Scripted installation of esxi5.5 fails on "tools.t00 : file not found" during tftp sequence

[paulxedos]

Hi,

I realise this has cropped up before but other than the suggested solution of upgrading to  pxelinux.0 v4 ( which I've done) I can't seem to resolve my current problems of pxeboot failing due to #

tools.t00: file not found on a network boot install of esxi 5.5

This is what I see in the tftp log:

Dec 09 17:07:00 ptc34551.hursley.ibm.com atftpd[14604.1840335168]: Serving /esxi55/tools.t00 to 9.20.170.34:49234

Dec 09 17:07:00 ptc34551.hursley.ibm.com atftpd[14604.1840335168]: tsize option -> 167559911

Dec 09 17:07:00 ptc34551.hursley.ibm.com atftpd[14604.1840335168]: blksize option -> 1408

Dec 09 17:07:00 ptc34551.hursley.ibm.com atftpd[14604.1840335168]: Requested file to big, increase BLKSIZE

which according to VMware KB: ESXi 5.x fails to install when using PXELINUX   is due to running a 32 bit version of pxelinux.0

rpm of syslinux which contains pexboot.0 is syslinux-tftpboot-4.02-7.2.el5

The other suggestion of avoiding tftp to build the vmware host is to use nfs in the boot.cfg settings. https://communities.vmware.com/message/2163034#2163034

This was a post that did not get resolved and any settings I have made to get the system to build via nfs instead of tftp have failed

If anyone has any ideas that would be great

Regards

Paul

[john23]

check nfs server and nfs share...mount on another Linux server, whether share is accessible or not

[paulxedos]

Thanks John - the share is exported correctly ( mountable on another box) although the failure is tftp related

nfs was a planned second option although whatever settings I try for nfs seem to be ignored as tftp is chosen as the delivery method

[continuum]

Can you finish the tftp actions if you drop tools.t00 from your boot.cfg ?
That file is the largest of them all - the message says Requested file too big  - did you check if your tftp uses any settings that limits the filesize ?

[paulxedos]

That's a great suggestion and it didn't even occur to me to try that as I assumed tools.t00 and pretty much everything in the long list of boot files is needed

Yes it worked - thanks very much.  After 3 days of getting nowhere I have now moved on to the next stage of automated install.

Hopefully, I won't find later on that tools.t00 is a needed for something

Cheers

Paul

[continuum · Accepted solution]

Hi Paul
tools.t00 contains the iso-files that you will need to install vmware-tools.

An installation without tools.t00 seems to be fully functional - but I am not 100 % sure about that.
My suggestion was intended for troubleshooting - so if possible continue your search for the real problem.

Either your tftp can not serve files larger than x MBs - or you hit a timeout - because the package does not arrive quick enough.

Ulli
(here I made a testsetup without tools - if I find other missing functions I will let you know ...)

[paulxedos]

Hi Ulli,

It seems to have run through fine without the tools so as far as I'm concerned I'm back in business

As to why it caused problems I've no idea. I was running a v4 gpxelinux ( which is not 32 bit restricted) and had made all the settings point to nfs which seemed relatively quick

Whatever the cause it's working now and I'm very grateful for your help

Regards

Paul