RHEA-2009:1276 - Product Enhancement Advisory

Topic

Etherboot, a new package that enables PXE-booting, is now available.

Description

Etherboot provides the capability to boot guest virtual machines using the
Preboot eXecution Environment (PXE). This process occurs before the
operating system is loaded; in most cases, the operating system has no
knowledge that it was booted through PXE. Many network adapters contain a
socket where a ROM chip can be installed; this ROM chip is used to store
PXE-boot code provided by Etherboot. At present, Etherboot is only
supported for use in KVM. (BZ#488612)

This version of Etherboot was compiled with the POWERSAVE, PXE_DHCP_STRICT,
and ASK_BOOT=-1 options. PXE_DHCP_STRICT is required by some network
drivers to support PXE-booting, while the ASK_BOOT=-1 option prevents a
guest from consuming too much CPU time during boot-up. The POWERSAVE option
reduces CPU consumption on a host whenever a guest performs a PXE-boot.
(BZ#481914 and BZ#500894)

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure that all previously-released
errata relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via Red Hat Network. Details on how to use
the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at
http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/docs/DOC-11259

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 x86_64

Fixes

• BZ - 488612 - Add etherboot package
• BZ - 500894 - PXE BIOS: The BIOS should be compiled with PXE_DHCP_STRICT and ASK_BOOT=-1 options

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)