[wplug] PXE Netboot

[Jonathan Billings]

On Sun, Nov 02, 2008 at 05:16:54PM -0500, Roland Hess wrote:
> For a personal project, I'm trying to learn netbooting via PXE (using 
> DHCP on the server side, not BOOTP). My eventual goal is to be able to 
> netboot machines into a live (non-HD installed) Ubuntu server 
> environment. I've been doing the background reading on the procedures 
> and what you need to do, etc. I'm sure I can eventually clobber my way 
> through the entire thing, but if anyone on this list has some experience 
> with PXE netbooting and wouldn't mind me picking their brain or getting 
> a clarification when I run into a snag it would really help me out.

I use PXE netboot a lot at work.  I'll save you a lot of frustration
and suggest you start using DNSMasq[1] for DHCP and TFTP (and DNS too, if
you'd like).  With DNSMasq, you can serve out a PXElinux[2]
bootloader, which can refer to the standard Ubuntu install kernel and
initrd for installs, or a custom one for a network live system.

I like DNSMasq because it is managed by simple text files, like
/etc/hosts and /etc/ethers.  Unfortunately, most of the documentation
out there refers to isc DHCPd and the tftp daemon run out of xinetd.

References:
1. http://www.thekelleys.org.uk/dnsmasq/doc.html
2. http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/PXELINUX

-- 
Jonathan Billings <billings at negate.org>