CSCF Boot Disk

• Note Work in progress
• You can PXE boot the latest netboot image asimov.cscf.uwaterloo.ca can on vlan 420 - 192.168.1.0/24
  • Notes about PXE booting on asimov - and adding images

What

• Provides a network boot floppy (or CD) allowing network access to a file server for image deplyment
• Based on the "The Universal TCP/IP Network Bootdisk" from http://www.netbootdisk.com/

Where

• Local CSCF updated copy can be found at \\asimov.cscf.uwaterloo.ca\exports\export_dos\netboot
• cscf - Modified netboot project
• netboot54 - original netboot project
• netboot54.zip - zip file for above README.txt

Why

• We needed a network boot disk that was easier to maintain and update then Barts Boot Disk
  (A very capable but complex boot disk - full of spaghetti code and gotos with little internal documentation)

Aditional References

• PowerQuest - Power Quest Documentation
• See Image Deployment for details on using Power Quest tools from the network

Main CSCF Directory and Notes

• bin - Utilities needed to build bootdisk
• Files - Flopp build source less OS boot parts
• bfi - Floppy image creation utility from Barts Boot Disk
• floppy - Floppy build target - all of the files for the final image go here
• images - Copies of floppy images we have built
• orig - Some original files - for reference - not needed
• os - Copies of OS files needed to make bootable floppy
• uha - Source folder for floppy image - uncompresses
• what - files that did not seem to be referenced by anything

cscf\ Files and Notes

• doit.bat - Builds a boot floppy (you can make a boot CD from the floppy image too)
• Files - Files used by <!>MakeDisk.bat and installed on boot disk
  • FileCopy - Used to hold User Preferences and scripts
    • cscf.bat - Does network mapping after booting
      
    • LMHOSTS - Map NETBIOS names to IP address as follows

                127.0.0.1     localhost
                192.168.1.1   server
                129.97.15.251 asimov

Theory of Operation

Files

• config.sys

     - uses tunz.com to extract boot.zip and creates 32Meg Ram Disk as Q:

• boot.zip

     - contains command.com and UHARCD.EXE

• autoexec.bat

     - starts from command.com (boot.zip from config.sys)
     - copies FILES.UHA and script.bat to Q: - ram disk
     - starts Q:\script.bat

• script.bat

     - copy user preferences saved in menuperf.bat from floppy to Q: ram disk
     - extract (uharcd) FILES.UHA to q: - ram disk
     - starts Q:\bin\script2.bat (from FILES.UHA)

• script2.bat

     - starts menu interface with timeout
     - starts network and other services
     - restores user preferences running menuperf.bat
     - starts optional user scripts as defined with menu

Master Menu

• Note: by default the manu menu will time out and execute the default boot script after a short timeout
  • With this menu you can change
    • How driver are loaded
    • Default Userid and Password
    • What post boot scripts will run (ie a script to run - (See Example Scripts)

Example Scripts

• <!>FileCopy\cscf.bat - Map network drives

   @echo
   Rem EXPORT
   net use x: \\server\exports
   set path=%path%x:\bootdisk\bin;x:bootdisk\pqdi.550;

   Rem Nexus
   net use n: \\server\nexus

   Rem Core
   net use o: \\server\core

   Rem Sysprep
   net use s: \\server\sysprep

   Rem Optional Post Install Script Example
   REM n:
   REM cd \net
   REM call install.bat

• n:\install.bat - Nexus Automatic Install batch file

   Echo Installing image on First Hard Drive
   pqimgctr /IDE=ON /CMD=N:\net\LAB.TXT /NOAFX

• n:\LAB.TXT - Nexus Automatic Install script ( See PowerQuest for more technical information )

   SELECT DRIVE 1
   DELETE ALL
   Set Image Filename 'N:\4SEP2005.PQI'
   SELECT FREESPACE FIRST
   SELECT IMAGE ALL
   RESIZE IMAGE PROPORTIONAL
   RESTORE
   SELECT PARTITION 1
   SET ACTIVE

Rebuilding the boot disk

• Map a network drive \\asimov.cscf.uwaterloo.ca\exports
• In a DOS window CD \export_dos\netboot\cscf

Adding network drivers

Files

• uha\net - location of new drivers
• uha\bin - Executable utils
• uha\net\ndis.map - PCI IDs of network cards
• uha\CARDDATA.TXT - Network card configuration options

Steps

• Copy new driver ( .DOS file) to uha\net
• Add new PCI IDs to uha\net\ndis.map
  • Find new PCI IDS by running PCISCAN.EXE found in uha\bin while in DOS - NOT Windows
  • PCI IDS Master list can be found at http://pciids.sourceforge.net/
• Update uha\CARDDATA.TXT if needed

Building new Image

• Run doit.bat from a dos prompt
• Two files are written into the images directory netb288.bin and netboot.bin
• You can write the images to a floppy with the command rawrite in the bin directory

TODO

• Add Screen shots