Questions[ipxe](server)

I used this guide to setup my iPXE server: https://linuxhint.com/pxe_boot_ubuntu_server/
It is set up on a virtual Ubuntu (20.4.6) desktop system and, after some testing, it works perfectly for PXE booting and installing Ubuntu 22.4 and 20.4 on different client systems.

However, I can't get Debian (12.2.0) to work.

I downloaded the following full (3.7GB) iso:
https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/iso-dvd/debian-12.2.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso
and extracted it to /os-images/debian-12.2.0-amd64

Then I edtited the boot.ipxe file and added a debian menu item:

:debian-12.2.0-amd64  
set os_root os-images/debian-12.2.0-amd64  
kernel tftp://${server_ip}/${os_root}/install.amd/vmlinuz  
initrd tftp://${server_ip}/${os_root}/install.amd/initrd.gz  
imgargs vmlinuz initrd=initrd.gz ip=dhcp root=${server_ip}:${root_path}/${os_root}  
boot

Now it partly works:

On my client it boots into the selection menu.
When I choose the Debian installation it does start the debian installer.
It asks me 3 questions (language, country and keymap) which I answer with the defaults.
Then, after a short screen where it detects installation media, it waits a few seconds on a blue streen, and a notification appears:

[!!] Detect and mount installation media

So, it looks like the installer cannot find the debian media.
I tried a lot of different arguments in the imgargs using google.
However, it seems I can't find the same system setup for the iPXE environment I have. Most examples all use the netboot.tar.gz, or are examples with older Debian versions. I'm not sure, but I think the examples I can find don't apply on the setup I have, because it is already booting from TFTP. Am I right about that?

I do like to install it from local media, because this network is intended to be disconnected from the internet. However, if it is too difficult, I will also be able to use remote media, as long as I can integrate it with the current (working) solution for the ubuntu installer.

I've just discovered the wonder that is iPXE.

Im running various versions of Debian on many different computers, and would like to remotely tell them to reboot into iPXE, and have iPXE automatically boot into a clonezilla auto-deploy .iso I have.

Is there a way to tell Linux to automatically boot into iPXE on next boot once, and have iPXE then automatically boot into an .iso from a server?

I am trying to setup an ipxe environment on a vmware.

I would like to configure the setup with UEFI.

I have setup a ubuntu-server and configured it as pxe-server.

via downloading ipxe, isc-dhcpd, tftp-hpa and ngnix.

The dhcp isc-dhcp.conf looks like

subnet 192.168.101.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
 range 192.168.101.50 192.168.101.100;
}

# add the following to /usr/local/etc/dhcpd.conf 
option client-arch code 93 = unsigned integer 16;

if exists user-class and option user-class = "iPXE" {
  filename "http://192.168.101.10/test.ipxe";
} else {
  if exists client-arch {
     if option client-arch = 00:00 {
       filename "undionly.kpxe";
     } elsif option client-arch = 00:07 {
       filename "grubx64.efi";
     } elsif option client-arch = 00:09 {
       filename "grubx64.efi";
     }
  }
}

and tftp root has been configured to serve grubx64.efi.

When I boot a network a client, I get the grub command prompt, where I am expecting to get a grub menu and select OS to boot.

( echo $prefix, points to folder /EFI/ubuntu , I have also tried configuring the grub in that folder along with grub.cfg .i.e. in root of tftpfolder.

what I am missing here kindly advice, Once I start getting menu I will configure the grub.cfg to load the OS.

Captured boot up process

I'm trying to make a diskless PC client and install the operating system on a SAN Storage. As of now I'm using Windows Server 2012 R2 and it will serve as my DHCP/WDS and SAN server.

I found a video from yourtube on "Bjørn Jentoft" channel with the title "Hyper-V: Windows installation to ISCSI disk". I followed all the steps and configurations but it didn't quite work for me.

I keep repeating his video to see if I missed something on the configuration steps, but when I checked everything it appears that I didn't miss anything based on what he showed on the video tutorial.

By the way he used HYPER-V on his tutorial and I'm using physical machines.

For a bit of context, I'm a sysadmin student, trying to expand my network knowledge since it's not my strongest point.

Currently, I'm experimenting with PXE. A few days ago, I set up a few ESXi Virtual Machines, one being a DHCP and TFTP server, and the other two being BIOS and UEFI clients. I managed to boot a debian through PXE, on both BIOS and UEFI machines.

I heard about iPXE and the possibilities it brings (such as booting on HTTP, iSCSI, ...) and decided to give it a go. For now, I'm still trying to boot my local debian netboot installer, I thought I'd test out remote files after making sure the installation was correct.

At this point, this is what my DHCP conf looks like (minus anything not really of interest) :

option arch code 93 = unsigned integer 16;
class "pxe-clients" {
    match if substring (option vendor-class-identifier, 0, 9) = "PXEClient";
    option tftp-server-name "192.168.0.5";
    next-server 192.168.0.5;
    if option arch = 00:00 {
        if exists user-class and option user-class = "iPXE" {
            filename = "pxelinux.0";
        } else {
            filename = "undionly.kpxe";
        }
    } elsif option arch = 00:02 or option arch = 00:06 or option arch = 00:07 or option arch = 00:08 or option arch = 00:09 {
        if exists user-class and option user-class = "iPXE" {
            filename = "bootnetx64.efi";
        } else {
            filename = "ipxe.efi";
        }
    } else {
        filename = "UNKNOWN_VCI";
    }
}

192.168.0.5 is the LAN IP of the DHCP/TFTP server.

As for my TFTP server's root directory :

root@vmpxe:/srv/tftp# ls -l
total 968
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   37 Sep 22 14:01 bootnetx64.efi -> debian-installer/amd64/bootnetx64.efi
drwxrwxr-x 3 root root 4.0K Sep 22 00:21 debian-installer
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 896K Sep 22 16:00 ipxe.efi
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   47 Sep 22 00:21 ldlinux.c32 -> debian-installer/amd64/boot-screens/ldlinux.c32
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   33 Sep 22 00:21 pxelinux.0 -> debian-installer/amd64/pxelinux.0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   35 Sep 22 00:21 pxelinux.cfg -> debian-installer/amd64/pxelinux.cfg
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  64K Sep 22 16:00 undionly.kpxe
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root root   64 Sep 22 00:21 version.info

Again, I insist on the fact that before iPXE everything worked fine on both architectures. The only changes I made were to download the undionly.kpxe and ipxe.efi files from iPXE's website, and edit the DHCP conf to wrap the filename settings in the if exists user-class and option user-class = "iPXE" {...} else {...} conditions.

Now, the BIOS machine does PXE -> iPXE -> Debian's netboot installer. Everything works fine.

However, the UEFI machine does PXE -> iPXE -> grub shell.

I tried to tcpdump the process but that yielded nothing: all the traffic appears normal and expected. It does not differ greatly from what I had before iPXE.

Any idea what might be happening here ?

EDIT : Further tcpdump testing show that without iPXE, my EFI machine sends RRQ packets for the bootloader and a bunch of other files which, I assume, are referenced by the bootloader itself. However, with iPXE, only the bootloader I only see the bootloader.

So I guess the correct question is : what happens with iPXE for it not to retrieve all those files that are correctly downloaded by a standard PXE ?