[gPXE-devel] Integrate lighthttpd into etherboot

[Oliver Rath]

Hi Lap!

Principially this is a good idea.

Am 13.08.2012 11:16, schrieb Lap Ngo Doan:
> Hi Oliver,
> Thank for you answer.
> >>What kind of information  do you want to get from a running
> lighttpd-Server on gpxe?
> Coreboot is a Free Software project aimed at replacing the proprietary
> BIOS (firmware) found in most computers. coreboot performs a little
> bit of hardware initialization and then executes additional boot
> logic, called a payload.
> Unfortunately, coreboot doesn't support user interface to change some
> setting on BIOS (for example: enable/disable disk, boot devices
> priority...)

Imho gpxe doesnt suppurt enabling/disabling disk and other bios-settings
excluding networking, so this work has to be done additionally. Dont
forget: Every BIOS is its own kingdom! You have to do this for every new
Bios again!

> I want to get/set some hardware parameters like BIOS provide by adding
> Etherboot as a payload of coreboot.
>
> >>What do you want to do with this else, which cant be done by a
> webserver on a running linux-system?
> I want to get/set some hardware parameters over the network on HTTP
> before the running linux-system. 
> It mean that, this utility is on ROM
>

You have anouter problem: At boot time normally the computer hasnt an
ip-address so he has to get one. Now you have to know, if the ip-address
hosts the right computer and so on.

Addittionally, lighttpd is an overkill (who needs php at boot-time?) and
will imho waste to much space, but maybe tinyHTTP will be adequate for you?

But nevertheless it is a good idea :-)

Maybe  (g|i)pxe will communicate better via aoe  (ethernet frames) than
with http, so no ip-address is needed. In other way, the fork of gpxe,
"ipxe" (www.ipxe.org) has a powerful script engine inside, which can
download the needed script _after_ download ipxe, so you can fit your
needs into it dynamicly. Maybe this will suffice your needs?


Regards,
Oliver

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