Boot

Overview

HPE Morpheus Software provides a simple-to-use Bare Metal boot capability based on PXE. When a server boots and is redirected to the HPE Morpheus Software server for the installation files, they can be configured to be simply passed an OS or Hypervisor (in which case HPE Morpheus Software will see them as Bare Metal servers with no further detail) or they can be brought on as Virtual Machines or Docker Hosts. Installation of the HPE Morpheus Software Agent can also be done during the initial configuration stage.

Important

This page describes the HPE Morpheus Software bare-metal PXE service. An HVM VM can instead boot from an existing PXE environment by enabling Network Boot on the VM. That setting places the VM’s primary virtual NIC first in its boot order; it does not enroll the VM in the bare-metal workflow on this page. See VM Advanced Options.

Prerequisites

In order to work with HPE Morpheus Software bare metal PXE boot capabilities, some initial setup configuration is required. First, on the HPE Morpheus Software server, if you have a firewall enabled, make sure port 69 is open for TFTP. HPE Morpheus Software actually uses port 6969 and during installation a redirect should have been set. To check this, SSH onto the Morpheus server and run the following:

iptables -t nat -L -n -v

If the redirect is still properly, the response should include the following:

Chain PREROUTING (policy ACCEPT 69 packets, 9767 bytes)

pkts bytes target   prot opt in out source     destination

0     0 REDIRECT udp  --  *  *   0.0.0.0/0  0.0.0.0/0        udp dpt:69 redir ports 6969

0     0 DNAT     tcp  --  *  *   0.0.0.0/0  169.254.169.254  tcp dpt:80 to:192.168.1.156

Next, in HPE Morpheus Software, set a default PXE root password. This password is set in Administration ‣ Settings ‣ Provisioning. With the default root password set, set up the redirect on the DHCP server. In addition to the DNS and Gateway settings, add Boot Server Host Name which will be the name of the HPE Morpheus Software Server and Bootfile Name which should be set to pxelinux.0. If you are using a Linux-based DHCP server, for example on CentOS, the dhcpd.conf configuration will look something like the following:

allow booting;
allow bootp;
option option-128 code 128 = string;
option option-129 code 129 = text;
next-server xx.xx.xx.xx;
filename "pxelinux.0";

Note

Replace the dummy IP address in the example dhcpd.conf file above with your HPE Morpheus Software appliance IP address.

Once you have done this, when you boot a PXE-enabled machine on the network, it will be told to access the HPE Morpheus Software server and request the pxelinux.0 file. It will do this on port 69, the default for TFTP and will be redirected to 6969 once it hits the HPE Morpheus Software server. If successful you will see the “HPE Morpheus Software PXE Server” menu when you boot a server. This is the default menu defined in HPE Morpheus Software and supports the shipped PXE images supplied with the product. By selecting any of the choices from the “HPE Morpheus Software PXE Server menu”, the install files should be downloaded and the server configured as per the supplied kickstart files. At this point, back on the HPE Morpheus Software appliance, you should see the MAC address for the new server appear in the “Discovered MAC Addresses” tab of the Infrastructure ‣ Boot page.

Troubleshooting

If you do not get the Morpheus boot menu, there are a few things to check:

  • First, make sure the filename is correct. It must be pxelinux.0

  • Next, check the TFTP server is responding by using a TFTP client to get the pxelinux.0 file from the HPE Morpheus Software server using the same host name as you have configured in the DHCP server configuration. Do this test on a machine on the same network as the machines you are trying to boot using PXE

  • Leave the port number as 69 (the default) as this will also check the redirect is working

  • If a GET call on the default port does not work, and the client allows (most do) try using port 6969. If this works, then the redirect is wrong

  • If it will not work on either, check you can access the HPE Morpheus Software server from the network you are on and also check there are no firewalls between the test network and the HPE Morpheus Software Server

Mapping

Add Mapping

  1. Select the Mapping tab then click the Add Mapping button.

  2. From the New Mapping Wizard input the following information:

    Match Pattern

    Mac address separated by ‘:’ or an ip address filter

    Description(optional)

    Description of the new mapping.

    Active

    Flag to denote the mapping as active or disabled.

    Operating System

    List of operating systems for the mapping.

    Boot Image

    Lists available PXE boot images.

    Answer File

    Lists available answer files.

    Cloud

    Lists the available clouds.

    Server Mode

    List of server modes:: unmanaged, Managed, Bare metal host, Container host, VM host, and Container & VM host.

  3. Save

Once the mapping is added, and the target host is powered on, the {morpheus} PXE menu will load and PXE boot will start.

Edit Mapping

  1. Click the edit icon on the row of the mapping you wish to edit.

  2. Modify information as needed.

  3. Click the Save Changes button to save.

Delete Mapping

  1. Click the delete icon on the row of the mapping you wish to delete.

Boot Menus

System-seeded Boot Menus are displayed and user-created Boot Menus can be edited and deleted. User-created Boot Menus are edited or deleted by clicking on the pencil or trash can icon in the appropriate row.

Adding a Boot Menu

To begin, click + ADD. Available fields include:

  • NAME: Name of the Boot Menu

  • DESCRIPTION: Description of the Boot Menu

  • TYPE: Select between bios, uefi, ipxe and grub

  • ENABLED: Determines if the Boot Menu is active

  • DEFAULT MENU

  • ROOT MENU

  • MENU NAME

  • BOOT IMAGE

  • ANSWER FILE

  • MENU CONTENT

  • SUB MENUS

Click SAVE CHANGES

Answer Files

Answer files are like lists of answers for questions that you know the setup program is going to ask but the user is not prepared to answer. They contain one or more sections, and each section contains one or more properties in the form name=value. Morpheus provides Answer Files for ESXi, CentOS, Ubuntu and XenServer, and user can add their own.

Add Answer Files

  1. Click the Infrastructure link in the navigation bar.

  2. Click the Boot link in the sub navigation bar

  3. Select the Answer Files tab then click the Add Answer File button.

  4. From the New Answer File Wizard input the following information

    Name

    Name of the answer file.

    Description(optional)

    Description of the new answer file.

    Active

    Flag to denote the mapping as active or disabled.

    Script Name

    Name of the new answer file.

    Script Version

    Version of the new answer file.

    Script

    The script for the new answer file.

  5. Save

Edit Answer File

  1. Click the Infrastructure link in the navigation bar.

  2. Click the Boot link in the sub navigation bar

  3. Select the Answer Files tab

  4. Click the edit icon on the row of the answer file you wish to edit.

  5. Modify information as needed.

  6. Save Changes

Delete Answer File

  1. Click the Infrastructure link in the navigation bar.

  2. Click the Boot link in the sub navigation bar

  3. Select the Answer Files tab.

  4. Click the delete icon on the row of the answer file you wish to delete.

Images

Morpheus provides Images for ESXi, CentOS, Ubuntu and XenServer, and user can add their own Images.

Add Images

  1. Click the Infrastructure link in the navigation bar.

  2. Click the Boot link in the sub navigation bar

  3. Select the Images tab then click the Add Image button.

  4. From the Upload Virtual Image Wizard input the following information

    Name

    Name of the Image.

    Operating System

    List of available operating systems.

    Storage Provider

    List of available storage providers.

    Image Path

    Path of the image.

    Visibility

    Private or Public

    Account

    List of accounts to allow permission to this image.

  5. Save Changes

Edit Image

  1. Click the Infrastructure link in the navigation bar.

  2. Click the Boot link in the sub navigation bar

  3. Select the Images tab

  4. Click the actions drop down and select edit.

  5. Modify information as needed.

  6. Click the Save Changes button to save.

Convert Image

  1. Click the Infrastructure link in the navigation bar.

  2. Click the Boot link in the sub navigation bar.

  3. Select the Images tab

  4. Click the Actions drop and select Convert.

Download Image

  1. Click the Infrastructure link in the navigation bar.

  2. Click the Boot link in the sub navigation bar.

  3. Select the Images tab

  4. Click the Actions drop and select Download.

Remove Image

  1. Click the Infrastructure link in the navigation bar.

  2. Click the Boot link in the sub navigation bar.

  3. Select the Image tab.

  4. Click the Actions drop and select Remove.