PXE Server

dk99 · Oct 16, 2011

Hi. I was thinking of setting up a PXE Server for things such as Live Cd's and install disks. I would like to streamline as much as possible and I think not having to deal with cd's putting them in and taking them out would save time...
Has anyone done or tried this and if so can you help me out please. Thanks in advance.

FoolishTech · Oct 16, 2011

We use pxelinux (to network boot various ISOs / IMGs) and WDS (Windows Deployment Services) at work on the same server; the two together work fairly well.

If you plan to use a Windows server to host your PXE boot, then you might as well add WDS to the package - it's a huge time saver on N&Ps because you can deploy Windows XP - 7 with all updates and apps of your choice already installed. Just google PXELINUX WDS SETUP

If you plan to use a Linux based server, then just google PXELINUX SETUP.

I'll be honest I have not set it up myself, I just use it, modify / add to the config and boot options every once in a while. So I won't be of much help to you in getting it set up, but as I say, google has tons of resources on getting these setups done.

Monday I'll try to remember to ask at work which link had the good set of instructions we followed when we initially set it up.

I can tell you from usage, you'll spend as much time enabling network booting in the BIOS on most PCs as you will looking for CDs. Also not all systems even that support PXE boot will actually WORK... some load the ISOs over the network fine but then there are issues booting - others just fail after obtaining an IP address. I think it is due to earlier implementations of the standards that just didn't get baked fully on some mobos. But when it does work, it really is nice!

dk99 · Oct 16, 2011

FoolishTech said:
We use pxelinux (to network boot various ISOs / IMGs) and WDS (Windows Deployment Services) at work on the same server; the two together work fairly well.

If you plan to use a Windows server to host your PXE boot, then you might as well add WDS to the package - it's a huge time saver on N&Ps because you can deploy Windows XP - 7 with all updates and apps of your choice already installed. Just google PXELINUX WDS SETUP

If you plan to use a Linux based server, then just google PXELINUX SETUP.

I'll be honest I have not set it up myself, I just use it, modify / add to the config and boot options every once in a while. So I won't be of much help to you in getting it set up, but as I say, google has tons of resources on getting these setups done.

Monday I'll try to remember to ask at work which link had the good set of instructions we followed when we initially set it up.

I can tell you from usage, you'll spend as much time enabling network booting in the BIOS on most PCs as you will looking for CDs. Also not all systems even that support PXE boot will actually WORK... some load the ISOs over the network fine but then there are issues booting - others just fail after obtaining an IP address. I think it is due to earlier implementations of the standards that just didn't get baked fully on some mobos. But when it does work, it really is nice!

Thank you for the info. I do understand that some computer's don't support network boot and some fail but I think In the long run having all disk's in one easy to access server would be a time saver none the less. I have a huge workload and so im hoping this will work.... By the way I love D7 it has saved me a bunch of time...

FoolishTech · Oct 16, 2011

Glad you like D7!

Well, in the spirit of time saving, I do encourage you to look into WDS and running your pxe boot off of that server. I will try to find that link to the guide we used...

Ccomp5950 · Oct 17, 2011

I use PXELinux at the office and love it. I recently updated the kernel on the distro I made to include new network drivers and have noticed much less problems with computers that wouldn't boot it. The savings in CD's is nice, and it teaches you quite a bit if you do the setup.

dbdawn · Oct 17, 2011

I setup and run Server 2003 to use WDS and then run pxelinux on top of that.

Here are two articles that should get you started. There are some changes in using a 3rd party boot menu in Server 2008 versus Server 2003, but overall they should be the same.

http://www.schrankmonster.de/2010/0...rvices-wds-to-install-linux-over-network-pxe/
http://thommck.wordpress.com/2011/0...vices-pxelinux-for-the-ultimate-network-boot/

Let me know if you need help and I can try and point you in the correct direction. I will see tomorrow if I can copy my menu and config here in the forum.

dbdawn · Oct 17, 2011

Here is my config, I have borrowed bits and pieces over the past years from different places on the internet and don't remember where I may have found everything.

I wrote a couple of articles and I submitted them to the wiki about PXE booting and MDT but they disappeared and I don't have the time to re-write them.

Basically I "hacked" Windows Deployment Services (WDS) to use a third party boot menu called pxelinux which is based off of syslinux. You can boot all sorts of tools and iso's from pxelinux. I also use the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) to enhance WDS and deploy Windows 7. MDT is quite powerful and you can automate it in several different ways.

Code:

DEFAULT      vesamenu.c32

PROMPT 0
NOESCAPE 1
ALLOWOPTIONS 0
TIMEOUT 150
TOTALTIMEOUT 1000

MENU BACKGROUND pxelinux.cfg/background.jpg

MENU PASSPROMPT Password

MENU TITLE PXE Boot Menu

menu color border 0 #ffffffff #ee000000 std
menu color title 0 #ffffffff #ee000000 std
menu color sel 0 #ffffffff #85000000 std
menu color unsel 0 #ffffffff #ee000000 std
menu color pwdheader 0 #ff000000 #99ffffff rev
menu color pwdborder 0 #ff000000 #99ffffff rev
menu color pwdentry 0 #ff000000 #99ffffff rev
menu color hotkey 0 #ff00ff00 #ee000000 std
menu color hotsel 0 #ffffffff #85000000 std

#####Green_menu color sel 0 #ff00ff00 #ff000000

LABEL WDS
  MENU LABEL ^1. Windows Deployment Services
  #MENU DEFAULT
  MENU PASSWD 'SECRET PASSWORD'
  KERNEL pxeboot.0

LABEL DiskWipe
  MENU LABEL ^2. DiskWipe
  MENU PASSWD 'SECRET PASSWORD'
  KERNEL memdisk
  append keeppxe initrd=imz/diskwipe.imz

LABEL DBAN
  MENU LABEL ^3. DBAN
  MENU PASSWD 'SECRET PASSWORD'
  KERNEL /utils/dban/dban.bzi
  APPEND nuke="dwipe --method prng --rounds 8 --verify off" floppy=0,16,cmos

MENU BEGIN
  MENU LABEL ^4. Utils
  MENU TITLE Utility Menu 
  MENU PASSWD 'SECRET PASSWORD'

  LABEL memtest
  MENU LABEL ^1. Memory Test 86+  
  linux utils/memtest86+

  LABEL Memory_Test_MicroSoft
  MENU LABEL ^2. MicroSoft Windows Memory Diagnostic
  kernel memdisk
  append initrd=imz/ramtest.imz

  LABEL Parted_Magic
  MENU LABEL ^3. Parted Magic
  kernel /pmagic/bzImage
  append initrd=/pmagic/initramfs load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw sleep=10 livemedia

  LABEL Gdisk
  MENU LABEL ^4. Gdisk
  kernel memdisk
  append keeppxe initrd=imz/gdisk.imz

  LABEL HDT
  MENU LABEL ^5. HDT (Hardware Detction Tool)
  KERNEL utils/hdt.c32
  APPEND modules=utils/modules.pcimap pciids=utils/pci.ids

  MENU BEGIN
	MENU LABEL ^6. Hard Drive Tools
	MENU TITLE Hard Drive Tools
	
	LABEL HDAT2
	MENU LABEL ^1. HDAT2 (Hard Drive Utility)
	kernel memdisk
	append keeppxe initrd=imz/HDAT2.imz

	LABEL salvation_hdd_scan_repair
  	MENU LABEL ^2. Salvation Scan and Repair
	kernel memdisk
	append initrd=utils/salvation_hdd_scan_repair.igz

	LABEL dft
	MENU LABEL ^3. IBM/Hitachi Drive Fitness Test
	kernel memdisk
	append initrd=utils/hd/ibm_hitachi/dft.igz

	LABEL maxblast
	MENU LABEL ^4. Maxtor Maxblast
	kernel memdisk
	append initrd=utils/hd/maxtor_quantum/maxblast.igz

	LABEL powermax
	MENU LABEL ^5. Maxtor PowerMax
	kernel memdisk
	append initrd=utils/hd/maxtor_quantum/powermax.igz

	label SeaTools
	MENU LABEL ^6. Seagate SeaTools
	kernel memdisk
	append keeppxe initrd=imz/seatools.imz

	LABEL datalife
	MENU LABEL ^7. Western Digital - Data Lifeguard
	kernel memdisk
	append initrd=utils/hd/western_digital/datalife.igz

	LABEL dlgudma
	MENU LABEL ^8. Western Digital - Data Lifeguard UDMA
	kernel memdisk
	append initrd=utils/hd/western_digital/dlgudma.igz

	LABEL blank
        MENU label

	LABEL return
	MENU INDENT 5
	MENU LABEL Esc - Return to Previous Menu

  MENU END

  LABEL offline
  MENU LABEL ^7. Offline NT Password & Registry Editor
  kernel utils/cd080802/vmlinuz
  append rw vga=1 initrd=utils/cd080802/initrd.cgz,utils/cd080802/scsi.cgz

	LABEL blank
        MENU label

	LABEL return
	MENU INDENT 5
	MENU LABEL Esc - Return to Previous Menu

  MENU END

LABEL Local_Drive 
  MENU LABEL ^5. Boot from Harddisk
  MENU DEFAULT
  LOCALBOOT 0
  KERNEL chain.c32
  APPEND hd0 0

LABEL Abort
  MENU LABEL ^6. AbortPXE
  Kernel abortpxe.0

  MENU END

coreyspeed · Oct 19, 2011

i wrote a guide a year or so ago, which explians how to setup a linux pxe server, i used about 10 different guides in the end because they wernt all complete i wrote my own.

http://www.howtoforge.com/setting-up-a-pxe-install-server-on-ubuntu-9.10

dbdawn · Oct 20, 2011

coreyspeed said:
i wrote a guide a year or so ago, which explians how to setup a linux pxe server, i used about 10 different guides in the end because they wernt all complete i wrote my own.

http://www.howtoforge.com/setting-up-a-pxe-install-server-on-ubuntu-9.10

Nice guide!
You can also use the free open source tftpd32 one something like an old Windows Xp box. You might just be limited in how many connections you can have at once (I think), don't know for certain.

parker.casey · Oct 23, 2011

I use an i-odd to get around the same issue ... PXE is great for tiny little things like memtest86+

PXE Server

dk99

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FoolishTech

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dk99

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FoolishTech

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