34.2. PXE Boot Configuration
The next step is to copy the files necessary to start the installation to the
tftp server so they can be found when the client requests them. The tftp server is usually the same server as the network server exporting the installation tree.
To copy these files, run the Network Booting Tool on the NFS, FTP, or HTTP server. A separate PXE server is not necessary.
34.2.1. Command Line Configuration
If the network server is not running X, the
pxeos command line utility, which is part of the system-config-netboot-cmd package, can be used to configure the tftp server files as described in Section 34.4, “TFTPD”:
pxeos -a -i "<description>" -p <NFS|HTTP|FTP> -D 0 -s installer.example.com \ -L <location> -k <kernel> -K <kickstart> <os-identifer>
The following list explains the options:
-a— Specifies that an OS instance is being added to the PXE configuration.-i"<description>" — Replace "<description>" with a description of the OS instance.-p<NFS|HTTP|FTP> — Specify which of the NFS, FTP, or HTTP protocols to use for installation. Only one may be specified.-D<0|1> — Specify "0" which indicates that it is not a diskless configuration sincepxeoscan be used to configure a diskless environment as well.-sinstaller.example.com — Provide the name of the NFS, FTP, or HTTP server after the-soption.-L<location> — Provide the location of the installation tree on that server after the-Loption.For example, if the installation tree is exported as/install/rhel5on an NFS share, specify-L /install/rhel5.-k<kernel> — Provide the specific kernel for booting. Installation trees can contain multiple kernels.For example, if the installation tree contain a patched kernel namedvmlinuz-dualongside the standard kernel namedvmlinuz, use-k vmlinuz-duto specify the patched kernel.-K<kickstart> — Provide the location of the kickstart file, if available. Specify this location as a full path, including the protocol; for example:-K nfs:192.168.0.1:/install/rhel5/ks.cfg- <os-identifer> — Specify the OS identifier, which is used as the directory name in the
/tftpboot/linux-install/directory.
If FTP is selected as the installation protocol and anonymous login is not available, specify a username and password for login, with the following options before <os-identifer> in the previous command:
-A 0 -u <username> -p <password>
pxeos writes the results to the
/tftpboot/linux-install/pxelinux.cfg/pxeos.xml file.
For more information on command line options available for the
pxeos command, refer to the pxeos man page.
The pxeboot tool can also edit the
/tftpboot/linux-install/pxelinux.cfg/pxeos.xml file and uses similar options to pxeos. Refer to the pxeboot man page for more detail.
