Netbooting Across Subnets

[#1]

I have a new lab that has been setup w/ Intel iMacs straight out of the box and I'm wanting to use an existing image that we run on our laptops minus XP. In testing I know this works fine. The issue I'm
having is these machines are on a .12 subnet and the netboot server is on a .79 subnet and I think I remember Tom
mentioning that netboot doesn't like going across subnets. Can anyone confirm that and have any suggestions that might help with this?

Thanks in advance....

Mark Hughes, Apple Technician
TIS Department, KCKPS USD500
Cell 913-449-7791
mahughe at kckps.org

[#2]

In our environment we have to set up UDP helpers on the router in order for NetBoot to work across subnets. Mike Bombich has a good white paper on this on his website at http://www.bombich.com/mactips/nbas.html .

Ryan Harter
UW - Stevens Point
Workstation Developer
715.346.2716
Ryan.Harter at uwsp.edu

[milesleacy]

If you know the fqdn or IP address of the netboot server then you can
netboot from any subnet using the bless command.
From the bless man page:
NETBOOT MODE NetBoot Mode has the following options: --netboot Instead of setting the active boot selection
to a disk-based volume, set the system to NetBoot. --server protocol://[interface@]server A URL specification of how to boot the system.
Currently, the only protocol supported is BSDP ("bsdp"), Apple's Boot Service Discovery
Protocol. The interface is optional, and the server is the IPv4 address of the server in dotted-quad
notation. If there is not a specific server you'd like to use, pass "255.255.255.255" to have the
firmware broadcast for the first available server. Examples of this notation would be "bsdp://
255.255.255.255" and "bsdp://en1@17.203.12.203". --nextonly Same as for Folder Mode. --options Same as for Folder Mode. --quiet Do not print any output --verbose Print verbose output

The following command will netboot to the default image on the netboot
server at IP address 10.0.0.2.

sudo bless --netboot --server bdsp://10.0.0.2

Of course, you'll also have to issue the reboot command.

I have had some difficulty with Power PC machines, but so far this works as
described with Intel systems.

----------
Miles A. Leacy IV

? Certified System Administrator 10.4
? Certified Technical Coordinator 10.5
? Certified Trainer
Certified Casper Administrator
----------
voice: 1-347-277-7321
miles.leacy at themacadmin.com
www.themacadmin.com

[#4]

I have also seen this and it's been hit or miss with our Intel machines. It's hard to compare though with so many different networks setups.

The problem I have had with this is that we have more than one netboot image on our server, the default is just for imaging, but we also have a "Maintenance" image that has all of our diagnostic tools, and a bunch of other useful stuff, making it easy to do on site diagnostics and partitioning, etc. With the bless command you don't have the option of choosing your image. It is however great for booting to the default image.

Ryan Harter
UW - Stevens Point
Workstation Developer
715.346.2716
Ryan.Harter at uwsp.edu

[milesleacy]

You can create a separate "NetBoot server" entry in the JSS for each NetBoot
image.
Give them descriptive display names such as "Diagnostic on Main NetBoot",
"Imaging on Main NetBoot" etc. Specify the image info when setting up your
NetBoot server record.

Go to your JSS, Management Tab, NetBoot Servers and add or edit a NetBoot
server. See page 329 in the Casper documentation for detailed instructions.

If you want to boot an individual machine from a particular NetBoot server
and image on the fly, use Casper Remote, Reboot tab. Set the "Reboot To:"
drop-down to "NetBoot". Then click the Override Defaults button in the
toolbar. In the sheet that drops down, select the NetBoot server and image
you have previously configured in the "NetBoot Server" drop-down and click
"OK". Make sure your other Reboot options are as they should be for your
situation (reboot immediately, give user 5 minutes, etc.), then run the
Casper Remote task.

----------
Miles A. Leacy IV

? Certified System Administrator 10.4
? Certified Technical Coordinator 10.5
? Certified Trainer
Certified Casper Administrator
----------
voice: 1-347-277-7321
miles.leacy at themacadmin.com
www.themacadmin.com

[#6]

thanks for all of the input on this...HNY!

Mark Hughes, Apple Technician
TIS Department, KCKPS USD500
Cell 913-449-7791
mahughe at kckps.org