Installing Altiris DS or HP’s Rapid Deployment Pack and having issues with getting PXE working – hopefully this info might help? » TechAgility

Installing Altiris DS or HP’s Rapid Deployment Pack and having issues with getting PXE working – hopefully this info might help? » TechAgility

A colleague of mine was after some info on a tool that I had
mentioned before and while I was at it I had some extra tools and links
and other handy stuff that I thought I’d share?

The details regarding Fixed Mode below have proven to be very useful today in getting PXE working across multiple VLAN’s – very nice to see it burst in to life

Gui tool to check AD/LDAP context etc. (30 day free trial)

Softerra LDAP Browser

Altiris DS 6.8 Docs… (Very useful for additional info)

chapter-1-preparing-your-server-ds68sp2-installation
chapter-2-installing-deployment-solution-68sp2
chapter-3-introducing-ds-console
chapter-4-introduction-imaging-using-pxe
chapter-5-ms-dos-a-pxe-automation-option
chapter-6-winpe-pxe-automation-option
chapter-7-hidden-bootworks

Troublshooting PXE

Altiris KB - PXE not crossing subnets or VLANs
Altiris KB - Configuring PXE to work across VLANs
Altiris KB - Error: PXE-E53: No boot filename received
(very comprehensive list of 11 possible causes and 14 possible
resolutions, and a reminder that when using Wireshark filter down to
BOOTP packets to focus on PXE)
Installing Altiris Deployment Server and Altiris PXE Server in a VLAN Environment this lead me to this link of a PDF (PXE Modes of Operation)
regarding setting PXE in “Forced Mode” that has just worked a treat in
a multi VLAN environment and essentially it means that you simply set
Options 60, 66, 67 and 43 on the DHCP with the relevant details of
where to find the PXE Server

Now setting the Option 43 correctly is not quite that simple, so I have added my explanation here:

All figures/values need to be in HEX
Example: 06 01 0B 08 0F AA AA 03 C0 A8 02 C8 C0 A8 03 68 C0 A8 01 66

06 01 0B 08 and AA AA are set by Altiris and should not be changed

0F = Specifies the number of octets that exist to be read after this one (the fifth octet) in this particular case it’s 15

03 = Number of PXE Servers, change as needed, in this example there are 3 PXE Servers

C0 A8 02 C8 C0 A8 03 68 C0 A8 01 66 = the IP Address of each PXE Server, defined in HEX, octet by octet

C0 A8 02 C8 = 192.168.02.200

Once you have crafted the Value of Option 43 as described above you
simply need to add a zero value of 00 to indicate the end of the Value
and then add this to the DHCP Server, paying particular care not to add
any spaces or CR’s?

Alternatively I have also discovered a tool that can help in making this calculation at PXE Forced Mode Utility

Altiris, Deployment Solution, HP, Rapid Deployment