[Beowulf] Re: cluster fails to boot with managed switch, but 5-port switch works OK

[Joe Landman]

David Mathog wrote:
>> What's got me and the IT guys stumped is that while the compute nodes
> boot via PXE from the head node without trouble on the NetGear, they
> barf with the SMC.  To be specific, after the initial boot with a
> minimal Linux kernel, there is a "fatal error" with "timeout waiting for
> getfile" when the compute node attempts to download the provisioning
> image from head.  However, when they were running Rocks before I
> arrived, the cluster worked fine with the SMC switch.

Wondering aloud whether or not the ethernet driver has been correctly 
included in the kernel/initrd for the PXE booted image.  I've 
seen/experienced this before, PXE works fine, the kernel boots, and is 
missing the ethernet driver.

Usually happens with newer hardware and older kernels.


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Joseph Landman, Ph.D
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