Saturday, October 30, 2010

PXE installer & LivePXE

I have done some work on network booting (PXE) and pxe installation.

I have created a live cd. The first version boots clonzilla, gparted and installs lucid mini cd. On the server version I can boot ubuntu desktop Live, but that does not work on the LIVEPXE cd (NFS does not work on the cd for the moment).

The advantage of my solution is that I use a dchp proxy wich means it coexists with existing dhcp without any changes.

Download it at:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/qfpxeinstaller/

This is how to config it yourself.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1606910

Saturday, October 23, 2010

dchpProxy

This is a very crude setup of dhcpProxy with dnsmasq.
With this setup it has to be on the same server as tftp (I think).
I will fix that and also change the config file from ltsp which is not relevent since I use it for a PXE install server.

I will also make a start script that handle dynamic subnet.


--------------------------------------------
Installing dnsmasq
-----------------------------------------------
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuLTSP/ProxyDHCP

sudo apt-get install dnsmasq

sudo nano /etc/dnsmasq.d/ltsp.conf
add:

####################################################################
# Copied from https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuLTSP/ProxyDHCP
# Modified by vikjon0 2010-10-22 for PXE install server
#####################################################################
# Sample configuration for dnsmasq to function as a proxyDHCP server,
# enabling PXE clients to boot when an external, unmodifiable DHCP
# server is present.
# The main dnsmasq configuration is in /etc/dnsmasq.conf;
# the contents of this script are added to the main configuration.
# You may modify the file to suit your needs.

# Don't function as a DNS server:
port=0

# Log lots of extra information about DHCP transactions.
log-dhcp

# Dnsmasq can also function as a TFTP server. You may uninstall
# tftpd-hpa if you like, and uncomment the next line:
#enable-tftp

# Set the root directory for files available via FTP.
tftp-root=/var/lib/tftpboot

# The boot filename.
dhcp-boot=/var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux.0

# rootpath option, for NFS
dhcp-option=17,/var/www/PXE

# kill multicast
dhcp-option=vendor:PXEClient,6,2b

# Disable re-use of the DHCP servername and filename fields as extra
# option space. That's to avoid confusing some old or broken DHCP clients.
dhcp-no-override

# PXE menu
pxe-prompt="Press F8 for boot menu", 3

# The known types are x86PC, PC98, IA64_EFI, Alpha, Arc_x86,
# Intel_Lean_Client, IA32_EFI, BC_EFI, Xscale_EFI and X86-64_EFI
pxe-service=X86PC, "Boot from network", pxelinux

# A boot service type of 0 is special, and will abort the
# net boot procedure and continue booting from local media.
pxe-service=X86PC, "Boot from local hard disk", 0

# If an integer boot service type, rather than a basename is given, then the
# PXE client will search for a suitable boot service for that type on the
# network. This search may be done by multicast or broadcast, or direct to a
# server if its IP address is provided.
#pxe-service=x86PC, "Install windows from RIS server", 1

# This range(s) is for the public interface, where dnsmasq functions
# as a proxy DHCP server providing boot information but no IP leases.
# Any ip in the subnet will do, so you may just put your server NIC ip here.
dhcp-range=192.168.0.130,proxy

# This range(s) is for the private network on 2-NIC servers,
# where dnsmasq functions as a normal DHCP server, providing IP leases.
#dhcp-range=192.168.0.20,192.168.0.250,8h

# For static client IPs, and only for the private subnets,
# you may put entries like this:
#dhcp-host=00:20:e0:3b:13:af,10.160.31.111,client111,infinite