Hello world,
In our previous posts (see here, here and here) ,about PXE technology and how to deploy Ubuntu machine through the network, we have seen that since the introduction of UEFI technology and secure boot, the process has changed a little bit and there is a need to combined technologies in order to be able to deploy Ubuntu operating system. It seems that the standard and well accepted approach is to combine pxelinux technology for BIOS-Based systems and to use grub boot loader for UEFI-Based systems.
Technically, it’s possible to use only PXELinux solution in order to Deploy operating systems to BIOS or UEFI based systems. However, some significant limitations exists. These limitations are
- pxelinux cannot be used against UEFI systems when Secure Boot option is enabled (the bootloader is not signed for UEFI secure boot support!!)
- pxelinux on UEFI systems has slow performance issues (related to tftp block size and this seems not to be fixed yet…)
On the other hand, it’s seems also possible to get rid of pxelinux technology completely and replace it with the grub technology. Grub solution can be used to deploy Operating systems on BIOS and UEFI based systems. The advantage of Grub is that all the necessary files have been signed and can be used when secure boot option has been enabled. In some future posts (maybe), just for the challenge, we might provide guidance on how to setup a PXE Server using only PXELinux technology and/or using only grub technology.
In this post (or series of posts), we will provide again a kind of step by step guide in order to setup a PXE Server that can serve at the same time BIOS or UEFI Based systems… It’s should be quite straight forward as most of the aspects have been already discussed in some previous posts.
Overview
This guide will explain how to configure your dhcp/pxe/tftp server infrastructure to support BIOS and UEFI-based systems network installation. This guide will mix PXELinux and grub technology. This combination seems the one that provides the best results when there is a need to deploy operating systems on UEFI or BIOS based systems. Because grub files are signed, this setup will also support UEFI and secure boot option enabled as well
The pxelinux bootloader will be used when BIOS Based systems need to be installed. Grub bootloader approach will be used when UEFI Systems needs to be deployed. The selection of the bootloader will be done automatically when the client boots. The boot process with include a packet information that will tell the PXE server which bootloader to use….
To deploy Ubuntu operating system through the network, necessary infrastructure and server services needs to be present on the network. DHCP, DNS, TFTP, Web and File services are needed in order to build up the needed PXE infrastructure.
Assumptions
The following assumptions have been made in order to have this scenario working
- Hyper-v platform is used to emulated UEFI based virtual machines
- VM Generation 2 will be used in order to have UEFI and SecureBoot option is Enabled (detailed instruction can be found here)
- You have internet connection in order to download additional necessary packages
- You have Ubuntu 18.04 Server ISO or installation files
- You have Ubuntu 18.04 Desktop ISO or installation files
Step by Step Guide
Step 0 – Install Ubuntu 18.04.2 Server Edition
In this post, we will be using Ubuntu 18.04.2 Server as the PXE server. Ubuntu 18.04.2 has been selected because this is a Long Term Service (LTS) release. This post will not explain how to install an Ubuntu server. When your installation is completed, move to the next step
Step 1 – Set a Static IP address on your Ubuntu Server
Ubuntu Server has no Desktop interface available by default. We will need to perform most of the actions through command lines. No fear, you will see it’s quite easy actually. To set a static ip address on your Ubuntu Server, you will need to edit the following file /etc/netplan/50-cloud-init.yaml.
To edit this file, issue the following command
sudo nano /etc/netplan/50-cloud-init.yaml
Replace the content of the file with the following one (you might need to update the information based on your infrastructure
network:
ethernets:
eth0:
dhcp4: no
addresses: [192.168.1.222/24]
gateway4: 192.168.1.1
nameservers:
addresses: [8.8.8.8,8.8.4.4]
version: 2
In order to apply the changes, we need to execute this command as well
sudo netplan apply
Finally, check that the ip address has been set correctly by issuing the following command
ip addr
Step 2 – Build up your PXE Server
In this post, we assume that the Ubuntu Server will be hosting all the necessary services needed to implement a proper PXE Infrastructure. To setup a pxe infra, we need to install the following packages
- dnsmasq (providing DHCP,DNS and TFTP services),
- apache web for storage purposes and
- NFS packages if you are planning to deploy Ubuntu Desktop through your PXE infrastructure.
Step 2.1 – Install apache web server
To install the apache package, you will issue the following command
sudo apt-get install apache2
Step 2.2 – Install NFS packages
NFS packages will provide file services capabilities. To install the nfs packages, execute the following commands
sudo apt-get install nfs-kernel-server
Step 2.3 – Install dnsmasq packages
To install the dnsmasq package, you will issue the following command
sudo apt-get dnsmasq
Step 3 – Create the TFTP Folder Structure
We will create a folder called tftp at root of the filesystem (/tftp). Within this folder, the following structure will be create
tftp |-bios |-boot |-grub
To create this structure, you will need to execute the following commands
sudo mkdir /tftp sudo mkdir /tftp/bios sudo mkdir /tftp/boot sudo mkdir /tftp/grub
Step 4 – Upload source files on your PXE Server
Because you are using the Apache Web server, we will be copying all sources files under /var/www/html directory. We will copy the iso files contents of Ubuntu 18.04 Desktop and Ubuntu Server under this location. We will create the following structure first
sudo mkdir /var/www/html/bionic/server sudo mkdir /var/www/html/bionic/desktop
You can obviously add other version of Ubuntu files and your structure could look like the following
var
|-www
|-html
|-bionic
|-server
|-desktop
|-Disco
|-server
|-desktop
So, mount your iso file into your Ubuntu server. To mount it, issue the following command
sudo mount /dev/sr0 /media
Copy the files from the iso image into the correct directory. You can use the following syntax to perform the operation
sudo cp -rf <%Your Path To Install Files%>/* /var/www/html/server/bionic
When the copy is finished, unmount the iso/DVD image from your machine by issuing the following command
sudo umount /media
Repeat the operation for each operating system sources files you want to copy on your PXE Server
Step 5 – Configuring your NFS Server Settings
Since our folder structure is ready, we can start configuring the different services that are used by the PXE server. To ensure that our directory structure is accessible through the network and through the nfs protocol, we will need to edit the following file by issuing the following command
sudo nano /etc/exports
Insert at the bottom of the file, the path where you have stored your installation files, which subnet can access it and which kind of right you want to grant. In our scenario, we want to grant access to the following directory /var/www/html/bionic/desktop through the network subnet 192.168.1.0/24 and we are granting read only access (ro). So, at the end of the file, we would add the following line
/var/www/html/bionic/desktop 192.168.1.0/24(ro)
When this has been done, it’s time to restart the nfs service. To do that, you simply execute the following command
sudo systemctl restart nfs-kernel-server
Step 6 – Configuring the dnsmasq services
Almost there ! Now, we need to configure the dnsmasq service which will provide the glue between the different services. dnsmasq configuration file will be used to provide the necessary information to the pxe client when it boots. This file will dictate where to look for pxe bootloader based on the client architecture (uefi or bios). So, let’s edit the /etc/dnsmasq.conf file and at the bottom add the following information
To edit the configuration file, issue the following command
sudo nano /etc/dnsmasq.conf
Copy and update the following information at the bottom of the file
Note : You will need to modify it accordingly to reflect your own infrastructure
#Interface information #--use ip addr to see the name of the interface on your system interface=eth0,lo bind-interfaces domain=c-nergy.local #-------------------------- #DHCP Settings #-------------------------- #-- Set dhcp scope dhcp-range=192.168.1.160,192.168.1.200,255.255.255.0,2h #-- Set gateway option dhcp-option=3,192.168.1.1 #-- Set DNS server option dhcp-option=6,192.168.1.1 #-- dns Forwarder info server=8.8.8.8 #----------------------# # Specify TFTP Options # #----------------------# #--location of the pxeboot file dhcp-boot=/bios/pxelinux.0,pxeserver,192.168.1.150 #--enable tftp service enable-tftp #-- Root folder for tftp tftp-root=/tftp #--Detect architecture and send the correct bootloader file dhcp-match=set:efi-x86_64,option:client-arch,7 dhcp-boot=tag:efi-x86_64,grub/bootx64.efi
To have the change applied to your system, you will need to restart the dnsmasq service. To perform such task, you will execute the following command
sudo systemctl restart dnsmasq
Then, you should check that the dnsmasq is started correctly and that no errors are reported by issuing the command
sudo systemctl status dnsmasq
Step 7 – Uploading all the necessary files in your TFTP folder Structure
We are almost ready ! Now, we need to get the necessary file placed in your tftp folder in order to have pxe capability.
Step 7.1 – populate bios folder
In the /tftp/bios folder, we will place the pxelinux files needed. To obtain the pxelinux files, you can download the files from the following url (https://mirrors.edge.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/syslinux/Testing/6.04/). Then, you can copy the following files from pxelinux sources files to /tftp/bios folder
sudo cp <%your download location%>/bios/com32/elflink/ldlinux/ldlinux.c32 /tftp/bios/ldlinux.c32 sudo cp <%your download location%>/bios/com32/libutil/libutil.c32 /tftp/bios/libutil.c32 sudo cp <%your download location%>/bios/com32/menu/menu.c32 /tftp/bios/menu.c32 sudo cp <%your download location%>/bios/com32/menu/vesamenu.c32 /tftp/bios/vesamenu.c32 sudo cp <%your download location%>/bios/core/pxelinux.0 /tftp/bios/pxelinux.0 sudo cp <%your download location%>/bios/core/lpxelinux.0 /tftp/bios/lpxelinux.0
You will also need to create a symbolic link to the /tftp/boot folder. You will need to issue the following command
sudo ln -s /tftp/boot /tftp/bios/boot
We will also need to create the folder called pxelinux.cfg under the /tftp/bios folder. Inside this folder, we will create an empty file called default. This file control the pxelinux behavior. We will populate it with the following code
DEFAULT menu.c32
MENU TITLE ULTIMATE PXE SERVER - By Griffon - Ver 1.0
PROMPT 0
TIMEOUT 0
MENU COLOR TABMSG 37;40 #ffffffff #00000000
MENU COLOR TITLE 37;40 #ffffffff #00000000
MENU COLOR SEL 7 #ffffffff #00000000
MENU COLOR UNSEL 37;40 #ffffffff #00000000
MENU COLOR BORDER 37;40 #ffffffff #00000000
LABEL Ubuntu Server 18.04
kernel /boot/server/linux
append vga=788 initrd=/boot/server/initrd.gz
LABEL Ubuntu Desktop 18.04
kernel /boot/casper/vmlinuz
append nfsroot=192.168.1.150:/var/www/html/desktop/bionic netboot=nfs ro file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper initrd=boot/casper/initrd.lz systemd.mask=tmp.mount --
Save it
You are ready to move to the next section
Step 7.2 – Populate boot folder
In this step, we need to place the correct bootloader in order for the installation process to start accordingly. Under the /tftp/boot folder, we will create 2 sub folders to make a distinction between the server and the desktop bootloader files. So the folder structure will look like the following
tftp
|-bios
|-boot
| - server
| - casper
|-grub
We will copy the necessary files from the /var/www/html location. Issue the following commands to copy the necessary files to the correct location
sudo cp /var/www/html/bionic/desktop/casper/vmlinuz /tftp/boot/casper sudo cp /var/www/html/bionic/desktop/casper/initrd.lz /tftp/boot/casper
sudo cp /var/www/html/bionic/server/install/netboot/ubuntu-installer/amd64/linux /tftp/boot/server sudo cp /var/www/html/bionic/server/install/netboot/ubuntu-installer/amd64/initrd.gz /tftp/boot/server
Step 7.3 – Populate grub folder
Finally, we need to populate the grub folder. This folder contains the files that are needed to boot uefi systems. So, in your system, you will execute the following commands. The commands below basically will download the necessary signed bootloader files and grub files needed by PXE server and extract the contents on their dedicated folders (shim and grub)
apt-get download shim.signed dpkg -x <%name of the deb package%> shim apt-get download grub-efi-amd64-signed dpkg -x <%name of the deb package%> grub
When this is done, we can simply copy the needed file into the tftp boot folder. So, execute the following commands. Change the path accordingly based on your settings…
sudo cp ~/grub/<%name of package%>/usr/lib/grub/x86_64-efi-signed/grubnetx64.eif.signed /tftp/grubx64.efi sudo cp ~/shim/<%name of package%>/usr/lib/shim/shimx64.efi.signed /tftp/grub/bootx64.efi
Finally, we will copy two additional files from the source iso image. They will server as base for the next step. So, execute the following commands
sudo cp /var/www/html/bionic/server/boot/grub/grub.cfg /tftp/grub/ sudo cp /var/www/html/bionic/server/boot/grub/font.pf2 /tftp/grub/
Step 7.4 – Create/update the grub.cfg
We are almost done ! Now, we need to create also a boot menu and get the proper option available and working. The grub boot loader reads information from the grub.cfg file. If you have followed this step by step guide, the content of the grub.cfg file should look like this
if loadfont /grub/font.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=auto
insmod efi_gop
insmod efi_uga
insmod gfxterm
terminal_output gfxterm
fi
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/light-gray
set timeout=5
menuentry "Ubuntu Server 18.04" {
set gfxpayload=keep
linux boot/server/linux ip=dhcp rw
initrd boot/server/initrd.gz
}
menuentry "Ubuntu Desktop 18.04" {
set gfxpayload=keep
linux /boot/casper/vmlinuz ip=dhcp nfsroot=192.168.1.150:/var/www/html/bionic/desktop netboot=nfs ro file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper systemd.mask=tmp.mount --
initrd /boot/casper/initrd.lz
}
Step 8 – Test your configuration
This is the fun part ! If everything is working as expected, when you boot your Bios client, you should see the pxelinux boot loader showing up. As you can see on the screenshot below, we have customized a little bit the look’n feel of the boot menu in order to match to the grub boot menu.
Click on picture for better resolution
Doing the same for UEFI computers, you should see a boot menu similar to the following..
Click on picture for better resolution
Final Notes
This is it for this post ! We have provided here a step by step guide in order to setup a PXE server on an Ubuntu Server. This installation guide provides a lot of information and could be used in a bunch of scenarios. Our implementation offers the following benefits
- can be used to deploy Ubuntu Server or Ubuntu Desktop
- can be used against BIOS system or UEFI Systems
- using the minimum necessary files needed to provide pxe boot functionalities
- provide framework to customize the boot menu so it might fit your corporate identity
We might not have finished our investigations around PXE, PXELinux and Grub solutions. In a future post, we might want to provide some guidances on how to build a PXE server using only PxELInux files or using only Grub Files
Stay tuned
Till next time
See ya
I tried it out, I am getting a TFTP boot error
@Nikolay,
Thank for visiting our blog and for providing feedback to us…. however, with such a small statement, we will not be able to provide any help to you… What’s the TFTP boot error ? which Ubuntu version are you using ? PXELINUX or Grub files? Please provide a little bit more details if you want us or our readers to provide you some help or to guide you to the right direction 🙂
till next time
See ya
ssh nick@192.168.100.143
$sudo nano /etc/netplan/50-cloud-init.yaml
network:
ethernets:
ens160:
dhcp4: no
addresses: [192.168.100.143/24]
gateway4: 192.168.100.1
nameservers:
addresses: [192.168.100.1]
========================================================================================================================================================
sudo apt-get install apache2
sudo mkdir -v /tftp
sudo mkdir -v /tftp/{bios,boot,grub}
========================================================================================================================================================
sudo mkdir -v /var/www/html/bionic
sudo mkdir -v /var/www/html/bionic/{server,desktop}
========================================================================================================================================================
sudo mount -o loop {iso} /mnt
$ sudo cp -Rfv /mnt/* /var/www/html/bionic/desktop
========================================================================================================================================================
sudo apt install nfs-kernel-server
$ sudo vim /etc/exports
/var/www/html/bionic/desktop 192.168.100.0/24(ro) | /// *(ro,sync,no_wdelay,insecure_locks,no_root_squash,insecure,no_subtree_check)
sudo systemctl restart nfs-kernel-server
sudo exportfs -a
========================================================================================================================================================
sudo cp -v /etc/dnsmasq.conf dnsmasq.conf.bak
sudo vim /etc/dnsmasq.conf
#————————–
#– Set dhcp scope
dhcp-range=192.168.100.100,192.168.100.200,255.255.255.0,8h
#– Set gateway option
dhcp-option=3,192.168.100.1
#– Set DNS server option
dhcp-option=6,192.168.100.1
#– dns Forwarder info
server=192.168.100.1
#———————-#
# Specify TFTP Options #
#———————-#
#–location of the pxeboot file
dhcp-boot=/bios/pxelinux.0,pxeserver,192.168.100.155
#–enable tftp service
enable-tftp
#– Root folder for tftp
tftp-root=/tftp
#–Detect architecture and send the correct bootloader file
dhcp-match=set:efi-x86_64,option:client-arch,7
dhcp-boot=tag:efi-x86_64,grub/bootx64.efi
sudo systemctl restart dnsmasq
========================================================================================================================================================
wget https://mirrors.edge.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/syslinux/Testing/6.04/syslinux-6.04-pre1.tar.gz
tar -xvzf file.tar.gz
sudo cp -v /syslinux-6.04-pre1/bios/com32/elflink/ldlinux/ldlinux.c32 /tftp/bios/ldlinux.c32
sudo cp -v /syslinux-6.04-pre1/bios/com32/libutil/libutil.c32 /tftp/bios/libutil.c32
sudo cp -v /syslinux-6.04-pre1/bios/com32/menu/menu.c32 /tftp/bios/menu.c32
sudo cp -v /syslinux-6.04-pre1/bios/com32/menu/vesamenu.c32 /tftp/bios/vesamenu.c32
sudo cp -v /syslinux-6.04-pre1/bios/core/pxelinux.0 /tftp/bios/pxelinux.0
sudo cp -v /syslinux-6.04-pre1/bios/core/lpxelinux.0 /tftp/bios/lpxelinux.0
========================================================================================================================================================
sudo mkdir -v /tftp/bios/pxelinux.cfg
sudo touch /tftp/bios/pxelinux.cfg/default
sudo vim /tftp/bios/pxelinux.cfg/default
DEFAULT menu.c32
MENU TITLE ULTIMATE PXE SERVER – By Griffon – Ver 1.0
PROMPT 0
TIMEOUT 0
MENU COLOR TABMSG 37;40 #ffffffff #00000000
MENU COLOR TITLE 37;40 #ffffffff #00000000
MENU COLOR SEL 7 #ffffffff #00000000
MENU COLOR UNSEL 37;40 #ffffffff #00000000
MENU COLOR BORDER 37;40 #ffffffff #00000000
LABEL Ubuntu Server 18.04
kernel /boot/server/linux
append vga=788 initrd=/boot/server/initrd.gz
LABEL Ubuntu Desktop 18.04
kernel /boot/casper/vmlinuz
append nfsroot=192.168.1.150:/var/www/html/desktop/bionic netboot=nfs ro file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper initrd=boot/casper/initrd.lz systemd.mask=tmp.mount —
========================================================================================================================================================
sudo mkdir -v /tftp/boot/casper
sudo cp -v /var/www/html/bionic/desktop/casper/vmlinuz /tftp/boot/casper
sudo cp -v /var/www/html/bionic/desktop/casper/initrd.gz /tftp/boot/casper
sudo apt-get download shim.signed
sudo dpkg -x shim-signed_1.37~18.04.3+15+1533136590.3beb971-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb shim
sudo apt-get download grub-efi-amd64-signed
sudo dpkg -x grub-efi-amd64-signed_1.93.16+2.02-2ubuntu8.15_amd64.deb grub
sudo cp -v /grub/usr/lib/grub/x86_64-efi-signed/grubnetx64.efi.signed /tftp/bootx64.efi
sudo cp -v /shim/usr/lib/shim/shimx64.efi.signed /tftp/grub/bootx64.efi
sudo cp -v /var/www/html/bionic/desktop/boot/grub/grub.cfg /tftp/grub/
sudo cp -v /var/www/html/bionic/desktop/boot/grub/font.pf2 /tftp/grub/
sudo vim /tftp/grub/grub.cfg
if loadfont /grub/font.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=auto
insmod efi_gop
insmod efi_uga
insmod gfxterm
terminal_output gfxterm
fi
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/light-gray
set timeout=5
menuentry “Ubuntu Server 18.04” {
set gfxpayload=keep
linux boot/server/linux ip=dhcp rw
initrd boot/server/initrd.gz
}
menuentry “Ubuntu Desktop 18.04” {
set gfxpayload=keep
linux /boot/casper/vmlinuz ip=dhcp nfsroot=192.168.1.150:/var/www/html/bionic/desktop netboot=nfs ro file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper systemd.mask=tmp.mount —
initrd /boot/casper/initrd.lz
}
boot/casper/initrd.lz this file is missing.
if you want you can contact me directly over my email, I have a esxi host which is running ubuntu server 18.04,
goal is to boot uefi
I wish to improve your guidelines alongside with you because i notice some mistakes as well.
yesterday i managed to make it but i could not boot at all. I delete instance once I fail. The current one I keep it if you want to help out.
@Nikolay,
Can you check the following…..
Your error 1 – boot/casper/initrd.lz this file is missing. To fix this issue, you have to check the following
step 1 – ensure that the folder /tftp/boot/casper folder is created (you have to created manually as mentioned in the post….)
Step 2 – if it exists, ensure that the file initrd.lz is located there. here you have two possible scenario
option a – the folder is empty => you need to copy from Ubuntu source file (/var/www/html/desktop/bionic/casper/initrd) to/tftp/boot/casper/initrd.lz. Note the extension, the initrd file coming from the cd does not use
the extension
option b – the folder contains a file called initrd => you have to rename it initrd.lz => ensure that the extension (.lz) is present !
Your Error 2 – TFTP File not found….=> this sounds like you are missing the grubx64.efi file that needs to be located under /tftp folder….
Additional information
If you use the info as is in this post, the cdrom with UBuntu needs to be mounted. This is because we were using a seed file located on the cdrom (in grub.cfg or pxelinux.cfg/default file, there is a line extract like this
file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed (=> pxe will look for this file on the cdrom mounted on the server, if cd not mounted it might fail). If you do not want to use seed file, you can remove the file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed part of the command
Till next time
See ya
Hello My name is Ranjan,
Thanks for this helpful blog.
I have tried this and i am able to boot remote desktop with live OS(Ubuntu 18.04 Desktop) however pxe is not installing OS over remote machine directly.
I can see “Install” icon in live OS which booted on remote machine, i tried to install OS via running install icon but getting – “The ‘grub-efi-amd64-signed’ package failed to install into /target/ error message”
How can i install OS directly without starting live OS, or how can i address above grub-efi file error.
Thanks in advance.
@Ranjan,
Ok, never encountered this issue….but let’s try to see if we can help you…. So, are you trying to deploy Ubuntu via PXE on a BIOS machine or UEFI Machine ?
Because of the error message, we are guessing that’s on an UEFI computer. This error is generally caused by wrong ESP partition being mounted… If this is the problem, the easiest fix would be to delete all partitions on your system and during the Wizard let Ubuntu create the necessary partitions
Hope this help
Till next time
See ya
Hi Griffon,
Thanks for your reply. Yes i am trying to deploy Ubuntu via PXE to UEFI (HP 10th Gen Desktops).
I am trying to delete all partitions and will let Ubuntu Create partitions.
i will get back to you.
Thanks,
Ranjan.
Hi Griffon,
i tried to manually create partition via “something else” option. but still getting same error.
i created “/boot/efi” first, then “swap” and then “/”. then click on “Install”. Still facing same issue. Please suggest.
Is there any way, i can manually copy these files to /target/ so that installation can directly pick it up from there?
Thanks in advance.
Ranjan
@Ranjan,
sorry for the delay in the answer… So, we never had this issue but it seems that this problem is quite common when pxe on uefi client…We found an post that suggesting not to select the install third-party software during the setup wizard. Do not know if this would fix it but you might want to give it q try
Hope this help
till next time
See ya
Hi Griffon,
Yes, i tried both. selecting and not selecting third party software’s.
Thanks in advance.
Ranjan
Do you need Ubuntu Server or can this be configured on Ubuntu Desktop
@wcn,
You can choose…there is no strict requirements for Desktop and Server Edition.. You can use both versions
Hope this help
Till next time
See ya
I came across this guide since im trying to upgrade our existing PXE server to support UEFI. So I followed this guide and started everything from scratch. One important thing to mention is that we have windows dhcp server in the network so I added this line dhcp-range=192.168.178.0,proxy instead of all the DHCP stuff in the dnsmqsk.conf but for some reason the uefi VM im testing with it wont boot to the PXE menu.
@mpopov,
Thank you for visiting our blog and providng some feedback.
If you are using a Microsoft DHCP server, you will need to perform some additional configuration to support bios and uefi. The configuration steps would involve using/Configuring DHCP Class Vendor and DHCP policies. Since we do not have really much time right now, we will not be able to publish a full instruction guide on this topic…. You can either start looking on internet to find some guidance or wait for us to publish necessary instructions
Hope this help
Till next time
See ya
Thanks for the replay Griffon, I forgot to mention that I have that set in place(vendor class config) but still I cant get the UEFI vm to boot from the PXE server. I feel like i have tied everything to no avail.
@mpopov,
So based on your feedback, we understand the following
– you have Microsoft DHCP server on your network
– You are still using the pxelinux server running on a Linux box
– on your DHCP Server, you have created
– Vendor Class for the PXE Architecture
– Created the DHCP Policies that would associate the specific pxe settings depending on UEFI or BIOS machine
– Your DHCP server is configured in order to point to the TFTP service located on the Linux Box
Which Virtualization platform are you using (Hyper-v, vmware, other …?)… With Hyper-v Gen 2+ UEFI, there is a known issue where the screen remains black or UEFI is failing… Can you try to disable secure boot on Hyper-v and see if this would be working for you ? You can also try with a physical box or try using a different virtualization platform
If you use MS Windows Infra only, is this working ??
Do you see any error messages on your screen ? Can you do a network sniff to see what could be the problem with the TFTP Traffic ?
Hope this help
Till next time
See ya
Hi Griffon,
I manged to make it work with supplemental arguments in dnsmasq.conf it ended up looking like a Frankenstein the work between MS DHCP and DNSMasq, but now its working on both platforms bios and uefi. Thanks for the help. I got the ideas to add the same vendor calsses i had on MS dhcp to dnsmasq from here(google -> fog ProxyDHCP with dnsmasq, since i cant post the link to the page). I hope this helps someone else.
@mpopov,
We are happy to see that you have been able to find a solution to your problem… Thank you for sharing your findings….As mentioned previously, we will try to provide some more information in a coming post….but at the moment, we are really overloaded…
till next time
See ya
With all due respect, you had a great intention with your documentation. However, I agree with Nikolay – a lot of mistakes, commands missing and clearly, you didn’t validate your own documentation by repeating the steps on a brand new server. If you have done so, you would have fixed 90% of the mistakes. Since your blog comes up in a lot of research related to ubuntu and PXE, I would suggest you test your workflow before posting it.
If I am a new Linux user, and after taking the time to follow all the steps, I would be pretty much disappointed with getting errors and not having a fully working PXE solution. That’s what happened to me 🙁
@Alfa Foxtrot,
Thank you for visiting our blog and providing feedback. Sorry to hear that the instructions from this post didn’t work for you. On the other hand, you may have noticed that the post is 2.5 years old and might not be most up to date and indeed might contains some errors/mistakes or most probably some incomplete information…So, in order to make it better, please share your findings and point out the mistakes, errors, invalid or missing commands that you have encountered….
Till next time
See ya
I am just starting down this path and would appreciate any updates this community has. I am not new to Linux, Ubuntu server/desktop, but to-date have mainly been involved with driver creation.
@Mike,
Thank you for visiting our blog and sharing your expectations. please note that the post you referring is outdated and you might want to have a look at
Ubuntu 20.04 – Deploy Ubuntu 20.04 Server through PXE (BIOS & UEFI)
Ubuntu 20.04 – Deploy Ubuntu 20.04 Desktop through PXE (BIOS & UEFI)
Maybe some readers have more information about pxe and latest version of Ubuntu
Hope this help
Till next time
See ya
With this config, can anyone guide me to install windows 10 from the pxe server?
where do I create or find the “downloads folder” .. I don´t see that step anywhere in this guide
mkdir ~/Downloads/syslinux ???
@Peter,
Sorry for the late reply but we are actually really busy lately. your download file can be anywhere… This is why we have used a variable in the post… You could create your download folder using mkdir /tmp/downloads or you can use indeed your own download folder (~/Downloads). How are you logged in on the machine… are you using the root account or your account with sudo privilege ? So by default the ~/Downloads folder should exists by default for all users (except root). if this folder does not exists, simply create an new one…
Hope this help
Till next time
See ya
@Peter ,
So, mkdir ~/Downloads
and then mkdir ~/Downloads/syslinux
Hope this help
Till next time
hi Griffon
I have tried meny times now to follow you guides to make a PXE server. None of the guides works “out of the box” – I´m really frustrated, as I am not a linux expert – and was assuming that at least one of your guides would work, without me “thinking”, but just following your guide, step by step.
I seems that you are assuming that one has some basic knowledge of linux in meny of the steps
I DON´T …
Could you please review the guides for building an (i)PXE server on ubuntu server, so I can get it up and running – and get on with my (windows) life 🙂
@Peter,
Thank you for visiting our blog and sharing your experience. Please provide more information about what you want to achieve and which version of Ubuntu you are using.. If you are trying to use this post (which refers specically to Ubuntu 18.04 ), this will not work with other versions since there was some technology changes in Ubuntu. Please note also that the information provided in this blog is AS-IS
Till next Time
See ya