Let’s Install and Configure PXE Server CentOS 6
Written by BiRU Saturday, 16 July 2016 07:50
1. Install Packages For PXE Server
[root@foo1 ~]# yum install tftp-server syslinux httpd -y
2. Create TFTP Server Directory
Create a new directory where you want to store TFTP server files. Copy TFTP server configuration files into it.
[root@foo1 ~]# mkdir /tftpboot [root@foo1 ~]# cp /usr/share/syslinux/pxelinux.0 /tftpboot/ [root@foo1 ~]# cp /usr/share/syslinux/menu.c32 /tftpboot/ [root@foo1 ~]# cp /usr/share/syslinux/memdisk /tftpboot/ [root@foo1 ~]# cp /usr/share/syslinux/mboot.c32 /tftpboot/ [root@foo1 ~]# cp /usr/share/syslinux/chain.c32 /tftpboot/
3. Create PXE Server Configuration Directory
[root@foo1 ~]# mkdir /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg
4. Edit TFTP Configuration File (/etc/xinetd.d/tftp)
Edit “server_args = -s /var/lib/tftpboot” line to point to the newly created TFTP server directory and “disable = yes” to no, to enable TFTP service.
[root@foo1 ~]# cat /etc/xinetd.d/tftp
# default: off
# description: The tftp server serves files using the trivial file transfer
# protocol. The tftp protocol is often used to boot diskless
# workstations, download configuration files to network-aware printers,
# and to start the installation process for some operating systems.
service tftp
{
socket_type = dgram
protocol = udp
wait = yes
user = root
server = /usr/sbin/in.tftpd
server_args = -s /tftpboot
disable = no
per_source = 11
cps = 100 2
flags = IPv4
5. Create CentOS 6 Boot Image Directory
Create CentOS 6 (or other desired distribution) boot image directory and mount or copy the linux ISO image contents into it.
[root@foo1 ~]# mkdir -p /tftpboot/centos6/i386 [root@foo1 ~]# mount -o loop CentOS-6.4-i386-bin-DVD1.iso /tftpboot/centos6/i386/
6. Create PXE Server Apache Configuration File
Apache (httpd) is used to transfer CentOS 6 installation ISO files to PXE client since it is faster and more reliable then TFTP Edit the directory path and IP address to reflect your configuration.
[root@foo1 ~]# cat /etc/httpd/conf.d/pxeboot.conf Alias /centos6/i386 /tftpboot/centos6/i386 <Directory /tftpboot/centos6/i386> Options Indexes FollowSymLinks Order Deny,Allow Deny from all Allow from 127.0.0.1 192.168.1.0/24 </Directory>
7. Create PXE Server Configuration File
Edit the directory path and HTTP path to reflect your configuration.
[root@foo1 ~]# cat /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default default menu.c32 prompt 0 timeout 300 ONTIMEOUT local menu title ########## PXE Boot Menu ########## label 1 menu label ^1) Install CentOS 6 i386 kernel centos6/i386/images/pxeboot/vmlinuz append initrd=centos6/i386/images/pxeboot/initrd.img method=http://192.168.1.5/centos6/i386 devfs=nomount label 2 menu label ^2) Boot from local drive localboot
8. Reconfigure DHCP Server
Append this at the end of your DHCP configuration file (/etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf). Edit the IP address with your PXE Server IP address.
# GeekPeek.Net scripts - Added for PXE Server configuration allow booting; allow bootp; option option-128 code 128 = string; option option-129 code 129 = text; next-server 192.168.1.5; filename "pxelinux.0";
9. Restart/reload all services
[root@foo1 ~]# /etc/init.d/xinetd restart Stopping xinetd: [ OK ] Starting xinetd: [ OK ] [root@foo1 ~]# /etc/init.d/httpd restart Stopping httpd: [ OK ] Starting httpd: [ OK ] [root@foo1 ~]# /etc/init.d/dhcpd restart Shutting down dhcpd: [ OK ] Starting dhcpd: [ OK ]
We have successfully installed and configured our PXE Server.
