HPDL380 Gen 9 can't boot in UEFI mode

[danderson]

HPDL380 Gen 9 can't boot in UEFI mode

[danderson]

Does the network have another DHCP server offering network configuration? In a packet capture, you should see both a normal DHCPOFFER with network configuration, and a ProxyDHCP response from Pixiecore with boot information. Is that what you see?

PXE and ProxyDHCP over UEFI are not specified anywhere that I can find, so I'm going on the assumption that it behaves similarly to PXE in BIOS environments. So far, this is proving to be untrue for some servers firmwares :(.

Unfortunately, at this point, the only way for me to debug this is if I can get access to an HP DL380 G9 with ILO, on a lab network, so I can experimentally probe the firmware to see what it likes/doesn't like. Would you happen to have a lab environment that you could let me borrow? Sadly this project is not an official Google project, so I don't have $$ to get my own G9, and it's quite expensive for a single throwaway use :).

[wrouesnel]

Heh - no specific expectations! Just was hoping someone might've seen this before and if not that I can figure it out and contribute back.

[wrouesnel]

So the short answer seems to be: these machines ignore proxyDHCP offers entirely. I tried manually coding a next-server config pointing t the iPXE endpoints of pixiecore, and suddenly they started pulling down their boot images.

So it looks like a fix here basically depends on pixiecore gaining DHCP server capability (or someone finding out some magic DHCP option to make them accept a proxyDHCP config).

EDIT: I suppose another option would be to serve a very generic bootloader back on some filename which gets iPXE up enough to load the specific script.

[wrouesnel]

For for completeness, a workaround - if you control your DHCP server - I just had success using this dnsmasq.conf file to boot via pixiecore by sending an otherwise fake MAC address:

bind-interfaces

interface=tap0

dhcp-range=tap0,22.0.0.10,22.0.1.254,255.255.254.0,infinite

dhcp-match=set:ipxe,175 # iPXE sends a 175 option.
dhcp-match=set:efi-x86_64,option:client-arch,7

dhcp-boot=tag:efi-x86_64,tag:!ipxe,aa:aa:aa:aa:aa:aa/7,22.0.0.1,22.0.0.1

log-dhcp
log-queries

I do not know what to do about this insanity, but that finally resolves the mystery.

[dholt]

I'm running into this same issue with UEFI clients. I've tried setting options 66/67 in my isc-dhcp-server config (which I think is what's happening in @wrouesnel's dnsmasq example) but still no luck. Not sure if any other workarounds or updates have come up since September?

[danderson]

No changes on my end, the status is still: to debug this further, I would need access to one of these machines so that I can quickly iterate on a bunch of hypotheses. Failing that, all I can say is:

• Can you switch the machine to boot in legacy BIOS mode? Booting may succeed through that route, given that it's different and probably less actively touched firmware.
• If you have a support channel with HP, you could try escalating that their PXE implementation seems non-compliant (but without more diagnostic data, they might just ignore you), and request a fix.
• Maybe I just have to document that Pixiecore is not compatible with these machines. :(

I know it's an unsatisfying answer, and I wish I had something better to offer... But I can't justify spending $2k of my own money, on a server I don't need, to diagnose someone else's buggy firmware. So the only option I have left is to hope that someone will eventually be willing to loan me access to one of these boxes, and that I'm able to find a useful workaround.

[dholt]

Thanks Dave- unfortunately I'm stuck with UEFI due to install media. I'm running into this on brand-new Supermicro and Quanta systems so it's not isolated to HP. I can give you access to a few different machines like this, hit me up if you're interested - dholt at nvidia.com

[danderson]

Thanks, I'll get in touch. I'm particularly intrigued by the Supermicro systems, because I know for a fact that a friend is booting brand new Supermicros with Pixiecore just fine... So I'm wondering what's going on.

[Shados]

I picked up a refurbished HP T630 on the cheap, and ran into this same behaviour there: I can PXE boot using pixiecore just fine via legacy boot, but UEFI PXE booting instead appears to go through the initial request/response OK, doesn't continue, sends another request, then gives up.

This is rather unfortunate as I'd intended to use this as a testbed for some secure boot + PXE stuff. I am also using dnmasq (on a separate server to the one running pixiecore), but had no luck with @wrouesnel's workaround.

I might resort to signing an iPXE EFI binary, putting that on a USB stick, plugging that into the T630's internal USB port, and booting from that. Would at least let me avoid trying to figure out if I can burn iPXE onto the NIC...