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step by step configure pxe boot server in Centos 7 | PXE network boot server | pxe boot

July 26, 2018
PXE stand for Preboot eXecution Environment it works on Client-Server architecture and allows unattended or automated OS installation over the Network

Point to be noted :

This PXE Boot server configuration in Ubuntu 16.4,  
PXE network boot server with Configure dnsmasq with DHCP and dnsmasq without dhcp,
pxe boot server we add centos 7 boot entry in default pxelinux.cfg directory via NFS and http, 
We configure pxe boot with clonezilla iso and zip
CentOS iso pxeboot entry, Installing CentOS, Debian using network booting

Server IP = 172.17.20.100
Host name = pxe.linuxtopic.com
OS = CentOS 7

Step 1:

Install required packages

yum install tftp-server syslinux dnsmasq

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Step 2:

Configure dnsmasq
cp /etc/dnsmasq.conf /etc/dnsmasq.conf-bk
Option 1 :  Configure dnsmasq as existing dhcp on network

vi /etc/dnsmasq.conf

# DNS Options
port=0
interface=eth0,lo


# DHCP Options
dhcp-range=172.17.0.1,proxy
dhcp-option=vendor:PXEClient,6,2b
dhcp-no-override


# PXE
dhcp-boot=pxelinux.0


#pxe-prompt="Press F8 for menu.", 10
pxe-service=X86PC, "www.linuxtopic.com", pxelinux


# TFTP Options
enable-tftp
tftp-root=/var/lib/tftpboot

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Option 2 :  Configure dnsmasq with dhcp server

# DNS Options
port=0
interface=eth0,lo


# DHCP range-leases
dhcp-range= eth0,172.17.20.200,172.17.20.250,255.255.0.0,1h
# Gateway
dhcp-option=3,172.17.20.100
# DNS
dhcp-option=6,172.17.120.100, 8.8.8.8
# Broadcast Address
dhcp-option=28,172.17.255.255
# NTP Server
dhcp-option=42,0.0.0.0


# PXE
dhcp-boot=pxelinux.0
pxe-service=x86PC, "Linuxtopic.com", pxelinux


# Enable TFTP
enable-tftp
tftp-root=/var/lib/tftpboot

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Explain :


port=0   -  disable dns
interface=eth0,lo   - Interfaces that the server should listen and provide services


dhcp-rang=172.17.20.100,proxy   -  existing dhcp server ip  
OR
dhcp-range= eth0,172.17.199.200,172.17.199.250,255.255.0.0,1h  - Dhcp IP Range
dhcp-option=3,172.17.199.199  - define gateway
dhcp-option=6,172.17.199.199, 8.8.8.8  - Define DNS
dhcp-option=28,172.17.255.255  - Broadcast Address
dhcp-option=42,0.0.0.0 - NTP Server


dhcp-option=vendor:PXEClient,6,2b    - download the boot file immediately by disable multicast and broadcast discovery.
dhcp-boot=pxelinux.0    -
pxe-service=X86PC, "www.linuxtopic.com", pxelinux    -  Use x86PC for 32-bit/64-bit architectures and enter a menu description prompt under string quotes. Other values types can be: Intel_Lean_Client, IA32_EFI, _EFI, Alpha, Arc_x86, BC_EFI, Xscale_EFI and X86-64_EFI, PC98, IA64
enable-tftp    -  Enables the build-in TFTP server.
tftp-root=/var/lib/tftpboot   -  the location for all netbooting files.

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Step 3:  

Create directory and copy required file

mkdir /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg

cp -v /usr/share/syslinux/pxelinux.0 /var/lib/tftpboot

cp -v /usr/share/syslinux/menu.c32 /var/lib/tftpboot

cp -v /usr/share/syslinux/memdisk /var/lib/tftpboot

cp -v /usr/share/syslinux/mboot.c32 /var/lib/tftpboot

cp -v /usr/share/syslinux/chain.c32 /var/lib/tftpboot

cp -v /usr/share/syslinux/vesamenu.c32 /var/lib/tftpboot/

ls -l /var/lib/tftpboot/


Step 4:

Create default  file and add menu entry

vi /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default

default vesamenu.c32
prompt 0
timeout 50


# Local Hard Disk pxelinux.cfg default entry
LABEL 1
   MENU LABEL ^1) Boot local hard drive
   MENU AUTOBOOT
   MENU DEFAULT
   LOCALBOOT 0

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Step 5:  

Download Clonezilla zip File from official website and extract

https://clonezilla.org/downloads/download.php?branch=stable



Create Directory and Copy clonezilla zip

mkdir /var/lib/tftpboot/clonezilla
cd  /var/lib/tftpboot/clonezilla
unzip clonezilla-live-2.5.5-38-amd64.zip

Add  Clonezilla menu entry in  pxelinux.cfg/defalut

vi /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default

# Clonezilla pxelinux.cfg default entry
LABEL 2
   MENU LABEL ^2) Clonezilla Live
   KERNEL clonezilla/live/vmlinuz
   APPEND ramdisk_size=32768 initrd=clonezilla/live/initrd.img boot=live union=overlay username=user config components noswap edd=on nomodeset noeject locales=en_US.UTF-8 keyboard-layouts=NONE net.ifnames=0 ocs_live_extra_param="" ocs_live_keymap="NONE" ocs_live_batch="yes" ocs_lang="en_US.UTF-8" vga=788 ip=frommedia nosplash  fetch=tftp://172.17.20.100/clonezilla/live/filesystem.squashfs

Centos 7 pxelinux.cfg default boot entry

Download / Copy CentOS 7 ISO in pxe boot server  and mount on /mnt:

mount -o loop /tmp/CentOS-7-x86_64-Minimal-1708.iso /mnt/

Create Folder

mkdir /var/lib/tftpboot/data/centos7_64Bit

Note: If you want to install CentOS 32 bit edition, make a relevant directory called centos7_32Bit (Ex. /var/lib/tftpboot/data/centos7_32Bit).

Copy the ISO file contents to /var/lib/tftpboot/data/centos7_64Bit

cp -fr /mnt/* /var/lib/tftpboot/data/centos7_64Bit/

Set the proper permissions to the above directory.

chmod -R 755 /var/lib/tftpboot/data

Access data for Installation :

Option 1 : NFS Server

yum install nfs-server

echo "/var/lib/tftpboot/data  *(rw)" >> /etc/exports


restart service

systemctl restart nfs-serversystemctl enable nfs-server

Check nfsmount

showmount -e 172.17.20.100


Option 2 : HTTP Server

yum install httpd

Create a apache configuration file for PXE server under /etc/httpd/conf.d/ directory:

cat > /tmp/pxeboot.conf << EOFAlias /pxeboot /var/lib/tftpboot/data<Directory /var/lib/tftpboot/data>Options Indexes FollowSymLinksRequire all granted</Directory>EOF


systemctl disable firewalldsystemctl stop firewalld
setenforce 0
sed -i 's/SELINUX=enforcing/SELINUX=permissive/g' /etc/sysconfig/selinux
systemctl restart httpdsystemctl enable  httpd


Now test http by access url



Add  Centos 7  menu entry in  pxelinux.cfg/defalut

vi /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default

# CentOS 7 pxelinux.cfg default entry
LABEL 3
   MENU LABEL ^3) Install CentOS 7 - NFS
   kernel data/centos7_64Bit/images/pxeboot/vmlinuz
   append initrd=data/centos7_64Bit/images/pxeboot/initrd.img inst.stage2=nfs:172.17.20.100:/var/lib/tftpboot/data/centos7_64Bit quiet


# CentOS 7 pxelinux.cfg default entry
LABEL 4
   MENU LABEL ^4) Install CentOS 7 - HTTP
   KERNEL data/centos7_64Bit/images/pxeboot/vmlinuz
   APPEND initrd=data/centos7_64Bit/images/pxeboot/initrd.img method=http://172.17.20.100/pxeboot/centos7_64Bit devfs=nomount

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Restart DNSMASQ

systemctl restart dnsmasqsystemctl enable dnsmasq

Option 3: FTP Server

yum install vsftpd
Configure vsftpd
vi /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf
# Allow anonymous FTP? (Beware - allowed by default if you comment this out).
anonymous_enable=YES
#
# Uncomment this to allow local users to log in.
# When SELinux is enforcing check for SE bool ftp_home_dir
local_enable=NO
#
# Uncomment this to enable any form of FTP write command.
write_enable=NO

# Activate logging of uploads/downloads.
xferlog_enable=YES

# When "listen" directive is enabled, vsftpd runs in standalone mode and
# listens on IPv4 sockets. This directive cannot be used in conjunction
# with the listen_ipv6 directive.
listen=NO

# Add This in bottom
anon_root=/var/lib/tftpboot/data
anon_max_rate=2048000

systemctl restart vsftpdsystemctl enable vsftpd
Add  Centos 7  menu entry in  pxelinux.cfg/defalut

vi /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default

# CentOS 7 pxelinux.cfg default entry
LABEL 5
MENU LABEL ^5) Install CentOS 7 - FTP
KERNEL data/centos7_64Bit/images/pxeboot/vmlinuz
APPEND initrd=data/centos7_64Bit/images/pxeboot/initrd.img  inst.repo=ftp://172.17.20.100:/centos7_64Bit 

 configure pxe boot server, clonezilla, pxeboot server, network boot, network booting, pxe, boot from network, boot on network, network boot linux, network boot server, network boot windows 10, network boot ubuntu, network boot windows 7, network boot windows 7 diskless, how does pxe boot work, pxe boot server windows

Now PXE Boot Server is Ready - Go to client side and Select first boot device "Network" in BIOS setting


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