Chapter 7. Preparing a PXE installation source

Procedure

1. Export the installation ISO image or the installation tree to an NFS, HTTPS, HTTP, or FTP server.
2. Configure the HTTP or TFTP server and DHCP server, and start the HTTP or TFTP service on the server.
3. Boot the client and start the installation.

Procedure

1. As root, install the following package.

   # dnf install tftp-server

2. Allow incoming connections to the tftp service in the firewall:

   # firewall-cmd --add-service=tftp

   This command enables temporary access until the next server reboot.

3. optional: To enable permanent access, add the --permanent option to the command.

   Depending on the location of the installation ISO file, you might have to allow incoming connections for HTTP or other services.

4. Access the pxelinux.0 file from the SYSLINUX package in the DVD ISO image file, where my_local_directory is the name of the directory that you create:

   # mount -t iso9660 /path_to_image/name_of_image.iso /mount_point -o loop,ro

   # cp -pr /mount_point/AppStream/Packages/syslinux-tftpboot-version-architecture.rpm /my_local_directory

   # umount /mount_point

5. Extract the package:

   # rpm2cpio syslinux-tftpboot-version-architecture.rpm | cpio -dimv

6. Create a pxelinux/ directory in tftpboot/ and copy all the files from the directory into the pxelinux/ directory:

   # mkdir /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux

   # cp /my_local_directory/tftpboot/* /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux

7. Create the directory pxelinux.cfg/ in the pxelinux/ directory:

   # mkdir /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/pxelinux.cfg

8. Create a configuration file named default and add it to the pxelinux.cfg/ directory as shown in the following example:

   default vesamenu.c32
   prompt 1
   timeout 600
   
   display boot.msg
   
   label linux
     menu label ^Install system
     menu default
     kernel images/RHEL-10/vmlinuz
     append initrd=images/RHEL-10/initrd.img ip=dhcp inst.repo=http://192.168.124.2/RHEL-10/x86_64/iso-contents-root/
   label vesa
     menu label Install system with ^basic video driver
     kernel images/RHEL-10/vmlinuz
     append initrd=images/RHEL-10/initrd.img ip=dhcp nomodeset inst.repo=http://192.168.124.2/RHEL-10/x86_64/iso-contents-root/
   label rescue
     menu label ^Rescue installed system
     kernel images/RHEL-10/vmlinuz
     append initrd=images/RHEL-10/initrd.img inst.rescue
     inst.repo=http:///192.168.124.2/RHEL-8/x86_64/iso-contents-root/
   label local
     menu label Boot from ^local drive
     localboot 0xffff

   • The installation program cannot boot without its runtime image. Use the inst.stage2 boot option to specify location of the image. Alternatively, you can use the inst.repo= option to specify the image as well as the installation source.
   • The installation source location used with inst.repo must contain a valid .treeinfo file.
   • When you select the RHEL10 installation DVD as the installation source, the .treeinfo file points to the BaseOS and the AppStream repositories. You can use a single inst.repo option to load both repositories.

9. Create a subdirectory to store the boot image files in the /var/lib/tftpboot/ directory, and copy the boot image files to the directory. In this example, the directory is /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/images/RHEL-10/:

   # mkdir -p /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/images/RHEL-10/
   # cp /path_to_x86_64_images/pxeboot/{vmlinuz,initrd.img} /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/images/RHEL-10/

10. Start and enable the tftp.socket service:

    # systemctl enable --now tftp.socket

    The PXE boot server is now ready to serve PXE clients. You can start the client, which is the system to which you are installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux, select PXE Boot when prompted to specify a boot source, and start the network installation.

Procedure

1. As root, install the following package.

   # dnf install tftp-server

2. Allow incoming connections to the tftp service in the firewall:

   # firewall-cmd --add-service=tftp

   This command enables temporary access until the next server reboot.

3. Optional: To enable permanent access, add the --permanent option to the command.

   Depending on the location of the installation ISO file, you might have to allow incoming connections for HTTP or other services.

4. Access the EFI boot image files from the DVD ISO image:

   # mount -t iso9660 /path_to_image/name_of_image.iso /mount_point -o loop,ro

5. Copy the EFI boot images from the DVD ISO image:

   # mkdir /var/lib/tftpboot/redhat
   # cp -r /mount_point/EFI /var/lib/tftpboot/redhat/
   # umount /mount_point

6. Fix the permissions of the copied files:

   # chmod -R 755 /var/lib/tftpboot/redhat/

7. Replace the content of /var/lib/tftpboot/redhat/EFI/BOOT/grub.cfg with the following example:

   set timeout=60
   menuentry 'RHEL 10' {
     linux images/RHEL-10/vmlinuz ip=dhcp inst.repo=http://192.168.124.2/RHEL-10/x86_64/iso-contents-root/
     initrd images/RHEL-10/initrd.img
   }

   • The installation program cannot boot without its runtime image. Use the inst.stage2 boot option to specify location of the image. Alternatively, you can use the inst.repo= option to specify the image as well as the installation source.
   • The installation source location used with inst.repo must contain a valid .treeinfo file.
   • When you select the RHEL10 installation DVD as the installation source, the .treeinfo file points to the BaseOS and the AppStream repositories. You can use a single inst.repo option to load both repositories.

8. Create a subdirectory to store the boot image files in the /var/lib/tftpboot/ directory, and copy the boot image files to the directory. In this example, the directory is /var/lib/tftpboot/images/RHEL-10/:

   # mkdir -p /var/lib/tftpboot/images/RHEL-10/
   # cp /path_to_x86_64_images/pxeboot/{vmlinuz,initrd.img}/var/lib/tftpboot/images/RHEL-10/

9. Start and enable the tftp.socket service:

   # systemctl enable --now tftp.socket

   The PXE boot server is now ready to serve PXE clients. You can start the client, which is the system to which you are installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux, select PXE Boot when prompted to specify a boot source, and start the network installation.