6.x machines vs my 10.7.x machines as the bless command changed a bit.

Assistance is appreciated,
~ Josh

[Josh_S]

I got this figured out and figured I'd post some information to help anyone else that is still struggling with this. The correct forms of the bless command, depending on OS version, for NetBoot follows (replacing xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx with the IP address of your NetBoot/SUS appliance and "NetBootImage.nbi" is the name of the image).

10.6

bless --verbose --netboot --booter tftp://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/NetBootImage.nbi/i386/booter --kernel tftp://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/NetBootImage.nbi/i386/mach.macosx --options 'rp=nfs:xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:/srv/NetBoot/NetBootSP0:NetBootImage.nbi/NetBoot.dmg' --nextonly

10.7/10.8

bless --verbose --netboot --booter tftp://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/NetBootImage.nbi/i386/booter --kernelcache tftp://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/NetBootImage.nbi/i386/x86_64/kernelcache --options 'rp=nfs:xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:/srv/NetBoot/NetBootSP0:NetBootImage.nbi/NetBoot.dmg' --nextonly

The difference in the form of bless with kernel/kernelcache makes it difficult to boot a machine currently running 10.6 to boot to a 10.7/10.8 image or visa versa unless you install/use bless from a comparable operating system. This initially made it difficult for what I wanted to do with this, update a number of 10.6/10.7 machines to 10.8. However, turns out that you do not need to specify the kernel or kernelcache parameters when booting to a NetInstall image. In this case, both of the commands condense to the following command which enables you to reboot 10.6 and 10.7 machines to a 10.8 NetInstall with the same command.

bless --verbose --netboot --booter tftp://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/NetBootImage.nbi/i386/booter --options 'rp=nfs:xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:/srv/NetBoot/NetBootSP0:NetBootImage.nbi/NetInstall.dmg' --nextonly

~ Josh

[Brad_G]

Josh, thanks for posting this. I've been running the NetSUS appliance for a while and our older hardware would boot across subnets just fine using the simple bless command. Our new hardware we received however would no longer NetBoot to different subnets.

I've updated my installer package and I can now give that to our techs to once again NetBoot our lab machines for imaging.

Thanks!