Index.
- Introduction.
- Configure the DHCP server.
- Configure the NFS server.
- Configure the inetd service.
- Syslinux setup.
- Syslinux menus.
- Arch Linux installers.
- Download.
10-Jul-2011: initial release. 07-Feb-2012: removed TCP wrapper reference.
Introduction.
Our Home Server already has most tools available to add a PXE server. With a PXE server you can boot computers over the network and load software on them. This can be used for rescue software, installer CD’s etc. The components needed to build a PXE server are:
- dhcp – A DHCP server, client, and relay agent.
- nfsutils – Support programs for Network File Systems
- syslinux – Collection of boot loaders that boot from FAT, ext2/3/4 and btrfs filesystems, from CDs and via PXE.
- tftp-hpa – Official tftp server.
- xinetd – A secure replacement for inetd.
Install all packages:
[root@homsrv ~]# pacman -S --needed syslinux tftp-hpa xinetd resolving dependencies... looking for inter-conflicts... Targets (3): syslinux-4.04-1 tftp-hpa-5.0-3 xinetd-2.3.14-6 Total Download Size: 0.86 MB Total Installed Size: 3.94 MB Proceed with installation? [Y/n] :: Retrieving packages from core... syslinux-4.04-1-i686 770.3K 649.6K/s 00:00:01 [######################] 100% xinetd-2.3.14-6-i686 78.0K 355.2K/s 00:00:00 [######################] 100% :: Retrieving packages from extra... tftp-hpa-5.0-3-i686 34.1K 212.8K/s 00:00:00 [######################] 100% (3/3) checking package integrity [######################] 100% (3/3) checking for file conflicts [######################] 100% (1/3) installing syslinux [######################] 100% ==> If you want to use syslinux as your bootloader ==> edit /boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg and run ==> # /usr/sbin/syslinux-install_update -i -a -m ==> to install it. Optional dependencies for syslinux perl-passwd-md5: For md5pass perl-digest-sha1: For sha1pass mtools: For mkdiskimage and syslinux (2/3) installing tftp-hpa [######################] 100% (3/3) installing xinetd [######################] 100% Optional dependencies for xinetd perl: for xconv.pl script [root@homsrv ~]#
Configure the DHCP server.
Add the following lines to /etc/dhcpd.conf:
# bootserver support filename "pxelinux.0"; next-server 10.126.160.253;
Configure the NFS server.
While it is not strictly necesary, but some PXE images load faster when you use NFS instead of only tftp. One of these images is the System Rescue CD. Add the following line to /etc/exports:
/tftpboot 10.126.160.0/24(ro,no_subtree_check,all_squash)
Configure the inetd service.
Create the file /etc/xinetd.d/tftp:
service tftp
{
disable = no
socket_type = dgram
protocol = udp
wait = yes
user = root
server = /usr/sbin/in.tftpd
server_args = -v -s /tftpboot -r blksize
}
Syslinux setup.
Copy the syslinux tools and (re)start all services:
[root@homsrv ~]# cd /usr/lib/syslinux/ [root@homsrv syslinux]# cp chain.c32 menu.c32 poweroff.com pxelinux.0 reboot.c32 \ vesamenu.c32 /tftpboot/ [root@homsrv syslinux]# cd /tftpboot [root@homsrv tftpboot]# ls -l total 272 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 20192 Jul 10 19:35 chain.c32 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 56164 Jul 10 19:35 menu.c32 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 239 Jul 10 19:35 poweroff.com -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 26652 Jul 10 19:35 pxelinux.0 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jul 10 19:34 pxelinux.cfg -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 800 Jul 10 19:35 reboot.c32 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 155792 Jul 10 19:35 vesamenu.c32 [root@homsrv tftpboot]# /etc/rc.d/nfs-server restart :: Stopping rpc.mountd daemon [DONE] :: Stopping rpc.nfsd daemon [DONE] :: Unexporting all directories [DONE] :: Mounting nfsd filesystem [DONE] :: Exporting all directories [DONE] :: Starting rpc.nfsd daemon [DONE] :: Starting rpc.mountd daemon [DONE] [root@homsrv tftpboot]# /etc/rc.d/dhcp4 restart :: Stopping DHCPv4 Server [DONE] :: Starting DHCPv4 Server [DONE] [root@homsrv tftpboot]# /etc/rc.d/xinetd start :: Starting xinetd [DONE] [root@homsrv tftpboot]#
Syslinux menus.
Most menus are in /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg. We use menus with an include file that is used by most menus, and complete it with a nice background image. The directory /tftpboot acts as the root directory of the tftp server, so if in a menu file you see /vesamenu.c32 then in reality this is /tftpboot/vesamenu.c32.
The background image is the file /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/kelin4.jpg. (Original from the Slackware Art gallery). The global include menu file is /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default.inc, the contents is:
MENU TITLE Home Server Network Boot Menu MENU BACKGROUND /pxelinux.cfg/kelin4.jpg DEFAULT /vesamenu.c32 #MENU MARGIN 0 #MENU ROWS -9 #MENU TABMSG #MENU TABMSGROW -3 #MENU CMDLINEROW -3 #MENU HELPMSGROW -4 #MENU HELPMSGENDROW -1 #MENU COLOR SCREEN 37;40 #MENU COLOR BORDER 34;40 #MENU COLOR TITLE 1;33;40 #MENU COLOR SCROLLBAR 34;46 #MENU COLOR SEL 30;47 #MENU COLOR UNSEL 36;40 #MENU COLOR CMDMARK 37;40 #MENU COLOR CMDLINE 37;40 #MENU COLOR TABMSG 37;40 #MENU COLOR DISABLED 37;40 #MENU COLOR HELP 32;40
A piece of /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default:
# lx02.mbse.ym network boot menu system. DEFAULT /vesamenu.c32 MENU INCLUDE /pxelinux.cfg/default.inc prompt 0 label bootlocal menu label ^Boot from default harddisk menu default KERNEL chain.c32 APPEND hd0 0 LABEL slackware MENU LABEL ^Slackware i486 Installation Menu KERNEL /vesamenu.c32 APPEND /pxelinux.cfg/slackware.conf TEXT HELP Slackware 32 bits installers. ENDTEXT LABEL archlinux MENU LABEL ^Arch Linux Installation menu KERNEL vesamenu.c32 APPEND pxelinux.cfg/arch.cfg TEXT HELP Arch Linux installers. ENDTEXT LABEL reboot MENU LABEL Reboot TEXT HELP Reboot this client computer ENDTEXT COM32 reboot.c32 LABEL poweroff MENU LABEL Power Off TEXT HELP Power off this client computer ENDTEXT COMBOOT poweroff.com
Here are the screeshots of a PXE boot:
PXE boot menu
PXE boot from the network
Arch Linux installers.
For this we need to download a special CD iso image from the Arch Wiki website. The unpacked contents of this image must be copied to the /tftpboot/arch directory. Then copy /tftpboot/arch/boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg to /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/arch.cfg. Then in this menu change put /arch in front of the paths because the menu was designed to be put in the tftp root, we use the /arch subdirectory. Then we can remove many tools we already have and add a menu entry to our main menu.
I left all menus that I have used in the example package, but without the gigabytes of images. You can find the most actual ones yourself.
Download.
The updated configuration.
