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#1 2013-09-05 11:58:48

tuxtard
Member
Registered: 2012-10-11
Posts: 30

[SOLVED] Diskless - ipconfig: no devices to configure

Hi guys. I've reinstalled my old diskless server that worked fine and after following the new installation procedure I've encountered a problem. During the diskless client boot I get this error:

ipconfig: eth0: SIOCGIFINDEX: No such device
ipconfig: no devices to configure

Naturally, everything during boot procedure after this step fails, since it is not able to mount the nfs share. I followed the official diskless guide from here:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Diskless_System

and I configured it for nfs4 and grub. There are no extra mkinitcpio hooks that I've added except the ones stated in that guide.

Last edited by tuxtard (2013-09-06 10:49:02)

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#2 2013-09-05 12:39:01

Trilby
Inspector Parrot
Registered: 2011-11-29
Posts: 29,442
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Re: [SOLVED] Diskless - ipconfig: no devices to configure

I have never ran a diskless system, so I don't know the best steps to fix this - but I suspect the problem may be from your interface not being named eth0.

If you can boot a live media external drive you can check the name with ip.


"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman

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#3 2013-09-05 13:43:53

nomorewindows
Member
Registered: 2010-04-03
Posts: 3,362

Re: [SOLVED] Diskless - ipconfig: no devices to configure

# vim "$root/boot/pxelinux.cfg/default"
default linux

label linux
kernel vmlinuz-linux
append initrd=initramfs-linux.img quiet ip=:::::eth0:dhcp nfsroot=10.0.0.1:/arch

There is a eth0 hardcoded into this line from the wiki, I just have mine empty.  If I have some wireless device trying to get an address at the same time, then it tries to monkey things up.  So I just leave the firmware for the wireless device uninstalled and it stays out of the mkinitcpio image.  Once you get the diskless device booted you can find out what it is called.  Better yet, you can check the diskless client's dmesg in the diskless clients $root/var/log/dmesg.log.  But if you intend to have multiple diskless clients that may have different names for their interfaces, it is just best to leave it off.


I may have to CONSOLE you about your usage of ridiculously easy graphical interfaces...
Look ma, no mouse.

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#4 2013-09-05 17:07:49

mapintar
Member
Registered: 2010-04-17
Posts: 50

Re: [SOLVED] Diskless - ipconfig: no devices to configure

Probably network drive is not in initramfs-linux.img. Please check manually.

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#5 2013-09-05 17:16:00

tuxtard
Member
Registered: 2012-10-11
Posts: 30

Re: [SOLVED] Diskless - ipconfig: no devices to configure

Thank you for your replies.

@Trilby
I tried that. From the live cd I've copied the interface name and changed it to enp133s0, but the result is the same. Anyway, since it is a diskless system, by the nature of it there must be an universal interface name for all the different computers, or some kind of interface auto detection.

@nomorewindows
I tried with ip=::::::dhcp before, but the result is almost the same. With that setup it just says:

ipconfig: no devices to configure

without the first line that has eth0 in it. Also the logs are empty, since the root filesystem isn't even mounted because the interface is not configured. I've checked dhcp, tftp and nfs and these services are working fine. I've also tried both grub and pxelinux approach, and the result is the same. So, I guess that the problem lives somewhere in the mkinitcpio part.

EDIT:
I've just checked, only lo interface is detected during the diskless boot.

Last edited by tuxtard (2013-09-05 17:28:33)

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#6 2013-09-05 17:35:01

tuxtard
Member
Registered: 2012-10-11
Posts: 30

Re: [SOLVED] Diskless - ipconfig: no devices to configure

Here is the mkinitcpio output:

==> Building image from preset: /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux.preset: 'default'
  -> -k /boot/vmlinuz-linux -c /etc/mkinitcpio.conf -g /boot/initramfs-linux.img
==> Starting build: 3.10.10-1-ARCH
  -> Running build hook: [base]
  -> Running build hook: [udev]
  -> Running build hook: [autodetect]
  -> Running build hook: [net_nfs4]
  -> Running build hook: [modconf]
  -> Running build hook: [block]
  -> Running build hook: [filesystems]
  -> Running build hook: [keyboard]
  -> Running build hook: [fsck]
==> Generating module dependencies
==> Creating gzip initcpio image: /boot/initramfs-linux.img
==> Image generation successful
==> Building image from preset: /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux.preset: 'fallback'
  -> -k /boot/vmlinuz-linux -c /etc/mkinitcpio.conf -g /boot/initramfs-linux-fal                                                                             lback.img -S autodetect
==> Starting build: 3.10.10-1-ARCH
  -> Running build hook: [base]
  -> Running build hook: [udev]
  -> Running build hook: [net_nfs4]
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: bna
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: p54pci
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: p54usb
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: at76c50x_usb
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: b43
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: ipw2200
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: ipw2100
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: prism54
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: atmel
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: orinoco_usb
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: zd1211rw
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: b43legacy
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: zd1201
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: wl1251
  -> Running build hook: [modconf]
  -> Running build hook: [block]
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: aic94xx
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: bfa
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: smsmdtv
  -> Running build hook: [filesystems]
  -> Running build hook: [keyboard]
  -> Running build hook: [fsck]
==> Generating module dependencies
==> Creating gzip initcpio image: /boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img
==> Image generation successful

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#7 2013-09-05 21:20:11

mapintar
Member
Registered: 2010-04-17
Posts: 50

Re: [SOLVED] Diskless - ipconfig: no devices to configure

I have 2 diskless machine, but using nbd, and work very fine. The "secret" is put network module drive in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf. Example:

MODULES="nbd r8168 btrfs"

"r8168" is a network drive for realtek.

Post yours /etc/mkinitcpio.conf please.

You can using initramfs-linux-fallback.img instead initramfs-linux.img, because the initramfs-linux-fallback.img have all modules. After initial boot, run "mkninitcpio -p linux" and the correct module will be place in initramfs-linux.img.

Last edited by mapintar (2013-09-05 21:24:54)

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#8 2013-09-06 01:38:44

nomorewindows
Member
Registered: 2010-04-03
Posts: 3,362

Re: [SOLVED] Diskless - ipconfig: no devices to configure

mapintar wrote:

I have 2 diskless machine, but using nbd, and work very fine. The "secret" is put network module drive in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf. Example:

MODULES="nbd r8168 btrfs"

"r8168" is a network drive for realtek.

Post yours /etc/mkinitcpio.conf please.

You can using initramfs-linux-fallback.img instead initramfs-linux.img, because the initramfs-linux-fallback.img have all modules. After initial boot, run "mkninitcpio -p linux" and the correct module will be place in initramfs-linux.img.

That's fine when coupled with the hardware ethernet address and pxelinux.cfg to deliver the special initramfs-linux.img for the intended diskless machine built from another $root/etc/mkinitcpio.<something else>.conf file.  This would at least be a test method.  But all of my diskless machines boot from exactly the same diskless share simultaneously.  In fact, I only use the base, udev, net, and autodetect hooks in my $root/etc/mkinitcpio.conf.  Somewhere in there it seemed that I had to add nfs and nfsv4 to modules for nfs4 to work. 
You should be able to run the ip command from the emergency shell to see what you might be able to do.


I may have to CONSOLE you about your usage of ridiculously easy graphical interfaces...
Look ma, no mouse.

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#9 2013-09-06 10:48:13

tuxtard
Member
Registered: 2012-10-11
Posts: 30

Re: [SOLVED] Diskless - ipconfig: no devices to configure

As mapintar suggested, I tried to boot with initramfs-linux-fallback.img and it worked. Then I added specific ethernet modules to the mkinitcpio.conf (I used VirtualBox to test the boot sequence, so I added module pcnet32), switched back to initramfs-linux.img and it worked again. It is a bit unfortunate that we now need to add specific modules to the mkinitcpio for every hardware we plan on using, but at least it works. On my old diskless setup there was no need to add specific modules for the exact same hardware I was using then and now. Anyway, thank you kind people for helping me out big_smile

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#10 2013-09-06 11:12:26

progandy
Member
Registered: 2012-05-17
Posts: 5,184

Re: [SOLVED] Diskless - ipconfig: no devices to configure

tuxtard wrote:

As mapintar suggested, I tried to boot with initramfs-linux-fallback.img and it worked. Then I added specific ethernet modules to the mkinitcpio.conf (I used VirtualBox to test the boot sequence, so I added module pcnet32), switched back to initramfs-linux.img and it worked again. It is a bit unfortunate that we now need to add specific modules to the mkinitcpio for every hardware we plan on using, but at least it works. On my old diskless setup there was no need to add specific modules for the exact same hardware I was using then and now. Anyway, thank you kind people for helping me out big_smile

The kernel needs the drivers for your network interface. Maybe you did something different on your old diskless setup like having the driver added with some hook? Did you remove the autodetect hook?

By the way, you could always use the fallback image. It contains all (driver) modules for your kernel.

Last edited by progandy (2013-09-06 11:14:14)


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#11 2013-09-06 14:49:47

tuxtard
Member
Registered: 2012-10-11
Posts: 30

Re: [SOLVED] Diskless - ipconfig: no devices to configure

No, autodetect hook is present in my mkinitcpio.conf, also I did not put any extra modules to the conf before. I just noticed that current initramfs-linux.img is only 4MB, and before it was over 40MB.

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#12 2013-09-06 14:57:18

progandy
Member
Registered: 2012-05-17
Posts: 5,184

Re: [SOLVED] Diskless - ipconfig: no devices to configure

tuxtard wrote:

No, autodetect hook is present in my mkinitcpio.conf, also I did not put any extra modules to the conf before. I just noticed that current initramfs-linux.img is only 4MB, and before it was over 40MB.

Don't use autodetect if the image should run on different machines. autodetect removes all drivers which are not necessary for booting on the currently running system.
It is even mentioned in mkinitcpio.conf

##   This setup will autodetect all modules for your system and should
##   work as a sane default
#    HOOKS="base udev autodetect block filesystems"
#
##   This setup will generate a 'full' image which supports most systems.
##   No autodetection is done.
#    HOOKS="base udev block filesystems"

Last edited by progandy (2013-09-06 14:58:07)


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#13 2013-09-06 17:14:28

mapintar
Member
Registered: 2010-04-17
Posts: 50

Re: [SOLVED] Diskless - ipconfig: no devices to configure

In a diskless system initramfs-linux.img is prefered instead initramfs-linux-fallback.img because the image is small, and transfer is very fast. Initramfs-linux-fallback.img can be used when normal initramfs fail, or in a first boot. (sorry for my bad english).

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#14 2013-09-06 17:34:41

nomorewindows
Member
Registered: 2010-04-03
Posts: 3,362

Re: [SOLVED] Diskless - ipconfig: no devices to configure

mapintar wrote:

In a diskless system initramfs-linux.img is prefered instead initramfs-linux-fallback.img because the image is small, and transfer is very fast. Initramfs-linux-fallback.img can be used when normal initramfs fail, or in a first boot. (sorry for my bad english).

You can just add another entry in your pxelinux.cfg/default to have it boot either one.


I may have to CONSOLE you about your usage of ridiculously easy graphical interfaces...
Look ma, no mouse.

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#15 2013-09-06 21:09:55

tuxtard
Member
Registered: 2012-10-11
Posts: 30

Re: [SOLVED] Diskless - ipconfig: no devices to configure

Yeah, default one is considerably smaller, so I created menuentries for both of them in grub.

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