===== Network Booting with dnsmasq =====
I have lots of computers, and, as I grow older, ever decreasing amounts of patience. So, when I want to reinstall the operating system on something, I don't want to mess around with floppy disks, CD-ROMs or USB flash drives.
On most recent unix-ish systems you can install **dnsmasq** to provide a combined DNS, DHCP, PXE and TFTP server with very little configuration.
==== dnsmasq.conf ====
Here's the bare bones of a working DHCP, PXE + TFTP configuration:
# The range in which we offer IP addresses
dhcp-range=192.168.1.1,192.168.1.190,255.255.255.0,12h
# Set up three static hosts who will always get the same IP
dhcp-host=00:00:00:00:00:0a,rod,192.168.1.1
dhcp-host=00:00:00:00:00:0b,jane,192.168.1.2
dhcp-host=00:00:00:00:00:0c,freddy,192.168.1.3
# Set the gateway address assigned to DHCP clients
dhcp-option=option:router,192.168.1.254
pxe-prompt="== PXE Netboot Server =="
pxe-service=x86PC, "Boot from local disk"
pxe-service=x86PC, "Install a new operating system", pxelinux
enable-tftp
tftp-root=/export/tftp
That's about as simple as it gets and will serve IP addresses in the range 192.168.1.1-190 to any DHCP client on your network.
In addition, if a PC-based system boots up and has PXE enabled, it will get a menu prompting it to either **Boot from local disk** or **Install a new operating system**.
Selecting the latter option will chain load a TFTP pxelinux menu entry system from **/export/tftp** - which you'll need files from the **syslinux** package installing to create.
==== pxelinux ====
In order to have a complete PXE menu system you'll want syslinux installing and the following files:
* pxelinux.0
* menu.c32
* mboot.c32
There are additional options, but using just the above 3 will give you a menu system that can cope with netbooting most operating systems.
My /export/tftp directory looks like this:
* **/export/tftp** - directory
* **/export/tftp/pxelinux.0** - binary file from syslinux; loaded when the user chooses **Install a new operating system** from the dnsmasq menu entries
* **/export/tftp/pxelinux.cfg/** - directory
* **/export/tftp/pxelinux.cfg/default** - a text file; my default boot menu
* **/export/tftp/syslinux/** - directory
* **/export/tftp/syslinux/menu.c32** - binary file from syslinux; code to generate the menu itself
* **/export/tftp/syslinux/mboot.c32** - binary file from syslinux; code to boot certain operating system bootloaders
I then have the following in the **default** menu file:
default syslinux/menu.c32
prompt 0
MENU TITLE Installer Menu
menu separator
LABEL LinuxMint
MENU LABEL Linux - Mint Menu
KERNEL menu.c32
APPEND pxelinux.cfg/linux-mint
LABEL LinuxUbuntu
MENU LABEL Linux - Ubuntu Menu
KERNEL menu.c32
APPEND pxelinux.cfg/linux-ubuntu
LABEL NetBSD
MENU LABEL Unix - NetBSD Menu
KERNEL menu.c32
APPEND pxelinux.cfg/netbsd
LABEL DOS
MENU LABEL MS-DOS/Windows Menu
KERNEL menu.c32
APPEND pxelinux.cfg/dos
This serves as my root menu, with operating system flavours branching off. For example, the Linux - Ubuntu menu would then serve to actually boot and install Ubuntu, selecting MS-DOS/Windows would launch a DOS boot floppy, etc.
----
Currently I have the following entries:
* [[blog:netboot_linux|Linux - Mint]] - Boots to a live Mint Linux installer (Mint 18 and 19)
* [[blog:netboot_linux|Linux - Ubuntu]] - Boots to a text mode Ubuntu 16 or 18LTS installer
* [[blog:netboot_netbsd|Unix - NetBSD]] - Boots to a NetBSD 7 or 8 installer
* [[blog:netboot_solaris|Unix - Solaris]] - Not using dnsmasq, but similar support for network booting a Solaris/Sparc machine
* [[blog:netboot_dos|MS-DOS/Windows]] - Boots either a DOS 6 or Win98SE boot floppy image