Month: July 2009

PXE Install of Windows (without Floppy, without CDRom)

Files needed:
- smartdrv.exe
- TFTPD Server
- pxelinux.0
- memdisk
- menu.c32

- Download and unzip TFTD Server, create Folder "root".
- Start TFTP Server

Settings:
- Server Interface: Choose the right NIC
- DHCP Server:
Start Pool: 192.168.2.40
Size of pool: 4
Boot File: pxelinux.0
WINS/DNS Server: 192.168.2.1
Default Router: 192.168.2.1
Mask: 255.255.255.0
->> Press Save
- Under "Seetings"
Base Directory to the created "root" Folder
TFTP Security "None"
PXE Compatibility
->> Press OK

- Copy memdisk, menu.c32, pxelinux.0, bartdisk.IMA to the root Folder
- create pxelinux.cfg Folder within root
- create File with Name "default" (no .txt or such!) with following stuff inside:

DEFAULT menu.c32
TIMEOUT 300
ALLOWOPTIONS 0
PROMPT 0
MENU TITLE PXE Boot System
LABEL BartBoot
MENU LABEL ^Bart Network Disk
kernel memdisk
append initrd=bartdisk.IMA
LABEL BootNormal
MENU LABEL ^Boot Normal
LOCALBOOT 0

- Create an SMB Share in an Folder of your Choice. I took the Folder D:\PXE and did share that as pxe
- Create Subfolder for every Windows Version you want to share. I created the subfolder tabxpsp3
- Copy the i386 Folder from the Windows CD to that Folder
- Do also copy the smartdrv.exe into the i386 in your pxe/subfolder/i386
- Start tftpd
- Connect the Laptop to the Network, choose PXE / NIC as Bootmedia in the BIOS.
- Let that thing boot to PXE and go through everything with just default settings.
- Fidsk: Delete All, than Create Primary Partition with all Space (minus 1000 MB), create extended Partition with the space left - and logical Partition in that
- Reboot
- This time, only accept normal default settings until an "Idetification Settings" comes up. Fill out and enable lmhosts option
- In the empty pad enter IP Adress of your SMB Server TAB Name of the Server. For example: 192.168.2.39 ATOM, and press ALT+X to save and leave
- Format: format c: and format d:
- net use x: \\atom\pxe
- cd tabxpsp3\i386
- smartdrv
- winnt (/T D:)

Orginal taken from: http://www.lockstockmods.net/2008/04/26/easy-way-to-pxe-boot-windows/

Problem solutions if you can't connect to the SMB Share via net use:
- Do install Netbios Protocol on your SMB Server NIC and restart
- Make sure your Servers Name ain't longer than 8 characters
- As well as the Name of your share

Astaro Security Gateway v7 Factory Reset

Access to SSH or console with root passwords:

/etc/init.d/factoryreset reset
No Access to SSH or root passwords are lost:

Connect a keyboard and monitor to the system.
Wait for boot prompt
Enter:
boot: default factoryreset

After that you can go to your during the installation definied IP like: https://192.168.0.1

Alternativ:

1. Boot on the ASG from a Knoppix CD
2. Login as root
3. Mount the root partition of the ASG with: mount –t ext3 /dev/sda7 /mnt
4. Go to the config on the ASG: cd /mnt/etc/wfe/conf/; vim setting
5. Change reset_pwd = 0 to reset_pwd = 1
6. Save
7. Run cd /; umount /mnt; reboot
8. Access the install IP

ESXi 3.5 on Dell Optiplex 745

- Exchange oem.tgz on root of ESXi 3.5 Install CD with new oem.tgz
- Install with CD with OEM Community Version or IC8 oem.tgz  (SATA on Normal Mode)
- Boot from Knoppix 5.1, copy OEM.tz onto hda5 / Hypervisor Partition  (SATA on  Legacy Mode)
- Boot, works!

Hints:
- Use UltraISO und BurnISO to modificiate / burn the stock ISO
- http://www.vm-help.com./esx/esx3i/customize_oem_tgz.php

Create a virtual machine from an ISO with VMWare Player

copyed from another Blog:

Posted on December 28, 2008 in: how to, software, tools|Jump To Comments

Yeah, you heard me no CD/DVD burning in here. VMWare player lacks the ability to create new virtual machines by it self, this problem can be overcomed by using third party solutions or a blank virtual machine. However one small feature found on VMWare Workstation still missing which is the ability to install the operating system from ISO without having to burn in it into a CD/DVD first. Mostly it’s about reducing recordable media waste.

You can download a blank virtual machine ready for installation from this link.

You might also find this article interesting : How to Create a virtual machine with VMWare Player
Install from ISO

In order to make the virtual machine boot from the ISO you need to first edit the configuration ending with .vmx in this case named virtualmachine.vmx.

Add the following line to the configuration file.

ide1:0.fileName = "locationofiso.iso"

Locate and change the following line.

ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-raw"

To.

ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-image"

Close and save the configuration file. Now start the virtual machine and proceed with the regular installation.

After the installation is done change the values back to.

ide1:0.fileName = "auto detect"

ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-raw"

Save and enjoy your virtual machine.

Last revised on 02/04/2009

Get Ethernetcard working again in Linux under ESXi

After installing Ubuntu Server on Vmware ESXi, I couldn't find a NIC:

sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

* Reconfiguring network interfaces...
eth0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
SIOCSIFADDR: No such device
eth0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
SIOCSIFNETMASK: No such device
SIOCSIFBRDADDR: No such device
eth0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
eth0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
Failed to bring up eth0.

Problem is that the ethernet MAC addresses are cached.

To remove the cache values:

sudo rm /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules

Reboot, and it should work.

Other NIC files:
* /etc/hosts - change ip address and hostnames
* /etc/hostname - change hostname
* /etc/network/interfaces - change ip address

Install Vmware Tools on Linux

Under Debian necessary:
apt-get install autoconf automake make psmisc gcc
apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r` build-essential

Short:
tar -xzvf VMwareTools-######.tar.gz
cd vmware-tools-distrib
./vmware-install.pl
vmware-tools-config.pl

Long:
Viclient, Connect to VM
Menu "VM/Install VMware Tools"
Tools are mounted to Cdrom
mkdir /mnt/cdrom
mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
cd /mnt/cdrom
tar zxvf VMware-Tools-xxxxxx.tar.gz -C /opt/
cd /opt/vmware-tools-distrib
./vmware-install.pl