PXE Boot stops or errors out at Downloading the BOOT.SDI file

Products

• Ghost Solution Suite

Issue/Introduction

PXE Boot hangs indefinitely or fails when downloading the BOOT.SDI file

Environment

Ghost Solution Suite 3.x

Cause

The TFTP/MTFTP packet/block size for the subnet is too big

Starting with GSS 3.3 RU11, MTFTP performance has been improved, and as a result, the speed it takes to PXE boot has been improved.

MTFTP performance may be configured by changing the Packet Size in the PXE Configuration.

Starting in GSS 3.3 RU11, the default Packet Size is 16kb. This value can be set to a value as high as 64k. However, older network adapters may require a smaller size than the new default so adjust this down if needed.

Resolution

Open the PXE configuration utility from the Ghost Solution Suite Console and select the 'Multicast' tab. Under the option 'Enable larger packets for TFTP/MTFTP', modify the Packet Size value to 1456 and save these changes:

This value can be adjusted as low as 512 for older legacy network adapters, while a higher packet size should improve performance on network adapters that support it, but may need to be adjusted to a lower size to accommodate different hardware in your environment.