ipxe breaks grub-net efi

[Carl Karsten]

I am not sure who's problem this is.  Seems ipxe leaves things in a state
that causes grub to do something different.

I have found a useable solution for my needs, but it looks like there is a
bug in either or both ipxe.efi and grubnetx64.efi.signed .

What doesn't work as expected:



# Chain load ipxe, then grubnetx64.efi
# doesn't work. grub doesn't request any files from tftp, like boot/grub.cfg
dhcp-match=set:ipxe,175 # iPXE sends a 175 option.
dhcp-match=set:efibc,60,PXEClient:Arch:00007 # tag to efi

dhcp-boot=tag:efibc,ipxe.efi,dc10b,192.168.1.135
dhcp-boot=tag:efibc,tag:ipxe,grubnetx64.efi.signed,dc10b,192.168.1.135

wireshark showing Read Request:

    962 249.979895472  192.168.1.75          192.168.1.135         TFTP
80     Read Request, File: ipxe.efi, Transfer type: octet, tsize=0,
blksize=1468
    966 250.020597187  192.168.1.75          192.168.1.135         TFTP
72     Read Request, File: ipxe.efi, Transfer type: octet, blksize=1468
   2443 291.650282479  192.168.1.75          192.168.1.135         TFTP
93     Read Request, File: grubnetx64.efi.signed, Transfer type: octet,
blksize=1432, tsize=0


ipxe.efi does load grubnetx64.efi.signed and it runs, but doesn't get more
files.  it presents a banner text and grub> prompt.
grub> cat $prefix/grub.cfg
error: sector sizes of 1 bytes aren't supported yet
https://veyepar.nextdayvideo.com/static/temp/ipxe_grub_5.png

what does work: skip the ipxe step:

- dhcp-boot=tag:efibc,ipxe.efi,dc10b,192.168.1.135
- dhcp-boot=tag:efibc,tag:ipxe,grubnetx64.efi.signed,dc10b,192.168.1.135

+dhcp-boot=tag:efibc,grubnetx64.efi.signed,dc10b,192.168.1.135


   1687 472.617408854  192.168.1.75          192.168.1.135         TFTP
93     Read Request, File: grubnetx64.efi.signed, Transfer type: octet,
tsize=0, blksize=1468
   1690 472.649831327  192.168.1.75          192.168.1.135         TFTP
85     Read Request, File: grubnetx64.efi.signed, Transfer type: octet,
blksize=1468
   3255 473.705183386  192.168.1.75          192.168.1.135         TFTP
100    Read Request, File: /grub/x86_64-efi/command.lst, Transfer type:
octet, blksize=1024, tsize=0
   3257 473.705514079  192.168.1.75          192.168.1.135         TFTP
95     Read Request, File: /grub/x86_64-efi/fs.lst, Transfer type: octet,
blksize=1024, tsize=0
   3259 473.705761504  192.168.1.75          192.168.1.135         TFTP
99     Read Request, File: /grub/x86_64-efi/crypto.lst, Transfer type:
octet, blksize=1024, tsize=0
   3261 473.705991522  192.168.1.75          192.168.1.135         TFTP
101    Read Request, File: /grub/x86_64-efi/terminal.lst, Transfer type:
octet, blksize=1024, tsize=0
   3263 473.706259135  192.168.1.75          192.168.1.135         TFTP
86     Read Request, File: /grub/grub.cfg, Transfer type: octet,
blksize=1024, tsize=0
   3268 473.706657837  192.168.1.75          192.168.1.135         TFTP
86     Read Request, File: /grub/grub.cfg, Transfer type: octet,
blksize=1024, tsize=0
   3273 473.706969243  192.168.1.75          192.168.1.135         TFTP
86     Read Request, File: /grub/grub.cfg, Transfer type: octet,
blksize=1024, tsize=0
   3278 473.707284615  192.168.1.75          192.168.1.135         TFTP
86     Read Request, File: /grub/grub.cfg, Transfer type: octet,
blksize=1024, tsize=0
   3533 539.158764054  192.168.1.75          192.168.1.135         TFTP
101

I get a grub menu, I pick Ubuntu-installer and it fetches those and off we
go.

Read Request, File: /ubuntu-installer/amd64/linux, Transfer type: octet,
blksize=1024, tsize=0
  18324 540.370103585  192.168.1.75          192.168.1.135         TFTP
105    Read Request, File: /ubuntu-installer/amd64/initrd.gz, Transfer
type: octet, blksize=1024, tsize=0

the 2 binaries come from:

https://ipxe.org/ipxe.efi

http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/zesty/main/uefi/grub2-amd64/current/grubnetx64.efi.signed
grub-mknetdir

ps - I tried
https://ipxe.org/ipxe.efi.signed
the efi rom loads it
I can see the transfer in wireshark,
, screen clears, and it goes to the next boot device.


-- 
Carl K