[Dnsmasq-discuss] ProxyDHCP mode is broken for serving ipxe.efi to UEFI pxe clents

Dreamcat4 dreamcat4 at gmail.com
Fri May 6 11:40:57 BST 2016


OK,
So I have 2 UEFI PCs. And today tested the patch. It worked! Very happy
about this.

I encourage other people to try it too, now the patched binary is available
from my bintray repo here:

https://dl.bintray.com/dreamcat4/linux/dnsmasq/

In coming days shall also be releasing a 'dreamcat4/pxe' docker image,
which will contain it + other necessary configuration / setup files for
serving up iPXE in both modes (legacy AND uefi). That is just not ready yet.

For this patch, I can only test in ProxyDHCP mode. Due to my other
technical limitations of available hardware / servers etc.

In proxy mode, this patch:

a) greatly improves the functionality of UEFI pxe booting, from nothing
(0%) --> to 'usable'
b) does not break the existing legacy BIOS pxe booting. both types can be
served simultaneously.

Was tested with iPXE pre-built binaries downloaded from iPXE website. They
were:


[image: [ ]]undionly.kpxe <http://boot.ipxe.org/undionly.kpxe>06-May-2016
11:00 63K

[image: [ ]]ipxe.efi <http://boot.ipxe.org/ipxe.efi>06-May-2016 11:00 888K




Those observations seem to agree / confirm Michael's own findings about
about his last patch (of oct-31-2015). And what is mentioned bout iPXE.efi
on the iPXE website. For example that in UEFI mode, there is some
considerable delay, waiting about, where it says:

iPXE initialising devices....

but then it eventually finds / goes into the menu. Perhaps with help of the
user pressing 'enter' key if stuck. So not perfect. But can be made to work.

Simon to pls take a look at this patch, be sight-checked for errors / risks
(anything amiss?), then if nothing bad found, pls consider adding to head
for next 'testing' tag future releases. That would be priceless. Appreciate
it.


Perhaps later down the line (once more people get onboard and can start
using it), then this pxe UEFI mode can be improved even further. Either buy
some fresh eyes coming along to fix problems in ipxe.efi, or else here in
the dnsmasq behaviour. Or both. But we need to make it easier for those
guys to run it at least, so can see ahead to the next problem. Many thanks.


Dreamcat4




On Thu, May 5, 2016 at 11:58 PM, Dreamcat4 <dreamcat4 at gmail.com> wrote:

> In the meantime,
>
> Have setup an auto-builds. To make linux binary tarball of last released
> version. In debian / ubunt filesystem layout.
>
> Added with the necessary (but missing) uefi patch ^^ from Micahael
>
>
> Its built here:
>
>
> https://github.com/dreamcat4/docker-images/blob/master/linux-bin/Dockerfile#L26-63
>
>
>
> Binary is available here:
>
> https://dl.bintray.com/dreamcat4/linux/dnsmasq/
>
>
> Haven't tested it for myself yet. (but will try soon). Hope it works.
>
>
> Kind Regards
> Dreamcat4
>
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, May 5, 2016 at 8:26 PM, Dreamcat4 <dreamcat4 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi there,
>> Was hit by this undocumented bug in dnsmasq today / yesterday. It took a
>> fair whilefor me to realize this was the cause of my problem. But now
>> finally here! Coming across this list, and several threads in it, Michael
>> has kindly posted a patch to help get PXE working for UEFI clients:
>>
>>
>> http://lists.thekelleys.org.uk/pipermail/dnsmasq-discuss/2015q4/010007.html
>>
>> So today checked out the dnsmasq source code in git, and see this patch
>> is still missing / not applied. Therefore the bug remains in HEAD.
>>
>> So since then further searching, has unturned more affected people(s), on
>> here:
>>
>> http://serverfault.com/questions/758384/dnsmasq-proxy-mode-and-efi-boot
>>
>> And to breifly highlight one of those guys' comments, in hopes it might
>> be relevant to finding best solution possible. Michael can you comment? As
>> it was written about after you already made your last patch.
>>
>> "I have read the whole thread (
>> lists.thekelleys.org.uk/pipermail/dnsmasq-discuss/2015q4/…
>> <http://lists.thekelleys.org.uk/pipermail/dnsmasq-discuss/2015q4/009907.html>)
>> and I'm shocked; those guys are completely lost; UEFI perfectly supports
>> proxyDHCP w/o using option 60, also using option 43 when not necessary
>> makes no sense. If I were I'd look away from dnsmasq; Sorry I didn't know
>> they were having this kind of unresolved problems. – Pat
>> <http://serverfault.com/users/133655/pat> Feb 20 at 14:59
>> <http://serverfault.com/questions/758384/dnsmasq-proxy-mode-and-efi-boot#comment953297_758418>
>> (2016)"
>>
>> Reading that, I do wonder where he got his information from. It seems to
>> suggest maybe there exists some working windows PXE server(s). Which work
>> in proxyDHCP mode for UEFI pxe clients. Something that could be wiresharked
>> / pcap tcpdump'd.
>>
>> Anyhow, unfortunately it doesnt seem theres any alternative to dnsmasq on
>> linux, for acting as a proxy DHCP server. At least not that I know of.
>> Several other answers on StackOverflow seem to confirm that view:
>>
>>
>> http://serverfault.com/questions/415857/can-isc-dhcpd-operate-as-a-proxy-dhcp-server-for-pxe-boot
>>
>>
>> So assuming that dnsmasq is still our best shot here, and that UEFI
>> compatibility its becoming much more common now, can we please look again
>> at michaels patch for inclusion? Or else have this known bug (of proxy
>> mode) documented in the man page? Would really appreciate that. Many thanks.
>>
>>
>>
>> Dreamcat4
>>
>>
>
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