PXE Boot¶

• PXE Boot
• Overview
• Prerequisites
  • Host / Management machine running config via Ansible
  • OPNsense
  • Fileserver
  • Nodes
• Create PXE server
• References
  • grub.cfg
  • cloud-config
• Alternatives

Overview¶

• Ansible renders the configuration files for each bare metal machine (like IP, hostname...) from templates
• Ansible syncs the configuration files to OPNsense, which has been configured as PXE server
• Hosts that are configured for PXE boot will pull the image from OPNsense and netboot/autoinstall

Prerequisites¶

Host / Management machine running config via Ansible¶

• ansible
• python-netaddr
• xorriso

OPNsense¶

OPNsense tftp/netboot will provide the grub efi boot file and config to hand off to a fileserver

• os-tftp package installed
• DHCP service on appropriate subnet [Services > DHCPv4 > <INTERFACE>] is configured for network boot. At minimum:

txt Set next-server IP: 192.168.1.1 # the TFTP server, aka our OPNsense device's IP Set default bios filename: grubx64.efi # or pxelinux.0 for legacy bios

Fileserver¶

tftp is a poor way to transfer a full OS iso. A local web- or NFS- server is a much better solution to deliver large files to the pxe machine.

We will use TrueNAS with webdav http server.

Nodes¶

• Configure BIOS:
• disable c-states
• enable PCIe wake
• enable wake-on-lan
• enable boot from network
• set boot priority for network
• disable CSM/legacy boot

To re/install OS from PXE, the NIC must have boot priority, otherwise the node will boot from disk Once the OS is PXE-installed, can set priority to local drive

Create PXE server¶

1. Configure inventory

2. From ansible directory, run with ansible:

```sh # # install ansible packages # ansible-galaxy collection install -r requirements.yaml # compile pxe components, launch server, and boot

# test render (use localhost password) ansible-playbook -i ./inventory ./playbooks/pxeboot/build.yaml --tags "render" --ask-become-pass

# copy cloud-config to gist?

# test push to opnsense ansible-playbook -i ./inventory ./playbooks/pxeboot/build.yaml --tags "push"

# full send ansible-playbook -i ./inventory ./playbooks/pxeboot/build.yaml --ask-become-pass ```

References¶

• source - khuedoan
• ubuntu docs - netboot
• ubuntu wiki - netboot
• ubuntu pxe
• ubuntu pxe 2
• onedr0p ubuntu pxe and readme
• automated install
• opn as pxe server
• python package for pxe
• Boot Ubuntu providing it network config in NoCloud Datasource

grub.cfg¶

• Jingella grub pxe boot
• pxe boot with grub
• UEFI PXE boot with grub

cloud-config¶

• add cloud-init to iso
• add cloud-init to iso 2
• test cloud-init with multipass

Alternatives¶

Ubuntu/Canonical MAAS and MaaS at home Sidero Rackn Digital Rebar Provider and edgelab tinkerbell