ipxe.pxe or ipxe.efi doesn't configure network successfully after loaded.

[Slone123c]

I am using ipxe.efi to boot UEFI and ipxe.pxe to boot Legacy. And they both having the same problem.

here is a log of my dhcp server using ipxe.pxe chainload under legacy mode

Mar  8 11:25:40 pxe dhcpd[64604]: DHCPDISCOVER from b8:ce:f6:cf:99:cc (pxe-initrd) via ens3
Mar  8 11:25:41 pxe dhcpd[64604]: DHCPOFFER on 10.1.1.152 to b8:ce:f6:cf:99:cc (pxe-initrd) via ens3
Mar  8 11:25:41 pxe dhcpd[64604]: reuse_lease: lease age 4062 (secs) under 25% threshold, reply with unaltered, existing lease for 10.1.1.152
Mar  8 11:25:41 pxe dhcpd[64604]: DHCPREQUEST for 10.1.1.152 (10.1.1.101) from b8:ce:f6:cf:99:cc (pxe-initrd) via ens3
Mar  8 11:25:41 pxe dhcpd[64604]: DHCPACK on 10.1.1.152 to b8:ce:f6:cf:99:cc (pxe-initrd) via ens3
Mar  8 11:25:41 pxe in.tftpd[64616]: RRQ from 10.1.1.152 filename ipxe_debug.pxe # server request a ipxe.pxe from dhcp to chainload(I renamed the ipxe.pxe)
Mar  8 11:26:32 pxe dhcpd[64604]: reuse_lease: lease age 4113 (secs) under 25% threshold, reply with unaltered, existing lease for 10.1.1.152
Mar  8 11:26:32 pxe dhcpd[64604]: DHCPDISCOVER from b8:ce:f6:cf:99:cc (pxe-initrd) via ens3 # when boot into the ipxe.pxe system, it sent a requset for my boot script, which is the 'boot.ipxe' file below
Mar  8 11:26:32 pxe dhcpd[64604]: DHCPOFFER on 10.1.1.152 to b8:ce:f6:cf:99:cc (pxe-initrd) via ens3 # dhcp server sent the offer packet with boot.ipxe path, but the client did not receive it

this is my dhcp server config

option client-architecture code 93 = unsigned integer 16;

if exists user-class and option user-class = "iPXE" {

filename "http://10.1.1.101/boot.ipxe";

} elsif option client-architecture = 00:00 {

filename "ipxe_debug.pxe";

} else {

filename "ipxe.efi";

}

subnet 10.1.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {

option routers 10.1.1.1;

option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;

option domain-name-servers 114.114.114.114;

range dynamic-bootp 10.1.1.150 10.1.1.200;

default-lease-time 21600;

max-lease-time 43200;

next-server 10.1.1.101;

}

In both case, when boot into the ipxe, it cant get the network configured.

it showed up two errors.

dhep failed: Connection timed out（https://ipxe.org/4c106035)
No configuration methods succeeded (https://ipxe.org/040ee119)

I also tried set static IP configuration but still failed.

By the way, I tried replace the ipxe.pxe with unidonly.pxe, kpxe,kkpxe etc.. All have the same problem, the network doesn't go up when I boot into ipxe. The file I used is from the newest version, and I use make to build from it.

updated
by enabling debug=dhcp:3 i found the reuqest packet did not send out

DHCP 0x116984 DHCPOFFER from
10.1.1.101:67 for 10.1.1.152 nopxe
DHCP 0x11b984 entering
request state
DHCP 0x116984 DHCPREQUEST to 10.1.1.101:67 for 10.1.1.152
DHCP 0x116984 DHCPREQUEST to 10.1.1.101:67 for 10.1.1.152
DHCP 0x116984 DHCPREQUEST to 10.1.1.101:67 for 10.1.1.152
DHCP 0x11984 DHCPREQUEST to 10.1.1.101:67 for 10.1.1.152
.DHCP 0x116984 DHCPREQUEST to 10.1.1.101:67 for 10.1.1.152
. DHCP 0x116984 DHCPREQUEST to 10.1.1.101:67 for 10.1.1.152

[NiKiZe]

The error message you posted has several steps to check https://ipxe.org/040ee119

Please also post the output of ifstat, and include the device IDs (you can use pciid -nn in linux)

If undionly.kpxe and snponly.efi shows the same issues I would start to consider a network configuration issue, such as MTU or switch configuration, but let's take one step at a time.

[NiKiZe]

b1:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Mellanox Technologies MT42822 BlueField-2 integrated ConnectX-6 Dx network controller [15b3:a2d6] (rev 01)
b1:00.1 Ethernet controller [0200]: Mellanox Technologies MT42822 BlueField-2 integrated ConnectX-6 Dx network controller [15b3:a2d6] (rev 01)

So this is a Mellanox card, see #1091

For what you can build see https://ipxe.org/appnote/buildtargets

[Slone123c]

built with latest version DEBUG=infiniband:3,eapol:3,dhcp:3, #define NET_PROTO_EAPOL comment out , add #undef NET_PROTO_EAPOL still failed

[Slone123c]

Using (fbc3b4a) resolved the issue of not sending DHCP REQUEST packet.

[Slone123c]

This issue was started from https://github.com/ipxe/ipxe/tree/8b14652e506d99499cfbeaed0df07d6a83ec029e. I tried some commits before that and did not have this issue.

[Slone123c]

My final solution is to disable the function on src/net/eapol.c, since I changed eapol settings does not work. But I think this is not what developer want.

/**
 * Create EAPoL supplicant
 *
 * @v netdev		Network device
 * @v priv		Private data
 * @ret rc		Return status code
 */
static int eapol_probe ( struct net_device *netdev, void *priv ) {
	struct eapol_supplicant *supplicant = priv;
	struct ll_protocol *ll_protocol = netdev->ll_protocol;
	return 0; // stop the function here
	/* Ignore non-EAPoL devices */
	if ( ll_protocol->ll_proto != htons ( ARPHRD_ETHER ) )
		return 0;
	if ( vlan_tag ( netdev ) )
		return 0;

	/* Initialise structure */
	supplicant->eap.netdev = netdev;
	supplicant->eap.tx = eapol_eap_tx;
	timer_init ( &supplicant->timer, eapol_expired, &netdev->refcnt );

	return 0;
}