How to automate the RHEL installation remotely using PXE boot Server
Test Environment
RHEL8
Here in this article we will how we can PXE Boot a remote server with the minimal iso rhel8 base image. This article is a continuation of the article – https://novicejava1.blogspot.com/2019/05/how-to-boot-minimal-iso-rhel-8-image.html shared previously.
Procedure
Step1: Install tftp-server
[root@rhelser8 ~]# yum install tftp-server
Updating Subscription Management repositories.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 for x86_64 - AppStream (RPMs) 499 B/s | 4.5 kB 00:09
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 for x86_64 - BaseOS (RPMs) 2.8 kB/s | 4.0 kB 00:01
Dependencies resolved.
======================================================================================================================================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
======================================================================================================================================
Installing:
tftp-server x86_64 5.2-24.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms 50 k
Transaction Summary
======================================================================================================================================
Install 1 Package
Total download size: 50 k
Installed size: 67 k
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
tftp-server-5.2-24.el8.x86_64.rpm 36 kB/s | 50 kB 00:01
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 36 kB/s | 50 kB 00:01
Running transaction check
Transaction check succeeded.
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded.
Running transaction
Preparing : 1/1
Installing : tftp-server-5.2-24.el8.x86_64 1/1
Running scriptlet: tftp-server-5.2-24.el8.x86_64 1/1
Verifying : tftp-server-5.2-24.el8.x86_64 1/1
Installed products updated.
Installed:
tftp-server-5.2-24.el8.x86_64
Complete!Step2: Enable incoming connection to tftp server
[root@rhelser8 ~]# firewall-cmd --add-service=tftp --permanent
success
[root@rhelser8 ~]# firewall-cmd --reload
success
[root@rhelser8 ~]# firewall-cmd --list-services
cockpit dhcpv6-client ssh tftpStep3: Install the DHCP server
[root@rhelser8 dhcp]# yum install dhcp-server
Updating Subscription Management repositories.
Last metadata expiration check: 0:07:17 ago on Fri 17 May 2019 11:20:19 PM IST.
Dependencies resolved.
======================================================================================================================================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
======================================================================================================================================
Installing:
dhcp-server x86_64 12:4.3.6-30.el8 rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-rpms 529 k
Transaction Summary
======================================================================================================================================
Install 1 Package
Total download size: 529 k
Installed size: 1.2 M
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
dhcp-server-4.3.6-30.el8.x86_64.rpm 260 kB/s | 529 kB 00:02
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 260 kB/s | 529 kB 00:02
Running transaction check
Transaction check succeeded.
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded.
Running transaction
Preparing : 1/1
Running scriptlet: dhcp-server-12:4.3.6-30.el8.x86_64 1/1
Installing : dhcp-server-12:4.3.6-30.el8.x86_64 1/1
Running scriptlet: dhcp-server-12:4.3.6-30.el8.x86_64 1/1
Verifying : dhcp-server-12:4.3.6-30.el8.x86_64 1/1
Installed products updated.
Installed:
dhcp-server-12:4.3.6-30.el8.x86_64
Complete!Step4: Configure the DHCP Server
[root@rhelser8 dhcp]# pwd
/etc/dhcp
[root@rhelser8 dhcp]# cat dhcpd.conf
#
# DHCP Server Configuration file.
# see /usr/share/doc/dhcp-server/dhcpd.conf.example
# see dhcpd.conf(5) man page
#
option space pxelinux;
option pxelinux.magic code 208 = string;
option pxelinux.configfile code 209 = text;
option pxelinux.pathprefix code 210 = text;
option pxelinux.reboottime code 211 = unsigned integer 32;
option architecture-type code 93 = unsigned integer 16;
subnet 192.168.91.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
option routers 192.168.91.1;
range 192.168.91.145 192.168.91.253;
class "pxeclients" {
match if substring (option vendor-class-identifier, 0, 9) = "PXEClient";
next-server 192.168.91.145;
if option architecture-type = 00:07 {
filename "uefi/shim.efi";
} else {
filename "pxelinux/pxelinux.0";
}
}
}Step5: Extract the DVD ISO
[root@rhelser8 mountpoint]# pwd
/mountpoint
[root@rhelser8 rhel8-install]# mount -t iso9660 /rhel8-install/rhel-8.0-x86_64-dvd.iso /mountpoint -o loop,ro
[root@rhelser8 rhel8-install]# cd /mountpoint
[root@rhelser8 mountpoint]# ls -ltr
total 48
-r--r--r--. 1 root root 5134 Mar 1 20:47 RPM-GPG-KEY-redhat-release
-r--r--r--. 1 root root 1669 Mar 1 20:47 RPM-GPG-KEY-redhat-beta
-r--r--r--. 1 root root 18092 Mar 1 20:47 GPL
-r--r--r--. 1 root root 8266 Mar 1 20:47 EULA
-r--r--r--. 1 root root 103 Apr 4 14:07 media.repo
-r--r--r--. 1 root root 1455 Apr 4 14:07 extra_files.json
-r--r--r--. 1 root root 1796 Apr 4 14:09 TRANS.TBL
dr-xr-xr-x. 2 root root 2048 Apr 4 14:09 isolinux
dr-xr-xr-x. 3 root root 2048 Apr 4 14:09 images
dr-xr-xr-x. 3 root root 2048 Apr 4 14:09 EFI
dr-xr-xr-x. 4 root root 2048 Apr 4 14:09 BaseOS
dr-xr-xr-x. 4 root root 2048 Apr 4 14:09 AppStream[root@rhelser8 mountpoint]# cp -pr BaseOS/Packages/syslinux-tftpboot-6.04-1.el8.noarch.rpm /home/admin/[root@rhelser8 /]# umount /mountpoint[root@rhelser8 /]# cd /home/admin/
[root@rhelser8 admin]# ls -ltr
total 464
-r--r--r--. 1 root root 473360 Dec 15 06:45 syslinux-tftpboot-6.04-1.el8.noarch.rpm
[root@rhelser8 admin]# rpm2cpio syslinux-tftpboot-6.04-1.el8.noarch.rpm | cpio -dimv
./tftpboot
./tftpboot/cat.c32
./tftpboot/chain.c32
./tftpboot/cmd.c32
./tftpboot/cmenu.c32
./tftpboot/config.c32
./tftpboot/cptime.c32
./tftpboot/cpu.c32
./tftpboot/cpuid.c32
./tftpboot/cpuidtest.c32
./tftpboot/debug.c32
./tftpboot/dhcp.c32
./tftpboot/dir.c32
./tftpboot/disk.c32
./tftpboot/dmi.c32
./tftpboot/dmitest.c32
./tftpboot/elf.c32
./tftpboot/ethersel.c32
./tftpboot/gfxboot.c32
./tftpboot/gpxecmd.c32
./tftpboot/hdt.c32
./tftpboot/hexdump.c32
./tftpboot/host.c32
./tftpboot/ifcpu.c32
./tftpboot/ifcpu64.c32
./tftpboot/ifmemdsk.c32
./tftpboot/ifplop.c32
./tftpboot/kbdmap.c32
./tftpboot/kontron_wdt.c32
./tftpboot/ldlinux.c32
./tftpboot/lfs.c32
./tftpboot/libcom32.c32
./tftpboot/libgpl.c32
./tftpboot/liblua.c32
./tftpboot/libmenu.c32
./tftpboot/libutil.c32
./tftpboot/linux.c32
./tftpboot/lpxelinux.0
./tftpboot/ls.c32
./tftpboot/lua.c32
./tftpboot/mboot.c32
./tftpboot/memdisk
./tftpboot/meminfo.c32
./tftpboot/menu.c32
./tftpboot/pci.c32
./tftpboot/pcitest.c32
./tftpboot/pmload.c32
./tftpboot/poweroff.c32
./tftpboot/prdhcp.c32
./tftpboot/pwd.c32
./tftpboot/pxechn.c32
./tftpboot/pxelinux.0
./tftpboot/reboot.c32
./tftpboot/rosh.c32
./tftpboot/sanboot.c32
./tftpboot/sdi.c32
./tftpboot/sysdump.c32
./tftpboot/syslinux.c32
./tftpboot/vesa.c32
./tftpboot/vesainfo.c32
./tftpboot/vesamenu.c32
./tftpboot/vpdtest.c32
./tftpboot/whichsys.c32
./tftpboot/zzjson.c32
2189 blocks
[root@rhelser8 admin]#Step6: Copy the required files
[root@rhelser8 admin]# mkdir /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux
[root@rhelser8 admin]# cp /home/admin/tftpboot/pxelinux.0 /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux
[root@rhelser8 admin]# mkdir /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/pxelinux.cfg[root@rhelser8 admin]# cat /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/pxelinux.cfg/default
default vesamenu.c32
prompt 1
timeout 600
display boot.msg
label linux
menu label ^Install system
menu default
kernel vmlinuz
append initrd=initrd.img ip=dhcp inst.repo=nfs:192.168.91.143:/rhel8-install/
label vesa
menu label Install system with ^basic video driver
kernel vmlinuz
append initrd=initrd.img ip=dhcp inst.xdriver=vesa nomodeset inst.repo=nfs:192.168.91.143:/rhel8-install/
label rescue
menu label ^Rescue installed system
kernel vmlinuz
append initrd=initrd.img rescue
label local
menu label Boot from ^local drive
localboot 0xffff
[root@rhelser8 mountpoint]# cp /mountpoint/images/pxeboot/vmlinuz /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/
[root@rhelser8 mountpoint]# cp /mountpoint/images/pxeboot/initrd.img /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/
[root@rhelser8 pxelinux]# cp /mountpoint/isolinux/vesamenu.c32 /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/
[root@rhelser8 pxelinux]# cp /home/admin/tftpboot/libutil.c32 /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/
[root@rhelser8 pxelinux]# cp /home/admin/tftpboot/ldlinux.c32 /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/
[root@rhelser8 pxelinux]# cp /home/admin/tftpboot/libcom32.c32 /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/[root@rhelser8 pxelinux]# ls -ltr
total 67116
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 21 May 17 23:50 pxelinux.cfg
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 7872864 May 17 23:54 vmlinuz
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 60447004 May 17 23:54 initrd.img
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 116064 May 19 05:30 ldlinux.c32
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 180668 May 19 05:30 libcom32.c32
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 42819 May 19 05:30 pxelinux.0
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 26788 May 19 05:30 vesamenu.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 22836 May 19 05:38 libutil.c32Step7: Start the DHCP service and TFTP service as below
[root@rhelser8 ~]# systemctl start dhcpd
[root@rhelser8 ~]# systemctl status dhcpd
? dhcpd.service - DHCPv4 Server Daemon
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/dhcpd.service; disabled; vendor preset: disabled)
Active: active (running) since Fri 2019-05-17 23:57:23 IST; 9s ago
Docs: man:dhcpd(8)
man:dhcpd.conf(5)
Main PID: 2745 (dhcpd)
Status: "Dispatching packets..."
Tasks: 1 (limit: 11368)
Memory: 8.1M
CGroup: /system.slice/dhcpd.service
+-2745 /usr/sbin/dhcpd -f -cf /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf -user dhcpd -group dhcpd --no-pid
May 17 23:57:23 rhelser8.stack.com dhcpd[2745]: Database file: /var/lib/dhcpd/dhcpd.leases
May 17 23:57:23 rhelser8.stack.com dhcpd[2745]: PID file: /var/run/dhcpd.pid
May 17 23:57:23 rhelser8.stack.com dhcpd[2745]: Source compiled to use binary-leases
May 17 23:57:23 rhelser8.stack.com dhcpd[2745]: Wrote 0 class decls to leases file.
May 17 23:57:23 rhelser8.stack.com dhcpd[2745]: Wrote 0 leases to leases file.
May 17 23:57:23 rhelser8.stack.com dhcpd[2745]: Listening on LPF/ens33/00:0c:29:55:04:28/192.168.91.0/24
May 17 23:57:23 rhelser8.stack.com dhcpd[2745]: Sending on LPF/ens33/00:0c:29:55:04:28/192.168.91.0/24
May 17 23:57:23 rhelser8.stack.com dhcpd[2745]: Sending on Socket/fallback/fallback-net
May 17 23:57:23 rhelser8.stack.com dhcpd[2745]: Server starting service.
May 17 23:57:23 rhelser8.stack.com systemd[1]: Started DHCPv4 Server Daemon.[root@rhelser8 ~]# systemctl enable dhcpd
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/dhcpd.service ? /usr/lib/systemd/system/dhcpd.service.[root@rhelser8 ~]# systemctl start tftp
[root@rhelser8 ~]# systemctl status tftp
? tftp.service - Tftp Server
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/tftp.service; indirect; vendor preset: disabled)
Active: active (running) since Fri 2019-05-17 23:59:07 IST; 6s ago
Docs: man:in.tftpd
Main PID: 2773 (in.tftpd)
Tasks: 1 (limit: 11368)
Memory: 216.0K
CGroup: /system.slice/tftp.service
+-2773 /usr/sbin/in.tftpd -s /var/lib/tftpboot
May 17 23:59:07 rhelser8.stack.com systemd[1]: Started Tftp Server.[root@rhelser8 ~]# systemctl enable tftp
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/sockets.target.wants/tftp.socket ? /usr/lib/systemd/system/tftp.socket.Now we are all set with the PXE server to boot the RHEL remotely.
Let us create a VM without setting any DVD ISO or Boot ISO to load as shown below.
Start the VM and validate if its able to communicate with DHCP and TFTP server to get the PXEBoot files.
Once the boot files are loaded the RHEL 8 installation should trigger automatically without any intervention as per the kickstart file present in the NFS export location.
In case the kickstart file is not complete, the installation screen will prompt for updating those components.
Hope you enjoyed reading this article. Thank you..
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.