iSCSI Boot from FreeNAS

[yankees9920]

I am currently experimenting with FreeNAS and iSCSI booting in virtual machines before I shell out the money for a new system. The problem is that I have no idea how iSCSI booting works.

I am looking to boot a Windows 7 PC via iSCSI stored on my FreeNAS server and my first question is, what sort of image do I need to create? Can I use the system image function built into Win7?

Also I don't have control over my DHCP server (I am at school) so I need to figure out what I need to run (gPXE?) on the machine in order to point it to the proper target and what must be done on the FreeNAS machine besides from making an iSCSI target and extent?

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[idea]

To overcome the DHCP problem, you may run a LAN within your room. Any consumer router will do NAT. Just think of your school's ethernet jack as the WAN for your ISP.

 

[yankees9920]

To overcome the DHCP problem, you may run a LAN within your room. Any consumer router will do NAT. Just think of your school's ethernet jack as the WAN for your ISP.

That can be something I can try to test and experiment with but ultimately I would love to be able to boot a media pc in the common room from the host in my bedroom (over the school's wired network).

From the reading I have done I am under the impression that I can boot into some pre-os environment either via USB (gPXE?) or TFTP that will then point the computer to boot off iSCSI, is that correct?

 

[jay2472000]

So..................................whats your school IT guys say when you ask them about it

Maybe theyll open ya a port or two ?

 

[cjs]

From the reading I have done I am under the impression that I can boot into some pre-os environment either via USB (gPXE?) or TFTP that will then point the computer to boot off iSCSI, is that correct?

More or less. If your computer's BIOS supports booting from the network it will probably use PXE to load the OS from a TFTP server. By loading gPXE instead, commonly referred to as chainloading, you get much better support for e.g. iSCSI. It's also possible to use Proxy-DHCP to supply the PXE client with additional boot information in addition to the basic stuff (IP address, gateway, netmask) that it receives from your school's DHCP server.

If your computer's BIOS doesn't support network booting you can still do it by loading gPXE from a USB stick, CD, hard drive etc.

Some links:

http://etherboot.org/wiki/proxydhcp

http://etherboot.org/wiki/pxechaining

http://etherboot.org/wiki/sanboot/iscsi_boot

http://etherboot.org/wiki/sanboot/win2k8_iscsi_install

 

[pjkenned]

PXE is a bit of a pain TBH. Does the network adapter support iSCSI boot?

Honestly, between the network setup issues and the trouble of setting up network booting (for one PC), I would personally just spend $30 on a cheapo hard drive then VPN in to your FreeNAS box. Even college students can find $30.

If you are doing this more for the fun, then Google is your friend.

 

[yankees9920]

PXE is a bit of a pain TBH. Does the network adapter support iSCSI boot?

Honestly, between the network setup issues and the trouble of setting up network booting (for one PC), I would personally just spend $30 on a cheapo hard drive then VPN in to your FreeNAS box. Even college students can find $30.

If you are doing this more for the fun, then Google is your friend.

I'm just using my mobo's onboard adapter and doing this for fun more than anything. I've gotten interested in virtualization and have just been experimenting with some different setups.

I have been looking online for some resources since unlike many of you I have no experience working with this technology at work. I'd love some more resources for more of the home user. I plan to writeup my findings on my blog www.benwagner.net as I go.