Auto Deploy iPXE Boot Failure

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

When using auto deploy the iPXE boot successfully boots iPXE, but the chain process fails with the error messages:

No configuration methods succeeded

Network error encountered while PXE booting.

Environment

This has been seen with 7.0U3 and 8.0U3 environments that use HP DL380G10 and G11 servers, but the issue may not be specific to these platforms or ESXi versions.

iPXE versions 1.0.0-vmw and 1.21.1-vmw have both observed this behavior.

Cause

The cause is a failure in the UEFI firmware of the network adapter to properly process the DHCP responses. This is a problem between the iPXE version and the host hardware/firmware.

Resolution

This is a problem between the iPXE version and the host hardware. Hardware vendor support engagement is required for remediation.