grub, tftp and local boot

[drkdick]

Is there a straightforward way to configure the boot process so that grub.conf (and possibly the first grub stage) are loaded from a tftp server while still booting local kernels? No documentation on either grub, pxe, wake on lan, dhcp or tftp seem to mention this particular scenario but I've heard about it being done with grub legacy at least.

I don't want to resort to the "double boot hack" solution or full pxe booting.

[r31griffo]

Is there a straightforward way to configure the boot process so that grub.conf (and possibly the first grub stage) are loaded from a tftp server while still booting local kernels? No documentation on either grub, pxe, wake on lan, dhcp or tftp seem to mention this particular scenario but I've heard about it being done with grub legacy at least.

I don't want to resort to the "double boot hack" solution or full pxe booting.

About the only thing I can think of is using PXE Linux and chain boot a partition on a local drive. I haven't done this personally, but I may be able to help with the config if you want to go down this path.

(I'm sorry if that is what you mean by double boot hack)

Cheers,

Griffo

[drkdick]

About the only thing I can think of is using PXE Linux and chain boot a partition on a local drive.

Thanks for replying.

Someone on another forum mentioned this possibility. I haven't had the opportunity to
test it but it looks like you can redirect a network boot (initiated through PXE) to a
local one with chainloading.

If this really works it would be a much more flexible solution than what I meant by
double boot (which is when you first boot up linux to have some script alter the grub
config and then boot again into the selected system...)

It all seems like a lot of works just to inject a dynamic variable into the grub process, which is all I really want to do.