Raspberry Pi as a PXE, TFTP, NFS, proxy DHCP server

  • Posted by Adam Niedzwiedzki on 07 February 2014, 11:23 am
apt-get install syslinux-common #This is for pxe booting files.
apt-get install dnsmasq #Since I already have a router providing DHCP we need to use a proxy dhcp. dnsmasq is a great set of tools providing us with both tftp and proxy dhcp.
mkdir /srv/tftpboot #root folder for pxe server.
cp /usr/lib/syslinux/pxelinux.0 /srv/tftpboot/ #copy necessary files for pxe boot.
cp /usr/lib/syslinux/menu.c32 /srv/tftpboot/
mkdir /srv/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg #folder for boot menu
vi /srv/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default #Menu file

Add following info for /srv/tftboot/pxelinux.cfg/default
DEFAULT menu.c32
PROMPT 0
 
MENU TITLE PXE Boot
 
LABEL Test
MENU LABEL Test


Edit dnsmasq settings.
vi /etc/dnsmasq.conf

Just add following lines at the end of the file.
# 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=/srv/tftpboot
 
# The boot filename.
dhcp-boot=/srv/tftpboot/pxelinux.0
 
# rootpath option, for NFS
#dhcp-option=17,/opt/ltsp/i386
 
# 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...", /srv/tftpboot/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=10.0.10.200,proxy,255.255.255.0

Restart dnsmasq to load config
root@pi:/srv/tftpboot#service dnsmasq restart

Try to boot a machine with pxe booting. Just to verify that's working.
Next we need to install nfs support for sharing the mounted iso files.
root@pi:/srv/tftpboot#apt-get install nfs-kernel-server
root@pi:/srv/tftpboot#mkdir /tftpboot/iso #this is where we put distro iso files
root@pi:/srv/tftpboot#mkdir /tftpboot/nfs #this is where we share nfs files
root@pi:/srv/tftpboot#mkdir /tftpboot/nfs/ubuntu #folder for ubuntu dist

Edit nfs shares
root@pi:/srv/tftpboot/#vim.tiny /etc/exports

Add following line:
/srv/tftpboot/nfs/ubuntu/ *(ro,sync,no_subtree_check)
root@pi:/srv/tftpboot# mount -o loop iso/ubuntu-13.04.iso nfs/ubuntu/ #mount iso file to nfs folder
mount: warning: nfs/ubuntu/ seems to be mounted read-only.

Then we need to enable rpcbind and restart nfs
root@pi:/srv/tftpboot#update-rc.d rpcbind enable && update-rc.d nfs-common enable
root@pi:/srv/tftpboot#service rpcbind start
root@pi:/srv/tftpboot#service nfs-kernel-server restart

Add following entry to the /srv/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default
DEFAULT menu.c32
PROMPT 0
 
MENU TITLE PXE Boot
 
LABEL Test
MENU LABEL Test
 
LABEL Ubuntu
        MENU LABEL ^Ubuntu 13.04
        KERNEL nfs/ubuntu/casper/vmlinuz
        APPEND initrd=nfs/ubuntu/casper/initrd.lz boot=casper netboot=nfs
 nfsroot=192.168.0.180:/srv/tftpboot/nfs/ubuntu


Change IP to your server IP in default config file

Please Register.


If you wish to add comments.
Cheers
Adam