LTSP Gurus...Help pl : First LTSP install & Kernel panic

[Barry Cisna]

Sanjay,

Simply delete your existing /opt/ltsp/i386 directory. ! only the i386
directory!.
Then do another ltsp-build-client to build an Scientific Linux 6.1
32-bit install This ill only take about 20 mins to start to finish.
Try your TC again and see what results you get.

Take Care,
Barry

[Sanjay Arora]

Barry

Post by Barry Cisna
Sanjay,
Simply delete your existing /opt/ltsp/i386 directory. ! only the i386
directory!.
Then do another ltsp-build-client to build an Scientific Linux 6.1
32-bit install This ill only take about 20 mins to start to finish.
Try your TC again and see what results you get.
Is ltsp-build-client capable of building a particular version of linux

client? I found only the --arch and --release options....noting to specify
the linux type

I think I need a little clarity here...google too is not yielding much...

Could you guys please advise? Any pointers to a thorough primer on ltsp...a
current one i.e.?

Thanks.
Sanjay.

[Burke Almquist]

Post by Barry Cisna
Barry
Sanjay,
Simply delete your existing /opt/ltsp/i386 directory. ! only the i386
directory!.
Then do another ltsp-build-client to build an Scientific Linux 6.1
32-bit install This ill only take about 20 mins to start to finish.
Try your TC again and see what results you get.
Is ltsp-build-client capable of building a particular version of linux client? I found only the --arch and --release options....noting to specify the linux type

Arch IS the linux type. I believe the options are i386(x86-32bit) or amd64(x86-64 bit) on SL. I think we used to have a ppc option back in the day. Maybe in the future it will support ARM?
If you want to build an 32 bit client chroot but are running a 64 bit version of the OS on your server, you need to specify --arch -i386 when you run ltsp-build-client.
The --release option lets you pick Fedora 11, 14, or SL (the default) for your client chroot. I'd use the default (SL/EL) chroot because it will be supported longer. PIII processors are i686 and should work just fine.
The only reason to use F11 for a chroot is that some VIA and other processors on older thin clients are only i586 compliant, and are no longer supported SL6.x or Fedora 14 chroots. It's just there to support older clients.
Fedora 14 was added as a chroot because it had better video card support that SL6.0, but I THINK SL6.2/EL6.2 has probably incorporated some of those drivers by now.

Post by Barry Cisna
I think I need a little clarity here...google too is not yielding much...
Could you guys please advise? Any pointers to a thorough primer on ltsp...a current one i.e.?
Thanks.
Sanjay.
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[Sanjay Arora]

Deleted the i386 directory....did a default install (SL/EL) i.e. without
the --release option, but gave the --arch i386 option. Error remained the
same.

dracut warning: Boot has failed. To debug this issue add "rdshell" to the
kernel command line.
Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!
Pid: 1, comm: init Not tainted 2.6.30.10-105.2.23.fc11.i586 #1

Then deleted the directory i386 again....did an --arch i386 --release 14
install....New Error was:

No root device found
Boot has failed, sleeping forever...

Rebooted client after giving a rdshell option in the kernel command line in
the file default at /var/lib/tftpboot/ltsp/i386/pxelinux.cfg (my boot
system is gPXE from CD and target client is i386....just for info to other
noobs like me...location of this will change according to these)

Error message became:
No root device found.
Dropping to debug shell.
sh: can't access tty: job control turned off
dracut:/#

Will try rdshell on a normal SL/EL install & post. Meanwhile, would like
some feedback on these. Again the client machine is PIII 550 MHz.

Thanks.
Sanjay.

[Burke Almquist]

Deleted the i386 directory....did a default install (SL/EL) i.e. without the --release option, but gave the --arch i386 option. Error remained the same.
dracut warning: Boot has failed. To debug this issue add "rdshell" to the kernel command line.
Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!
Pid: 1, comm: init Not tainted 2.6.30.10-105.2.23.fc11.i586 #1

This is interesting. Are you using NBD? If you are, you need to rebuild the image any time you change the chroot that the clients are booting from.
It looks like a Fedora 11 kernel is being used to boot the client?
I don't have my test system up to compare at the moment.

No root device found
Boot has failed, sleeping forever..
Rebooted client after giving a rdshell option in the kernel command line in the file default at /var/lib/tftpboot/ltsp/i386/pxelinux.cfg (my boot system is gPXE from CD and target client is i386....just for info to other noobs like me...location of this will change according to these)
No root device found.
Dropping to debug shell.
sh: can't access tty: job control turned off
dracut:/#
Will try rdshell on a normal SL/EL install & post. Meanwhile, would like some feedback on these. Again the client machine is PIII 550 MHz.

Just curious, but how much memory do these machines have?
And do you know what mode NIC they have?

Thanks.
Sanjay.

[Sanjay Arora]

Post by Burke Almquist
This is interesting. Are you using NBD? If you are, you need to rebuild
the image any time you change the chroot that the clients are booting from.

Don't know anything about using NBD. How do I check?

But I have not changed any setting regarding chroot....whatever is default
is being done....don't know enough to do any customization ;-)

Post by Burke Almquist
It looks like a Fedora 11 kernel is being used to boot the client?

And it should BE SL? hmm...script buggy? or did I screw up? I assumed SL/EL
was default option and did not give any --release option.....Do I need to
give something like --release SL or EL or something similar?

I don't have my test system up to compare at the moment.

Post by Burke Almquist

Post by Sanjay Arora
Then deleted the directory i386 again....did an --arch i386 --release 14
No root device found
Boot has failed, sleeping forever..
Rebooted client after giving a rdshell option in the kernel command line

in the file default at /var/lib/tftpboot/ltsp/i386/pxelinux.cfg (my boot
system is gPXE from CD and target client is i386....just for info to other
noobs like me...location of this will change according to these)

Post by Sanjay Arora
No root device found.
Dropping to debug shell.
sh: can't access tty: job control turned off
dracut:/#
Will try rdshell on a normal SL/EL install & post. Meanwhile, would like

some feedback on these. Again the client machine is PIII 550 MHz.
Just curious, but how much memory do these machines have?

RAM in this particular machine is 128 mb.

We have machines from 128 mb to 256 mb lying junk with us, which we are
looking to use, in addition, we wish to add low power thin-clients.

And do you know what mode NIC they have?
NIC is Realtek RTL8029AS - a 10 mbps bnc/rj45 half-height card.

lspci confirms this.


On standard SL/EL install with rdshell command in kernel
parameters....error is again (I am assuming that SL/EL is booting and not
FC11 as being speculated above):

No root device found.
Dropping to debug shell.
sh: can't access tty: job control turned off
dracut:/#

[Burke Almquist]

You aren't using NBD, and it's not the memory or the NIC from what you are saying.

From what I can see, it's not an issue with build of the chroots. It's not even getting that far.

You ARE seeing it load a kernel over PXE, correct?

It appears it's failing to load the root file system from NFS. Do you still have the firewall on the server turned on, or perhaps another DHCP server on your LAN? That seems to be a common source of problems.
Make sure you followed the directions from here exactly. https://fedorahosted.org/k12linux/wiki/InstallGuide and https://fedorahosted.org/k12linux/wiki/NetworkSetup

My testing clients are PIII 450 with about the same amounts of RAM as yours. I'm going to try setting my test bed up from scratch again. Either it'll work, and we know it's something with your setup, or I'll have the same issue and I'll be able to poke around and find the problem.

[Burke Almquist]

I just did a fresh install using a SL 6.1 i386 DVD (as opposed to x86_64) DVD with all updates applied.
The directions on the website worked perfectly.
This makes me think that you missed something in the instructions, or that there is something different with your network layout.

[Burke Almquist]

Sanjay, I was wondering if you ever got your clients to boot?

[Sanjay Arora]

Burke

Sorry for not responding. Had to go out of town and returned just tonight.

Will try your options tomorrow.

Meanwhile had an idea....maybe...just maybe...the gPXE is booting the
kernel....but when the kernel gets loaded....it wouldn't use gPXE's network
drivers...and if the linux image booting off the server does not have the
correct driver for my card...communication would stop...wouldn't it?
Something similar to what's been happening here.

Found a debug option....while researching the issue in free time during my
trip. Will try that tomorrow.....wonder if there is something similar to
dmesg....will try your /var/log/messages option too...

Will advise.

Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for all your effort in helping me.

With best regards.
Sanjay.

Post by Burke Almquist
Sanjay, I was wondering if you ever got your clients to boot?
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