Bug#373221: installation-reports: installer ignores unusual default gateway
Package: installation-reports
Boot method: hard disk netinstall via a serial console; booted using
hd-media/2.6/vmlinuz and netboot/debian-installer/i386/2.6/initrd.gz
Image version: Downloaded from
<http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/sarge/main/installer-i386/current//images/>; files dated 5 March 2006
Date: 13 Jun 2006
Machine: 1and1 'rootserver'
Processor: 2.4 GHz Pentium 4
Memory: 1 GB
Partitions:
Disk /dev/hda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 1 6 48163+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda2 7 249 1951897+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hda3 250 9729 76148100 8e Linux LVM
Output of lspci and lspci -n:
Base System Installation Checklist:
[O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it
Initial boot worked: [O]
Configure network HW: [O]
Config network: [E]
Detect CD: [ ]
Load installer modules: [ ]
Detect hard drives: [ ]
Partition hard drives: [ ]
Create file systems: [ ]
Mount partitions: [ ]
Install base system: [ ]
Install boot loader: [ ]
Reboot: [ ]
Comments/Problems:
DHCP configuration 'succeeded', but I got a message saying that no
default route was provided. A default route *is* provided in the DHCP
lease, but it appears to be silently discarded because it appears
nonsensical.
The machine came pre-configured with Fedora Core 4. I was able to get
the installer to continue by booting back into FC4, noting down the
network configuration, and configuring the network manually once I
returned to the installer.
Here is the machine's network setup:
$ ip -4 addr show eth0
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast qlen 1000
inet 217.160.200.53/32 brd 217.160.200.53 scope global eth0
$ ip route show
10.255.255.1 dev eth0 scope link
default via 10.255.255.1 dev eth0
Trying to configure these details via manual configuration inside the
installer was annoying: I could not enter the details manually, because
the installer rejected the default gateway, saying it was not reachable.
I dropped to a shell and configured the network myself, however whenever
I returned to the installer and tried to continue (the next stop was to
choose a Debian mirror), the installer would return to the network
configuration step and wipe out all my changes.
In the end, I had to do a DHCP configuration and, when prompted to
confirm that it was OK to continue without a default route, then go back
to the main menu, execute a shell, and configure the route and the
nameservers myself.
The rest of the installation continued as normal. I had two further
problems, both caused by me rebooting after the installation had
finished instead of dropping to a shell, mounting the installed
filesystem and changing the following things. I mention this because I'm
not sure I was offered the chance to go back to the main menu and
execute a shell... but I'm not sure so feel free to disregard this bit
if I was.
1. I had to edit /boot/grub/menu.lst and configure both Grub and
the kernel to use the serial port as a console
2. I had to edit /etc/network/interface so that the default router
was set. Specifying it with 'gateway' failed. ifupdown (or route
or some other part of the network configuration scripts) again
silent ignored the gateway setting, so I ended up with this:
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 217.160.200.53
netmask 255.255.255.255
network 217.160.200.53
broadcast 217.160.200.53
# gateway 10.255.255.1
# this gateway should not be reachable from our address so hack it manually
up route add -net 10.255.255.1 netmask 255.255.255.255 eth0
up route add default gw 10.255.255.1
The combination of both of those together left me with no way to get
back into the machine to fix anything, except by netbooting into the
recovery system provided by the hosts. ;)
--
Sam Morris
http://robots.org.uk/
PGP key id 5EA01078
3412 EA18 1277 354B 991B C869 B219 7FDB 5EA0 1078
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