I'm attempting to do a task that seems very simple and is causing me much heartache.

Situation: I have to install multiple SUSE linux installs onto blade servers without cdroms.

Goal: Create a bootable USB drive that contains multiple DVD Isos. Upon boot, a menu is displayed that allows the choice of several OS installs.

Problem: I just can't figure out how to format syslinux.cfg to load my specified iso image. Here is semi sudo code for what I want to do with my config:

sudo syslinux config
label <any label>
menu label install SLES 10 x86
kernel linux
append <path_to_iso=/sles10/dvd1_x86.iso> autoyast=10x86.xml

label <any label>
menu label install SLES 10 x64
kernel linux
append <path_to_iso=/sles10/dvd1_x64.iso> autoyast=10x64.xml
label <any label>

menu label install SLES 11 x86
kernel linux
append <path_to_iso=/sles11/dvd1_x86.iso> autoyast=11x86.xml

...

Googling tells you quite a bit about syslinux.cfg, but it doesn't reallyt tell you how to load specific file for installation.

Thanks in advance!

after much searching I found my own answer.

label 10_3x86
menu label install SLES 10 x86
kernel linux
append initrd=initrd splash=silent showopts install="hd:/dev/sdb1/sles10/x86dvd1.iso" autoyast="hd:/dev/sdb1/10x86.xml"

Thanks for answering with the solution as it will help others.
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So, it all worked well?
If you want a graphical menu you can use menu.c32 for a text menu
and vesamenu.c32 for a graphical menu using a png or jpg

0 members found this post helpful.

Will do, but I have a few other questions, so I'll ask them here..

I have a menu.c32, and as I add options to syslinux.cfg under the *lable* paramater, it appears on the boot selection. However, it sems to be limited to 8 characters for what I add (the prepopulated SLES options are much longer than 8 characters though). I can't directly modify menu.c32 with a text editior -- how do I add 9+ character menu options to the boot selection?

Thanks in advance!

I also seem to be having a basic lack of understanding regarding bootable USB and installing linux distributions.

I created the bootable usb drive using these instructions at Novells site:

http://www.novell.com/support/search...%200%201318234

I used 32bit SLES 10.3 to create the bootable disk.

I then modified syslinux.cfg to point to the first disk of the 32 bit SLES 10.3 install as above, and it works fine. Boots & installs, etc.

Pointing to the other installation disks (10x64, 11x86 or 11x64) doesn't work, even though I am sure I've specified the correct path to the DVD. This means there must be something from the linked novel procedure that makes the drive specific to SLES 10.3. Since multiple distro installs from a single USB drive must be a common procedure I'm obviously not understanding something basic about how this all works. Maybe its time for a new thread?

yeah, that looks weird

my standard is to usually do it all myself.

about the 8 character thing, this may be due to version of syslinux you are using
what syslinux version are you using?

can you post syslinux.cfg that your working on?

Any good links on doing this yourself? This is my first attempt at using a USB drive this way and google has been less than helpful. I didn't get much use out of syslinux.org either, unfortuantly. The documentation there is somewhat lacking from a general use prespecitve.

Its whatever comes with SLES 10. I believe it's version 3.1-20.11 from a search I saw on the web.

Sure thing:
# cat syslinux.cfg
default harddisk

# hard disk
label harddisk
localboot 0x80

# install
label linux
kernel linux
append initrd=initrd splash=silent showopts

# install_SLES_10.3_x86
label 10_3x86
menu label Install SLES 10_3 x86
kernel linux
append initrd=initrd splash=silent showopts install="hd:/dev/sdb1/sles10/SLES-10-SP3-DVD-i386-GM-DVD1.iso" autoyast="device://sdb1/SLES_103_x86.xml"

# install_SLES_10.3_x64
label 10_3x64
menu label Install SLES 10_3 x64
kernel linux64
append initrd=initrd splash=silent showopts install="hd:/dev/sdb1/sles10/SLES-10-SP3-DVD-x86_64-GM-DVD1.iso" autoyast="device://sdb1/SLES_103_x64.xml"

# install_SLES_11_x86
label 11_3x86
menu label Install SLES 11_3 x86
kernel linux
append initrd=initrd splash=silent showopts install="hd:/dev/sdb1/sles10/SLES-11-DVD-i586-GM-DVD1.iso" autoyast="device://sdb1/SLES_11_x86.xml"

# install_SLES_11_x64
label 11_3x64
menu label Install SLES 11_3 x64
kernel linux
append initrd=initrd splash=silent showopts install="hd:/dev/sdb1/sles10/SLES-11-DVD-x86_64-GM-DVD1.iso" autoyast="device://sdb1/SLES_11_x64.xml"

# noacpi
label noacpi
kernel linux
append initrd=initrd splash=silent showopts acpi=off

# nolapic
label nolapic
kernel linux
append initrd=initrd splash=silent showopts nolapic

# failsafe
label failsafe
kernel linux
append initrd=initrd splash=silent showopts apm=off acpi=off mce=off barrier=off ide=nodma idewait=50 i8042.nomux psmouse.proto=bare irqpoll pci=nommconf

# rescue
label rescue
kernel linux
append initrd=initrd splash=silent rescue=1 showopts

# memory test
label memtest
kernel memtest

implicit 1
gfxboot bootlogo
display message
prompt 1