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install-pxe-server

setup a Raspberry Pi as a PXE-Server.
it is a private project i have made for myself.
i did not keep an eye on network security.

the script will override some existing configurations
(a backup of the changed configuration files will be stored to backup.tar.xz in the script folder)
(to extract all versions of all files to /tmp: tar --backup=numbered -xavf backup.tar.xz -C /tmp, some files will be hidden)

USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK.

what is it good for?

the scripts installs necessary packages to let your RPi act as a DHCP, TFTP, Samba, NFS, HTML, NTP, VBLADE, PXE server. and it will download LiveDVD ISOs you can boot your PXE client (Desktop PC) to.

the script can easily be modified to add additional ISOs or update ISOs if updated ones are available.

it also is able to act as server for NETWORK BOOTING for a Raspberry Pi 3 (see note4)

for more advanced setup, watch branch testing of this project

Please give me a 'Star', if you find that project useful.

overview schematic:

      ╔══════════╗   ╔═══╗       ╔══════╗╔═════════╗
WAN───╢DSL router╟───╢ s ║       ║RPi-  ╠╣USB-stick║
      ╚══════════╝   ║ w ║       ║PXE-  ║╚═════════╝
                     ║ i ║       ║server║
       ╔══════╗      ║ t ╟───eth0╢      ║
       ║ RPi3 ╟──────╢ c ║       ║      ║
       ╚══════╝   ┌──╢ h ╟──┐    ║      ║
                  │  ╚═══╝  │    ╚══════╝
               ╔══╧══╗   ╔══╧══╗
               ║ PC1 ║   ║ PC2 ║
               ╚═════╝   ╚═════╝

requirements

hardware:

  • Raspberry Pi (with LAN)
  • SD card (big enough to hold entire ISO images of desired Live DVDs), (e.g. 64GByte)
  • USB memory stick (optional, to store preloaded iso images), (e.g. 64GByte)
  • working network environment with a connection to internet

optional, if your SD card is too small or you don't want to have all the server content on the SD card, you can use the USB memory stick to hold all content. for that you have to do small tiny changes on the 'p2-include-var-sh' script, by changing 'DST_ROOT=/srv' to something else.

software:

installation:

assuming,

  • your Raspberry Pi is running Raspberry Pi OS Bullseye (or Lite),
  • and has a proper connection to the internet via LAN (eth0).
  • and your SD card can hold all the iso images (16GB when you use unmodified script)

and optional:

  • you have plugged an USB-memory-stick that is mounted at /media/server (SRC_MOUNT=/media/server)
  • and the following folder structure on the USB memory stick:
<mount_point>
└── backup
    ├── img
    └── iso

mkdir -p <mount_point>/backup/img
mkdir -p <mount_point>/backup/iso

optional structure for win-pe pxe boot

<mount_point>
└── backup
    └── tftp
        ├── Boot
        └── EFI

mkdir -p <mount_point>/backup/tftp/Boot
mkdir -p <mount_point>/backup/tftp/EFI

replace <mount_point> with the path, where you mounted your USB stick.

  1. run bash run.sh the first time, to install necessary packages
    (use bash and do not run it from sudo)
  2. reboot your RPi with sudo reboot
  3. run bash run.sh the second time to setup everything required for PXE server.
  4. reboot your RPi with sudo reboot
  5. run bash run.sh the third time to copy/download iso images of LiveDVDs, mount and export them and setup PXE menu according installed images.
  6. reboot your RPi with sudo reboot

done.

update:

to update your images, update the url in the p2-include-url and c2-custom-url file
and re-run bash run.sh. this will download all updated iso files and menu entries.

modifying the script:

p2-include-var / c2-custom-var

includes all important variables like source and destination directories, ip-addresses, and so on. e.g.: by changing 'DST_ROOT=/srv' you can tell the script to download and store all iso to an external storage, instead of storing to the internal SD card.

p2-include-url / c2-custom-url

includes all url and name of images

e.g.
DEBIAN_X64=debian-x64
DEBIAN_X64_URL=https://...

p2-include-menu / c2-custom-menu

includes all pxe-menu entries and kernel parameters in the script, for each image there is a pxe-menu entry enclosed by
#========== BEGIN ==========
and
#=========== END ===========
comments.

p2-include-handle / c2-custom-handle

includes all handler to control what image to download and expose to the pxe-server
if you don't want some iso images getting downloaded and mounted, you can disable images from handling '#'.
or '-' to uninstall the previous downloaded image and undo all mounting stuff for that image to free disk space.
e.g.:

handle_item  '+'  iso   UBUNTU_X64;
handle_item  '-'  iso   UBUNTU_LTS_X64;
handle_item  '#'  iso   UBUNTU_DAILY_X64         timestamping;
...

action:

'+' = add image to PXE service download if not there update if new version is available

'-' = remove image from PXE service free resources on server if backup exist, keep updating backup

'#' = skip image handling keep everything untouched does not updating backup good, when timestamping option is set but want to keep the current version and you don't want to download each daily update

type:

iso = iso image (ISO, UDF, ISO_HYBRID)

img = hard drive image (MPT, GPT)

kernel = kernel

zip_img = zip file containing a hard drive image (zip -> img -> MTP/GPT)

rpi_pxe = only if you want to pxe boot a RPi3. copies files from its selected image boot & root partition to PXE server directories requires an already mounted hard drive image (img or zip_img) note: Action '-' does nothing for rpi_pxe. It is not implemented. You have to free resources for rpi_pxe by hand

note: do not put the $ in fornt of the VARIABLE name !!! the handle_item functions do need the NAME of the VARIABLE (without _URL)

what else you should know, when you make modification to the script...

there are three important locations for the pxe boot and the pxe menu that must fit. otherwise the pxe menu and the following boot process can not find required files.

  1. the ISO or NFS path relative to the pxe boot menu root path
    (on disk /srv/tftp/menu-bios/iso, /srv/tftp/menu-bios/iso as symbolic link).
  2. the ISO or NFS path relative to the nfs root path
    (on disk /srv/iso, /srv/nfs).
  3. the ISO, IMG or NFS path located at /var/www/html
    (on disk /var/www/html/srv/iso, /var/www/html/srv/img, /var/www/html/srv/nfs).
/
├── srv
|   ├── img    (the real physical location of IMG files)
|   ├── iso    (the real physical location of ISO files)
|   ├── nfs    (the real physical location of NFS files or mountpoints)
|   |
|   └── tftp       (TFTP root)
|       |
|       └── menu-bios  (PXE boot menu root for BIOS)
|           ├── iso    (only a symbolic link to ISO files)
|           └── nfs    (only a symbolic link to NFS files)
|
└── var
    └── www
        └── html     (HTML root)
            └── srv  (only a symbolic link to /srv)
                ├── img  (only a symbolic link to IMG files)
                ├── iso  (only a symbolic link to ISO files)
                └── nfs  (only a symbolic link to NFS files)

if you make any changes to your script and/or file structure on disk, keep an eye to changes you made and adapt everything to match pxe menu entries to file structure on disk.

what the root of TFTP and PXE boot menu are, is defined in the dnsmasq configuration file /etc/dnsmasq.d/pxe-server.
the root for NFS is defined in /etc/exports.
the root for HTML is defined in the lighttpd configuration file /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf.

note2:

some of the PXE-menu entries has additional parameters, that lets the Live systems boot with German language (keyboard layout). if you don't like or want, remove those additional parameters just behind the ' --' in the menu entries

to easily change the language to your favorite ones, there are variables in the c2-custom-var file to set those variables with your values.

CUSTOM_COUNTRY=DE
CUSTOM_KEYMAP=de-latin1-nodeadkeys
CUSTOM_KMAP=qwertz/de-latin1
CUSTOM_LANGUAGE=de
CUSTOM_LAYOUTCODE=de
CUSTOM_LOCALE=de_DE.UTF-8
CUSTOM_TIMEZONE=Europe/Berlin
CUSTOM_VARIANT=German

note3:

it is prepared for BIOS, UEFI 32bit and UEFI 64bit boot, but UEFI is not tested yet by me, because of lack of hardware for UEFI boot.
IPv4 UEFI 64bit boot with SecureBoot enabled is tested and working on my computer (with Asus board and latest Fedora, Debian and Ubuntu distro).
but tested with an other computer it wont work - it depends on the UEFI firmware.

note4: NETWORK BOOTING for Raspberry Pi 3 client

the server is prepared for to boot a Raspberry Pi 3 client via network. in the script p2-include-var, there is a RPI_SN0=-------- line, change the -------- to the serial number of the RPi3-client, that will boot from network later on.
skip the leading '00000000'. take only the last 8 digits!
e.g.

pi@raspberry-$ cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep Serial
Serial          : 0000000087654321

then take RPI_SN0=87654321.
if you have more than one RPi3-client for network booting you have to add them by hand to the /srv/tftp folder on the PXE-server.

the script will download Raspberry Pi OS Lite and prepare it for the RPi3-client with the given serial number.

by default, a RPi3-client is not enabled for network booting. you have to enable it once.

for more information,

see: Network Booting
see: Network Boot Your Raspberry Pi