First Boot

If the node boots from the BootCD correctly, you should see a prompt on the console asking you to confirm the start of the installation. Type yes, and let the installer run until it finishes.

If the install fails, consult the error messages on the console. The most common error is an incorrect network configuration. In this case, you will see messages of the form: "Unable to contact boot server."

These messages indicate that the node was unable to contact PlanetLab Central over the Internet, for one or more reasons:

  • The BootCD kernel failed to detect the network hardware, or the network hardware is unsupported. Contact PlanetLab Support.

  • One or more of the parameters listed in the network configuration file on the floppy disk are incorrect (incorrect DNS server specification is common). Remove the floppy disk, open the network configuration file ('plnode.txt') with a text editor on another machine, correct any incorrect parameters, re-insert the floppy disk into the node, and reboot the node to try again.

  • The date and time in the BIOS are incorrect. The BootCD checks that the SSL certificate of the boot server has not expired. If the date and time in the BIOS are incorrect, the check may fail.

  • A firewall exists between your nodes and the Internet and is blocking incoming or outgoing HTTP or HTTPS traffic, or your nodes are not on a publicly routable network segment. Verify with your local site administrator that your nodes have been located outside of any firewalls at your site, and that they are not subject to port filtering or route blocks.

  • All boot servers at PlanetLab Central are currently down. Try visiting https://boot.planet-lab.org/ from your desktop machine. If you do not see the PlanetLab home page, PlanetLab Central may be experiencing temporary downtime. Try again later.

If another type of error occurs during the install process, or you continue to have difficulty, contact PlanetLab Support. If the install succeeds, you should see a login prompt on the console after the node finishes booting (it may take a while for the node to boot the first time after an install). By default, console login is not allowed. However, you may enable console login later for the special user site_admin by referring to Logging in as Site Admin.