Boot Configuration

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1. This is the simplest option for long-term maintenance because you have only a single physical media.
   • On the My Nodes link under Nodes to find your machine name.
   • Under, Download select "Download ISO image for <hostname>".
   • This will generate a Custom ISO image that contains both the BootImage and your nodes plnode.txt configuration.
   • Save the Custom ISO image, and burn the Custom ISO image to CD.
   • Place the CD in your PlanetLab host and boot it.
2. If for some reason this option is not available to you, you may choose to download Generic ISO image. Now it is necessary to also download the plnode.txt configuration file and write it to separate media, such as a USB stick.
   • On the My Nodes link under Nodes to find your machine name.
   • Under, Download select "Download generic ISO image".
   • Under, Download select "Download plnode.txt for <hostname>"
   • Format your USB stick as FAT16 filesystem.
   • Copy plnode.txt to your USB stick.
   • Burn the ISO image to CD
   • Place both the CD and USB stick in your PlanetLab host and boot.
3. Just like the previous instructions, except now, the plnode.txt file is kept on a floppy disk.
   • On the My Nodes link under Nodes to find your machine name.
   • Under, Download select "Download generic ISO image".
   • Under, Download select "Download plnode.txt for <hostname>"
   • Format your Floppy disk as FAT16 filesystem.
   • Copy plnode.txt to Floppy disk.
   • Burn the ISO image to CD
   • Place both the CD and floppy disk in your PlanetLab host and boot.
4. Like the instructions for CD-ROM, this method will provide a single physical media for the machine, simplifying long-term maintenance. It is currently a little more involved than the Custom CD instructions due to variance in USB setup.
   
   
   
   • On the My Nodes link under Nodes to find your machine name.
   • Under Download select "Download partitioned USB image for <hostname>".
   • It is not necessary to run any other formatting commands for these images, because they already include an MBR partition table and filesystem. They are ready to be raw written directly to USB stick.).

     	# dd if=planetlab.hostname.site.edu-partition.usb of=/dev/sdX;

   • NOTE: sdX MUST be the direct USB device. Otherwise the MBR in the image will not be written to the first sector of the device and it will not boot. This is the most common mistake made.
   • Configure BIOS to boot from USB media, if necessary.
   • Insert USB stick in a USB port on PlanetLab host and boot.