pxe Linux Install

I recently purchased a Dual Opteron HP Proliant and decided today to install Debian on it. The first problem is that there is no CD/DVD in it. I know I could have just ripped one out of another PC but I decided to do things a bit differently.

Basically I wanted to install Debian on the machine and the simplest way to do this if we are not allowed to use a CD is to use PXE and some ingenuity.

These are a rough set of steps I followed

apt-get install tftp-hpa and tftpd-hpa

You will also need a dhcp server and a resolver

apt-get install dnsmasq dhcpd

mkdir /tftpboot

grab The debian net insall bits

cp netboot.tar.gz /tftpboot/
cd /tftpboot/
tar -zxvf netboot.tar.gz
chown -R nobody:nogroup /tftpboot/*

edit /etc/xinetd.conf and add the following

service tftp
{
disable = no
socket_type = dgram
protocol = udp
wait = yes
user = root
server = /usr/sbin/in.tftpd
server_args = -s /tftpboot
}

/etc/init.d/xinetd restart

add the following to /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf

host box2 {
hardware ethernet 00:00:1a:19:4e:7c;
filename "pxelinux.0";
fixed-address 192.168.1.10;
}

subnet 192.168.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
range 192.168.1.20 192.168.1.30;
}

add the following to /etc/dnsmasq.conf

interface=eth1
dhcp-host=00:00:1A:19:4E:7C,box2

For those using an iptables firewall

iptables -A OUTPUT -p udp -o eth1 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p udp -i eth1 -j ACCEPT

iptables -A INPUT -p udp -i eth1 --dport 67:68 --sport 67:68 -j ACCEPT
iptables-A INPUT -p udp -i eth1 --dport 67:68 --sport 67:68 -j ACCEPT
iptables-A OUTPUT -p udp -o eth1 --dport 53 -j ACCEPT
iptables-A INPUT -p udp -i eth1 --sport 53 -j ACCEPT

Set the client machine to use network boot and restart it and hey presto a Debian installer. I chose linux26 at this point because I am using SATA disks with an Adaptec 1210SA controller.