NetBoot appears in startup disks but clients will not boot to the images

It is possible that one of underlying services required isn't running or configured properly. Here's a little script I wrote to help diagnose issues like this.

If the output doesn't help you figure it out on your own, paste it back into this thread.

-Brian

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#!/bin/sh

# netboot_service_states.sh

httpNetBootPath="/Library/Server/Web/Data/Sites/Default/NetBoot"

nfsExportsPath="/etc/exports"

tftpNetBootPath="/private/tftpboot/NetBoot"

serviceDataPath="/Library/Server/NetInstall"

savedClientsPath="${serviceDataPath}/ClientData"

savedImagesPath="${serviceDataPath}/ImageData"

# Dump state pertaining to the bootp service

isRunning=`sudo launchctl list | grep bootpd`

serviceState="enabled"

if [ "${isRunning}" == "" ]; then

serviceState="disabled"

fi

echo "bootp service is ${serviceState}\n"

# Dump state pertaining to the TFTP service

isRunning=`sudo launchctl list | grep tftp`

serviceState="enabled"

if [ "${isRunning}" == "" ]; then

serviceState="disabled"

fi

echo "TFTP service is ${serviceState}"

echo "TFTP Service data folder"

if [ -d "${tftpNetBootPath}" ]; then

ls -lsa "${tftpNetBootPath}"

fi

# Dump state pertaining to the HTTP service

echo "\nHTTP service data folder"

if [ -d "${httpNetBootPath}" ]; then

ls -lsa "${httpNetBootPath}"

fi

# Dump state pertaining to the NFS service

echo ""

nfsd status

if [ -e "${nfsExportsPath}" ]; then

echo "Contents of ${nfsExportsPath} is:"

cat "${nfsExportsPath}"

fi

# Dump state pertaining to the re-promotion data cache

if [ -e "${savedClientsPath}" ]; then

echo "\nSaved client share points"

cat "${savedClientsPath}"

fi

if [ -e "${savedImagesPath}" ]; then

echo "\nSaved image share points"

cat "${savedImagesPath}"

fi

That all looks correct (presuming you have a volume named ServerHD of course).

Your next step would be to check the logs for communication between the clients and the server.

Also, where is you DHCP coming from? Multiple, or misconfigured DHCP servers are a common cause of the "?" problem.

The communication should follow a very specific process:

Client (sends) Server (sends)

Discover Offer

Request Ack

Inform[list] Ack

Inform[select] Ack

Many times, in the scenario you are seeing, all you will see is an endless Discover -> Offer loop. That usually happens when the DHCP packet gets "stolen" by another DHCP server.

If you can, a simple way to test this would be to get the client & server on a private network.