Installing arch on an eeepc with pxe

Question

I have no flash drive at the moment, and I need to learn how to install over pxe, so I opened up all the proper documentation and followed it.  But I can't start my dhcp server.  I'm illiterate when it comes to networking.
I'm following this guide:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PXE
which says to put this in /etc/dhcpd.conf:
# /etc/dhcpd.conf
option domain-name-servers 208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220;
default-lease-time 86400;
max-lease-time 604800;
authoritative;
subnet 192.168.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
range 192.168.0.10 192.168.0.49;
filename "pxelinux.0"; # the PXELinux boot agent
option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
option broadcast-address 192.168.0.255;
option routers 192.168.0.1;
It specifically says to replace the default .conf with this one.  So I open up dhcpd.conf and paste it in and nothing happens.
Here is the output of ifconfig:
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1A:92:6C:4B:5B
inet addr:192.168.1.101 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::21a:92ff:fe6c:4b5b/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:670271 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:469131 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:910906738 (868.7 Mb) TX bytes:57291644 (54.6 Mb)
Interrupt:30 Base address:0x6000
lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:596 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:596 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:35800 (34.9 Kb) TX bytes:35800 (34.9 Kb)
Here is the dhcpd.conf in its entirety, where is the 'default' that I'm suppose to replace? :
# dhcpd.conf
# Sample configuration file for ISC dhcpd
# option definitions common to all supported networks...
option domain-name "example.org";
option domain-name-servers ns1.example.org, ns2.example.org;
default-lease-time 600;
max-lease-time 7200;
# Use this to enble / disable dynamic dns updates globally.
#ddns-update-style none;
# If this DHCP server is the official DHCP server for the local
# network, the authoritative directive should be uncommented.
#authoritative;
# Use this to send dhcp log messages to a different log file (you also
# have to hack syslog.conf to complete the redirection).
log-facility local7;
# No service will be given on this subnet, but declaring it helps the
# DHCP server to understand the network topology.
subnet 10.152.187.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
# This is a very basic subnet declaration.
subnet 10.254.239.0 netmask 255.255.255.224 {
range 10.254.239.10 10.254.239.20;
option routers rtr-239-0-1.example.org, rtr-239-0-2.example.org;
# This declaration allows BOOTP clients to get dynamic addresses,
# which we don't really recommend.
subnet 10.254.239.32 netmask 255.255.255.224 {
range dynamic-bootp 10.254.239.40 10.254.239.60;
option broadcast-address 10.254.239.31;
option routers rtr-239-32-1.example.org;
A slightly different configuration for an internal subnet.
subnet 10.5.5.0 netmask 255.255.255.224 {
range 10.5.5.26 10.5.5.30;
option domain-name-servers ns1.internal.example.org;
option domain-name "internal.example.org";
option routers 10.5.5.1;
option broadcast-address 10.5.5.31;
default-lease-time 600;
# max-lease-time 7200;
# Hosts which require special configuration options can be listed in
# host statements. If no address is specified, the address will be
# allocated dynamically (if possible), but the host-specific information
# will still come from the host declaration.
host passacaglia {
hardware ethernet 0:0:c0:5d:bd:95;
filename "vmunix.passacaglia";
server-name "toccata.fugue.com";
# Fixed IP addresses can also be specified for hosts. These addresses
# should not also be listed as being available for dynamic assignment.
# Hosts for which fixed IP addresses have been specified can boot using
# BOOTP or DHCP. Hosts for which no fixed address is specified can only
# be booted with DHCP, unless there is an address range on the subnet
# to which a BOOTP client is connected which has the dynamic-bootp flag
# set.
host fantasia {
hardware ethernet 08:00:07:26:c0:a5;
fixed-address fantasia.fugue.com;
# You can declare a class of clients and then do address allocation
# based on that. The example below shows a case where all clients
# in a certain class get addresses on the 10.17.224/24 subnet, and all
# other clients get addresses on the 10.0.29/24 subnet.
class "foo" {
match if substring (option vendor-class-identifier, 0, 4) = "SUNW";
shared-network 224-29 {
subnet 10.17.224.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
option routers rtr-224.example.org;
subnet 10.0.29.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
option routers rtr-29.example.org;
pool {
allow members of "foo";
range 10.17.224.10 10.17.224.250;
pool {
deny members of "foo";
range 10.0.29.10 10.0.29.230;
Guidance please?

Answer 1

Just to be clear:-
i) you've a separate machine being configured for dhcp?
ii) how is that machine connected to your network?
iii) does the server have multiple interfaces?
Multiple dhcp servers operating on the same LAN will cause problems.
Let's assume the dhcp server was working:-
i) how are you testing this?
ii) how is your machine "without a flash drive" connected to the server?
iii) what's the server logs saying; syslog / dmesg / kern.log
Last edited by n1md4 (2010-03-01 17:38:07)