pxe server

PXE stands for Pre - Execution Environment.

It is helpful to start or boot a computer
from a network. In suse linux we can setup an existing suse linux system as the
pxe server and we can install suse on other systems through lan.

Requirements:
1. An existing system running suse. (server name: suse).
2. Network.
3. Dump of suse cd/dvd's.(eg: /suse) i.e copy the contents of dvd to a folder /suse

Steps:

For installation of software :yast-> software installation.

For configuring the servers : yast->services-> dhcp/tftp/nfs/apache servers etc.

1. install tftpboot server on suse. it will create a directory called in the
root directory /tftpboot. (yast->software installation->tftp server).
mkdir /tftpboot/pxelinx.cfg

2. install & configure dhcp server on the server.(yast-> services -> dhcp server).
the interface is quite self explanatory, so kindly configure it.

3. install & configure nfs server (edit /etc/exports)
add the line /suse *(rw)

4. in our example we have copied the the contents of dvd to /suse
cd /suse/boot/loader
cp -v initrd linux message /tfpboot
cp -v isolinx.cfg /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default

5. pxelinux.0 is not installed by default in suse 10.3, you need to install the package syslinux for that, its there on the dvd, then you can copy the pxelinux.0 file as mentioned below
cp -v /usr/share/syslinux/pxelinux.0 /tftpboot

6. edit /tftpboot/pxelinxu.cfg/default
add the following lines to the append line -->
append initrd=initrd ram_disk=65536 insmod=e100 install=nfs://server_address splash=silent showopts

7. edit /etc/dhcpd.conf
add this line in the end of the section

next-server "server ip address";
filename "pxelinux.0";

Congratulations! your pxe server is now ready for use.

start all your server apache, dhcp, tftp. Connect the client machine on the lan & from bios give it the option to boot
from lan.

Technical Team,
Solution Enterprises