install-pxe-server

setup a Raspberry Pi as a PXE-Server.
it is a private project i have made for myself.
i did not keeped an eye on network security.
the script will override some existing configurations

USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK.

what is it good for?

the scripts installs necessary packages to let your RPi act as a DHCP, TFTP, Samba, NFS, HTML, NTP, PXE server. and it will download LiveDVD ISOs you can boot your PXE client (Desktop PC) to.

the script can easely be modified to add additional ISOs or update ISOs if updated ones are available.

it also is able to act as server for NETWORK BOOTING for a Raspberry Pi 3 (see note4)

Please give me a 'Star', if you find that project useful.

overview schematic:

      ╔══════════╗   ╔═══╗       ╔══════╗╔═════════╗
WAN───╢DSL router╟───╢ s ║       ║RPi-  ╠╣USB-stick║
      ╚══════════╝   ║ w ║       ║PXE-  ║╚═════════╝
                     ║ i ║       ║server║
       ╔══════╗      ║ t ╟───eth0╢      ║
       ║ RPi3 ╟──────╢ c ║       ║      ║
       ╚══════╝   ┌──╢ h ╟──┐    ║      ║
                  │  ╚═══╝  │    ╚══════╝
               ╔══╧══╗   ╔══╧══╗
               ║ PC1 ║   ║ PC2 ║
               ╚═════╝   ╚═════╝

requirements

hardware:

Raspberry Pi (with LAN)
SD card (big enough to hold entire ISO images of desired Live DVDs), (e.g. 64GByte)
USB memory stick (optional, to store preloaded iso images), (e.g. 64GByte)
working network environment with a connection to internet

optional, if your SD card is too small or you don't want to have all the server content on the SD card, you can use the USB memory stick to hold all content. for that you have to do small tiny changes on the 'p2-include-var-sh' script, by changing 'DST_ROOT=/srv' to something else.

software:

Raspbian Buster or Raspbina Buster Lite (2019-07-10), https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/)

installation:

assuming,

your Raspberry Pi is running a new fresh virgin Raspbian Buster (or Lite) installation from 2019-07-10,
and has a proper connection to the internet via LAN (eth0).
and your SD card can hold all the iso images (16GB when you use unmodified script)

and optional:

you have plugged an USB-memory-stick that has the has a label PXE-Server
and the folowing folder structure on the USB memory stick:

<mount_point>
└── backup
    ├── img
    └── iso

mkdir -p <mount_point>/backup/img
mkdir -p <mount_point>/backup/iso

optional structure for win-pe pxe boot

<mount_point>
└── backup
    └── tftp
        ├── Boot
        └── EFI

mkdir -p <mount_point>/backup/tftp/Boot
mkdir -p <mount_point>/backup/tftp/EFI

replace <mount_point> with the path, where you mounted your USB stick.

run bash install-pxe-server_pass1.sh to install necessary packages
(use bash and do not run it from sudo)
reboot your RPi with sudo reboot
run bash install-pxe-server_pass2.sh to copy/download iso images of LiveDVDs, mount and export them and setup PXE menu according installed images.
(use bash and do not run it from sudo)
reboot your RPi with sudo reboot

done.

update:

to update your images, update the url in the p2-include-url.sh file
and re-run bash install-pxe-server_pass2.sh. this will download all updated iso files.

modifying the script:

p2-include-var.sh

includes all important variables like source and destination directories, ip-addresses, and so on. e.g.: by changing 'DST_ROOT=/srv' you can tell the script to download and store all iso to an external storage, instead of storing to the internal SD card.

p2-include-url.sh

includes all url and name of images

e.g.
DEBIAN_X64=debian-x64
DEBIAN_X64_URL=https://...

p2-include-menu.sh

includes all pxe-menu entries and kernel parameters in the script, for each image there is a pxe-menu entry enclosed by
#========== BEGIN ==========
and
#=========== END ===========
comments.

p2-include-handle.sh

includes all handler to control what image to download and expose to the pxe-server if you don't want some iso images getting downloaded and mounted, you can comment out lines to do not handle the image.
or rename handle to __unhandle to uninstall the previous downloaded image and undo all mounting stuff for that image to free disk space.
e.g.:

#handle_iso  $DEBIAN_X64  $DEBIAN_X64_URL;
_unhandle_iso  $DEBIAN_X86  $DEBIAN_X86_URL;
...

same procedure, if you dont want some disk images getting downloaded and mountet, you can comment out those lines e.g.:

######################################################################
handle_zip_img  $RPD_LITE  $RPD_LITE_URL;
# handle_zip_img  $RPD_FULL  $RPD_FULL_URL;

what else you should know, when you make modification to the script...

there are three importent locations for the pxe boot and the pxe menu that must fit. otherwise the pxe menu and the following boot process can not find required files.

the ISO or NFS path relative to the pxe boot menu root path
(on disk /srv/tftp/menu-bios/iso, /srv/tftp/menu-bios/iso as symbolic link).
the ISO or NFS path repative to the nfs root path
(on disk /srv/iso, /srv/nfs).
the ISO, IMG or NFS path located at /var/www/html
(on disk /var/www/html/iso, /var/www/html/img, /var/www/html/nfs).

/
├── srv
|   ├── img    (the real physical location of IMG files)
|   ├── iso    (the real physical location of ISO files)
|   ├── nfs    (the real physical location of NFS files or mountpoints)
|   |
|   └── tftp       (TFTP root)
|       |
|       └── menu-bios  (PXE boot menu root for BIOS)
|           ├── iso    (only a symbolic link to ISO files)
|           └── nfs    (only a symbolic link to NFS files)
|
└── var
    └── www
        └── html     (HTML root)
            ├── img  (only a symbolic link to IMG files)
            ├── iso  (only a symbolic link to ISO files)
            └── nfs  (only a symbolic link to NFS files)

if you make any changes to your script and/or file stcructure on disk, keep an eye to changes you made and adapt everything to match pxe menu entries to file structure on disk.

what the root of TFTP and PXE boot menu are, is defined in the dnsmasq configuration file /etc/dnsmasq.d/pxe-server.
the root for NFS is defined in /etc/exports.
the root for HTML is defined in the lighttpd configuration file /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf.

note2:

some of the PXE-menu entries has additional parameters, that lets the Live systems boot with german language (keyboard layout). if you dont like or want, remove those additional parameters just behind the ' --' in the menu entries

to easily change the language to your favorite ones, there are variables on the top part of the script.

CUSTOM_LANG=de
CUSTOM_LANG_LONG=de_DE
CUSTOM_LANG_UPPER=DE
CUSTOM_LANG_WRITTEN=German
CUSTOM_LANG_EXT=de-latin1-nodeadkeys
CUSTOM_TIMEZONE=Europe/Berlin

note3:

it is prepared for BIOS, UEFI 32bit and UEFI 64bit boot, but UEFI is not tested yet by me, because of lack of hardware for UEFI boot.

note4: NETWORK BOOTING for Raspberry Pi 3 client

the server is prepared for to boot a Raspberry Pi 3 client via network. in the script install-pxe-server_pass2.sh, there is a RPI_SN0=-------- line, change the -------- to the serial number of the RPi3-client, that will boot from network later on.
skip the leading '00000000'. take only the last 8 digits!
e.g.

pi@raspberry-$ cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep Serial
Serial          : 0000000087654321

then take RPI_SN0=87654321.
if you have more than one RPi3-client for network booting you have to add them by hand to the /srv/tftp folder on the PXE-server.

the script will download Raspbian-Buster-Lite and prepare it for the RPi3-client with the given serial number.

by default, a RPi3-client is not enabled for network booting. you have to enable it once.

for more information,

see: Network Booting
see: Network Boot Your Raspberry Pi

ngttai/RPi-PXE-Server