General Information

In order to install an OS via PXE boot, a TFTP and DHCP server are required.
Using PXE allows for clients to begin a network installation without any net-install ISO.

Checklist

• Distro: Enterprise Linux 7
• Installation Server Created (NFS/HTTP/FTP) that is hosting the install DVD and kickstart file

• Install the required packages

  yum install tftp-server xinetd

• Allow TFTP access (set disable = no)

  vim /etc/xinetd.d/tftp
  service tftp
  {
    ....some other variables...
    disable = no
    ....some other variables...
  }

• Start and Enable xinetd

  systemctl start xinetd
  systemctl enable xinetd

• Allow through firewall (if enabled)

  firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=tftp
  firewall-cmd --reload

• Install required package

  yum install dhcp

• Edit DHCP config and customize per your network

  vim /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf
   
  subnet 192.168.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
    option routers 192.168.1.254 ;
    range 192.168.1.240 192.168.1.250 ;
    next-server 192.168.1.150 ;
    filename "pxelinux/pxelinux.0" ;
  }

  • subnet ⇒ specify the network
  • netmask ⇒ mask for your network
  • option routers ⇒ gateway for the network
  • range ⇒ start and ending IP to hand out via DHCP
  • next-server ⇒ IP of the TFTP server
  • filename ⇒ file that should be offered to systems doing PXE boot (relative to the TFTP server's root)
• Start and enable DHCP

  systemctl start dhcp
  systemctl enable dhcp