Unable to get any httprequests: Unable toretreive netstg2.imgfile

[Shabazian, Chip]

While I completely agree that this is something that has been a hassle
and has been the source of more problems than anything I've seen related
to kickstarting systems, we need to keep in mind that these workarounds
are being put into place to deal with a "feature" of the switch.
Wouldn't it be better for Cisco to fix STP so that if it saw a DHCP
packet, it would forward that packet while it determines if it's going
to allow that port on the network?  I can't imagine any loops being
created by forwarding and responding to DHCP packets while ensuring
there are no loops.
 
We always see this problem on Cisco gear, and in the past 4+ years, I've
only seen this issue as a possibility on one other type of switch (but
the person never responded to the list on whether or not the known Cisco
workarounds helped), yet people think this is an "anaconda" or
"kickstart" problem, not a "Cisco" problem.
 
Now, *I* sure would like to see the timeout for pump increased from 30
seconds to 60 seconds, but that would probably piss off even MORE people
since I'm sure there are a lot more people who get frustrated waiting 30
seconds for pump to timeout during boot if their dhcp server is down, or
if they have more than one interface and don't know how to turn off dhcp
on the unused interfaces, etc.
 
I guess the ideal solution would be an option for pump that does
increase the timeout that could be passed from anaconda, or an option in
anaconda such as dhcpretry=X where you could set the system to retry
dhcp X number of times without recycling the NIC and starting the
negotiation dance again.
 
But at the end of the day, please keep in mind that these are all work
arounds for the Cisco STP feature, that while valuable, is the actual
root cause.
 
Chip

________________________________

From: kickstart-list-bounces at redhat.com
[mailto:kickstart-list-bounces at redhat.com] On Behalf Of
SSTinsley at upsfreight.com
Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2007 9:12 AM
To: Discussion list about Kickstart
Subject: RE: Unable to get any httprequests: Unable toretreive
netstg2.imgfile




kickstart-list-bounces at redhat.com wrote on 05/17/2007 08:46:19 AM:

> On Thu, 2007-05-17 at 07:20 -0400, SSTinsley at upsfreight.com wrote:
> > kickstart-list-bounces at redhat.com wrote on 05/16/2007 08:28:48 PM:
> > > The reason you can get an IP and PXEboot is because the NIC is up
> > for
> > > more than 30 seconds, which gives the switch time to negotiate
with
> > the
> > > NIC and turn up the port.  When anaconda starts, it recycles the
NIC
> > (to
> > > load the driver).  If you have portfast issues, anaconda will
> > timeout
> > > before your switch makes the port live.
> > > 
> > > Ananacoda will also recycle the NIC one more time after it gets
the
> > > ks.cfg, but that one never causes portfast timeout issues.
> > > 
> > 
> > I here what your saying. I took your suggestion to the network guys
> > and they confirmed the 
> > switch is configured correctly. So short of calling them liars, I am
> > pretty much at a 
> > standstill and have to go with the ks.cfg on CDROM. 
> 
> you may want to add "nicdelay=40 linksleep=30" to you kernel command
> line.
> 
> I didn't see that in any of your posts so I thought I'd mention it.
> https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=189795
> 
> Note: you can add these to your ifcfg-eth0 conf file as well
> # No portfast, wait 30s
> LINKDELAY=30
> # DISABLE stupid ZeroConf address
> NOZEROCONF=1
> 
> 
> I've been on this list for a long time and been quite mostly but this
is
> a long thread and I thought I would hop in share my thoughts with the
> rest of the Internet as well :)
> 
> I'm not calling your networking team a liar, but in the same effect,
you
> appear to be experiencing an issue where linkdelay and nicdelay my
come
> in handy for you (works for both static and dhcp)
> 
> -- 
> - Kevin Landreth - RHCE
> - Sr. Systems Architect


While this may solve the problem (and I will try it if I have time), I
think 
the thread shows that there is an issue. The fact that DHCP works fine
during 
the PXE boot and download of the kernel and fails in Anaconda should be 
reason enough to a fix to be made. Make the DHCP operate consistently
during the 
whole process. 

Thanks for your help 
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