Install Operation System via LAN

At first, we need prepare a PXE server and a DHCP server. We create a virtual machine as the PXE server and use the cisco switch DHCP server feature(or virtual router VyOS).

The main components:

PXE server
DHCP server

PXE Server

A PXE server consist of a tftp server and a DHCP server. Here we put the http server and the tftp server together.

PXE intallation and configuration

Now we install these packages at the Debian Jessie end as:

sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install tftpd-hpa

Next, modify the tftpd configuration file.

cd /etc/default
sudo cp tftpd-hpa tftpd-hpa.orig
sudo nano /etc/default/tftpd-hpa
# /etc/default/tftpd-hpa
  
TFTP_USERNAME="tftp"
TFTP_DIRECTORY="/home/cloud/tftp"
TFTP_ADDRESS="0.0.0.0:69"
TFTP_OPTIONS="--secure"

sudo /etc/init.d/tftpd-hpa start

Network Boot Options

Now, setup the network bootup options. We need the following tools.

Provide the boot image

wget http://mirror.cs.nchu.edu.tw/debian/dists/jessie/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/netboot.tar.gz
wget http://mirror.cs.nchu.edu.tw/debian/dists/jessie/main/installer-amd64/current/images/SHA256SUMS
cat SHA256SUMS | grep -F netboot/netboot.tar.gz
9f5a4b841540b468945f0a7f4342dd87b848762f40987ab453c0830f9a476508  ./netboot/netboot.tar.gz
sha256sum netboot.tar.gz
9f5a4b841540b468945f0a7f4342dd87b848762f40987ab453c0830f9a476508  netboot.tar.gz
tar zxvf netboot.tar.gz
rm netboot.tar.gz SHA256SUMS
ls -l
total 8
drwxr-xr-x 3 cloud cloud 4096 Apr 18 19:06 debian-installer
lrwxrwxrwx 1 cloud cloud   47 Apr 18 19:06 ldlinux.c32 -> debian-installer/amd64/boot-screens/ldlinux.c32
lrwxrwxrwx 1 cloud cloud   33 Apr 18 19:06 pxelinux.0 -> debian-installer/amd64/pxelinux.0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 cloud cloud   35 Apr 18 19:06 pxelinux.cfg -> debian-installer/amd64/pxelinux.cfg
-rw-r--r-- 1 cloud cloud   54 Apr 18 19:06 version.info

DHCP Server setting

show service dhcp-server
 shared-network-name 180-WAN {
     subnet 192.168.180.0/24 {
         bootfile-name pxelinux.0
         bootfile-server 192.168.180.253
         default-router 192.168.180.254
         dns-server 140.120.13.1
         dns-server 140.120.1.2
         dns-server 8.8.8.8
         lease 86400
         start 192.168.180.100 {
             stop 192.168.180.127
         }
     }
 }

Launch TFTP Server

sudo /etc/init.d/tftpd-hpa start

If you want to provide multiple boot option, install syslinux.

File Descriptions

gpxelinux.0 PXE boot loader
menu.c32 text menu module
vesamenu.c32 graphic menu module
reboot.c32 reboot module
chain.c32 chain loader module
memdisk memory disk emulator

sudo aptitude install syslinux
mkdir ~/tftp; cd ~/tftp
ls -l /usr/lib/syslinux/modules
total 12
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Apr 21 20:17 bios
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Apr 21 20:17 efi32
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Apr 21 20:17 efi64

Note: Old version of Debian we can find by the following command.

find / -name pxelinux.0 2>/dev/null
/usr/lib/syslinux/pxelinux.0

$ ls -l /usr/lib/syslinux/
$ cd /usr/lib/syslinux/
$ cp pxelinux.0 gpxelinux.0 menu.c32 vesamenu.c32 reboot.c32 chain.c32 memdisk /home/hsu/tftp
$ mkdir pxelinux.cfg; cd pxelinux.cfg
$ more default

# Default boot option to use
DEFAULT menu.c32
# Prompt user for selection
PROMPT 0
# Menu Configuration
MENU WIDTH 80
MENU MARGIN 10
MENU PASSWORDMARGIN 3
MENU ROWS 12
MENU TABMSGROW 18
MENU CMDLINEROW 18
MENU ENDROW 24
MENU PASSWORDROW 11
MENU TIMEOUTROW 20
MENU TITLE Main Menu
# Menus
LABEL 0
	MENU DEFAULT Local HardDisk
	LOCALBOOT 0
LABEL 1.1
	MENU LABEL Debian Squeeze
	KERNEL images/squeeze/amd64/linux
	APPEND desktop=lxde vga=788 initrd=images/squeeze/amd64/initrd.gz  --
LABEL 1.2
	MENU LABEL Debian Squeeze rescue
	KERNEL images/squeeze/amd64/linux
	APPEND vga=788 initrd=images/squeeze/amd64/initrd.gz rescue/enable=true  --
LABEL 2.1
	MENU LABEL Debian Testing (Wheezy)
	KERNEL images/testing/amd64/linux
	APPEND desktop=lxde vga=788 initrd=images/testing/amd64/initrd.gz  --
LABEL 2.2
	MENU LABEL Debian Testing (Wheezy) rescue
	KERNEL images/testing/amd64/linux
	APPEND vga=788 initrd=images/testing/amd64/initrd.gz rescue/enable=true  --

$ more graphics.conf 

menu color tabmsg 37;40      #80ffffff #00000000
menu color hotsel 30;47      #40000000 #20ffffff
menu color sel 30;47      #40000000 #20ffffff
menu color scrollbar 30;47      #40000000 #20ffffff
menu MASTER PASSWD yourpassword
menu WIDTH 80
menu MARGIN 22
menu PASSWORDMARGIN 26
menu ROWS 6
menu TABMSGROW 15
menu CMDLINEROW 15
menu ENDROW 24
menu PASSWORDROW 12
menu TIMEOUTROW 13
menu VSHIFT 6
menu PASSPROMPT Enter Password:
NOESCAPE 1
ALLOWOPTIONS 0

$ cd ..
$ mkdir images; cd images
$ mkdir -p $Distribution/$ARCH/$Release

* For each "Release" and "ARCH" Copy vmlinuz and initrd.img from /images/pxeboot/ directory of that $Release/$ARCH to /tftp/images/$Distribution/$ARCH/$Release

DHCP Server

$ sudo aptitude install isc-dhcp-server
$ cd /etc/dhcp/
$ sudo cp dhcpd.conf dhcpd.conf.orig
$ more dhcpd.conf

ddns-update-style none;
# option domain-name "example.org";
option domain-name-servers 140.120.13.1, 140.120.1.2;
default-lease-time 600;
max-lease-time 7200;
log-facility local7;
subnet 192.168.180.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
       range 192.168.180.100 192.168.180.200;
       filename "pxelinux.0";       # PXE boot loader filename
       next-server 192.168.180.11;  # TFTP server address
       option routers 192.168.180.1;
       option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
}
#########################################################################
# We've also used next-server to point to the TFTP server we're using
# (which is the same host as our DHCP server, but doesn't need to be). 
# We've chosen the default name of pxelinux.0 as the name of the file 
# for booting clients to request.
# 
# If you want to configure static ipaddress for some machines follow this
# 
# host hostname {
# hardware ethernet 00:B0:CF:8B:49:37;
# fixed-address 192.0.0.19;
# }
#########################################################################

$ sudo /etc/init.d/isc-dhcp-server restart

Set BIOS LAN Boot enable or PXE Boot mode