PXE Server using SLES11
PXE Server on SLES 11
OS AND APPLICATIONS - WIKI
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In an effort to help automate OS installation in the Dell TechCenter lab we set up a Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) server. As written on wikipedia: "The Preboot eXecution Environment (PXE, also known as Pre-Execution Environment, or 'pixie') is an environment to boot computers using a network interface independently of available data storage devices (like hard disks) or installed operating systems."
We started with a base version of the Novell® SUSE® Linux® Enterprise Server (SLES) 11 OS on a Dell™ PowerEdge™ 1950 server. For our installation we disabled the firewall on the pxe/tftp server—you may want to keep the firewall and open specific ports for the necessary services (dhcp, tftp, etc.) The client we tested was on a Dell PowerEdge R710 server.
For information about using PXE with UEFI on SLES11, see "Using PXE with UEFI on PowerEdge Servers with SUSE Enterprise Linux 11".
PXE Server setup
1. Make a directory structure for installation media ISOs: mkdir -p /exports/iso
2. Create ISOs of the DVD installation media: dd if=/dev/cdrom of=/exports/iso/sles-11-x86_64.iso
3. Install Apache (YaST/Software/Software Management). For client software installation media access, you'll need NFS or HTTP to serve the installation media. For this exercise we chose the http route (find apache2 and install).
4. Create the directory structure for ISO access through apache server: mkdir -p /srv/www/htdocs/sles/11/x86_64
5. Mount ISOs (loop) instead of extracting the images for more efficient storage utilization: mount -o loop /exports/iso/sles-11-x86_64.iso /srv/www/htdocs/sles/11/x86_64/
6. Append the following to /etc/fstab for automount of the ISOs so the mount returns automatically on boot:
/srv/www/htdocs/sles/11/x86_64 iso9660 loop 0 0
7. Add a software repository for the Web server/ISO mount you just made: (Yast/Software/Software Repositories/Add) This repository will
OS AND APPLICATIONS - WIKI
RATE THIS
In an effort to help automate OS installation in the Dell TechCenter lab we set up a Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) server. As written on wikipedia: "The Preboot eXecution Environment (PXE, also known as Pre-Execution Environment, or 'pixie') is an environment to boot computers using a network interface independently of available data storage devices (like hard disks) or installed operating systems."
We started with a base version of the Novell® SUSE® Linux® Enterprise Server (SLES) 11 OS on a Dell™ PowerEdge™ 1950 server. For our installation we disabled the firewall on the pxe/tftp server—you may want to keep the firewall and open specific ports for the necessary services (dhcp, tftp, etc.) The client we tested was on a Dell PowerEdge R710 server.
For information about using PXE with UEFI on SLES11, see "Using PXE with UEFI on PowerEdge Servers with SUSE Enterprise Linux 11".
PXE Server setup
1. Make a directory structure for installation media ISOs: mkdir -p /exports/iso
2. Create ISOs of the DVD installation media: dd if=/dev/cdrom of=/exports/iso/sles-11-x86_64.iso
3. Install Apache (YaST/Software/Software Management). For client software installation media access, you'll need NFS or HTTP to serve the installation media. For this exercise we chose the http route (find apache2 and install).
4. Create the directory structure for ISO access through apache server: mkdir -p /srv/www/htdocs/sles/11/x86_64
5. Mount ISOs (loop) instead of extracting the images for more efficient storage utilization: mount -o loop /exports/iso/sles-11-x86_64.iso /srv/www/htdocs/sles/11/x86_64/
6. Append the following to /etc/fstab for automount of the ISOs so the mount returns automatically on boot:
/srv/www/htdocs/sles/11/x86_64 iso9660 loop 0 0
7. Add a software repository for the Web server/ISO mount you just made: (Yast/Software/Software Repositories/Add) This repository will