Remote Installation Services over Linux

In this Post I will Explain step by Step How we can have networking boot-able Linux.In very Few Steps I will Explain it for UBUNTU 11.04 Desktop and server booting from the same server we can have many Linux boot from the same server

Required Softwares:

DHCP server
NFS server
TFTP-HDA server

Command to install the all required software on ubuntu i am installing on the ubuntu 10.04 server edition I have also installed the webmin

1.) sudo apt-get install tftpd-hpa dhcp3-server nfs-kernel-server syslinux

make a directory

sudo mkdir /srv
sudo mkdir /srv/tftpboot
then edit the tftp-hpa file

2.) sudo vi /etc/default/tftpd-hpa

and add the following lines in that

 #

#These are the all the configuration of TFTP boot server(trivial file transfer protocol)

#

TFTP_USERNAME="tftp"

TFTP_DIRECTORY="/srv/tftpboot"

TFTP_ADDRESS="<IP.OF.YOUR.SERVER>:69"

TFTP_OPTIONS="--secure -l"

3.) Configure the /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf file like so:

sudo vi /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf

#And add the following file to the dhcp.conf you can also do this using webmin

#

allow booting;

allow bootp;

group

{

    next-server IP.OF.YOUR.SERVER;

    filename     "/pxelinux.0";

    host laptop

    {

            hardware ethernet    mac:address:of:device;

            option host-name     "laptop";

    }

}

4.) Create the Ubuntu PXE Environment(s):

sudo mkdir -p /srv/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg

sudo mkdir /srv/tftpboot/OS1

sudo mkdir /srv/tftpboot/OS2

5.) Loop mount the ISOs into place:

sudo mount -o loop /path/to/OS1.iso /srv/tftpboot/OS1

sudo mount -o loop /path/to/OS2.iso /srv/tftpboot/OS2

6.) Create a nice message screen that will be displayed upon PXE boot:

sudo vi /srv/tftpboot/message

:: Ubuntu PXE Environment ::

============================

OPTIONS:           DESCRIPTIONS:

OS1 (Default) == OS1  

OS2       == OS2  

----------------------------------------------------

Type the option, and hit enter:

7.) Create the default pxelinux config file:

sudo vi /srv/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default

DISPLAY message

DEFAULT OS1

PROMPT 1

TIMEOUT 0

LABEL OS1

    kernel 11.04x86desktop/casper/vmlinuz

    append root=/dev/nfs boot=casper netboot=nfs nfsroot=IP.OF.YOUR.SERVER:/srv/tftpboot/11.04x86desktop initrd=11.04x86desktop/casper/initrd.lz --

LABEL OS2

    kernel 11.04x64desktop/casper/vmlinuz

    append root=/dev/nfs boot=casper netboot=nfs nfsroot=IP.OF.YOUR.SERVER:/srv/tftpboot/11.04x64desktop initrd=11.04x64desktop/casper/initrd.lz --

8.) Copy the pxelinux.0 file into place:

sudo cp /usr/lib/syslinux/pxelinux.0 /srv/tftpboot/

9.) Configure the NFS server like so:

sudo vi /etc/exports

/srv/tftpboot/OS1  *(ro,sync,no_root_squash,no_subtree_check)

/srv/tftpboot/OS2  *(ro,sync,no_root_squash,no_subtree_check)

10.) Start all the appropriate services:

sudo exportfs -va
sudo service tftpd-hpa start
sudo service dhcp3-server start
sudo service nfs-kernel-server start



11.) Go boot the laptop, and you should be presented with the "

:: Ubuntu PXE Environment ::" menu.
Enjoy!