Chapter 6. Preparing a UEFI HTTP installation source

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. Install the DHCP server:

   # dnf install kea

2. Configure a DHCPv4 server. Enter the following configuration in the /etc/kea/kea-dhcp4.conf file. Replace the addresses to match your network card.

   {
     "Dhcp4": {
       "interfaces-config": {
         "interfaces": [ "enp1s0" ]
       },
       "subnet4": [
         {
           "id": 1,
           "subnet": "192.168.124.0/24",
           "pools": [
             {
               "pool": "192.168.124.100 - 192.168.124.200"
             }
           ],
           "option-data": [
             {
               "space": "dhcp4",
               "name": "routers",
               "code": 3,
               "data": "192.168.124.10"
             },
             {
               "space": "dhcp4",
               "name": "domain-name-servers",
               "code": 6,
               "data": "192.168.124.10"
             }
           ]
         }
       ],
       "client-classes": [
         {
           "name": "uefi PXE Clients",
           "test": "substring(option[60].hex,0,9) == 'PXEClient' and option[93].hex == 0x0007",
           "next-server": "192.168.124.2",
           "boot-file-name": "/uefi/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI"
         },
         {
           "name": "bios PXE Clients",
           "test": "substring(option[60].hex,0,9) == 'PXEClient' and option[93].hex == 0x0000",
           "next-server": "192.168.124.2",
           "boot-file-name": "syslinux/pxelinux.0"
         },
         {
           "name": "uefi HTTP Clients",
           "test": "substring(option[60].hex,0,10) == 'HTTPClient' and option[93].hex == 0x0007",
           "option-data": [
             {
               "space": "dhcp4",
               "name": "vendor-class-identifier",
               "code": 60,
               "data": "HTTPClient"
             }
           ],
           "next-server": "192.168.124.2",
           "boot-file-name": "http://192.168.124.2/uefi/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI"
         }
       ]
     }
   }

3. Start the DHCPv4 service:

   # systemctl enable --now kea-dhcp4

Procedure

1. Install the DHCP server:

   # dnf install kea

2. Configure a DHCPv6 server. Enter the following configuration in the /etc/kea/kea-dhcp6.conf file. Replace the addresses to match your network card.

   {
     "Dhcp6": {
       "interfaces-config": {
         "interfaces": [ "enp1s0" ]
       },
       "subnet6": [
         {
           "id": 1,
           "subnet": "fd33::/64",
           "interface": "enp1s0",
           "pools": [
             {
               "pool": "fd33::100-fd33::200"
             }
           ]
         }
       ],
       "client-classes": [
         {
           "name": "uefi PXE Clients",
           "test": "substring(option[16].hex,6,9) == 'PXEClient' and substring(option[16].hex,21,5) == '00007'",
           "option-data": [
             {
               "space": "dhcp6",
               "name": "bootfile-url",
               "code": 59,
               "data": "tftp://[fd33::2]/uefi/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI"
             }
           ]
         },
         {
           "name": "bios PXE Clients",
           "test": "substring(option[16].hex,6,9) == 'PXEClient' and substring(option[16].hex,21,5) == '00000'",
           "option-data": [
             {
               "space": "dhcp6",
               "name": "bootfile-url",
               "code": 59,
               "data": "tftp://[fd33::2]/syslinux/pxelinux.0"
             }
           ]
         },
         {
           "name": "uefi HTTP Clients",
           "test": "substring(option[16].hex,6,10) == 'HTTPClient' and substring(option[16].hex,22,5) == '00007'",
           "option-data": [
             {
               "space": "dhcp6",
               "name": "bootfile-url",
               "code": 59,
               "data": "http://[fd33::2]/uefi/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI"
             }
           ]
         }
       ]
     }
   }

3. Start the DHCPv6 service:

   # systemctl enable --now kea-dhcp6

4. If DHCPv6 packets are dropped by the RP filter in the firewall, check its log. If the log contains the rpfilter_DROP entry, disable the filter using the following configuration in the /etc/firewalld/firewalld.conf file:

   IPv6_rpfilter=no

Procedure

1. Install the HTTP server:

   # dnf install httpd

2. Create the /var/www/html/redhat directory:

   # mkdir -p /var/www/html/redhat

3. Download the RHEL DVD ISO file. See All Red Hat Enterprise Linux Downloads.

4. Create a mount point for the ISO file:

   # mkdir -p /var/www/html/redhat/iso

5. Mount the ISO file:

   # mount -o loop,ro -t iso9660 path-to-RHEL-DVD.iso /var/www/html/redhat/iso

6. Copy the boot loader, kernel, and initramfs from the mounted ISO file into your HTML directory:

   # cp -r /var/www/html/redhat/iso/images /var/www/html/redhat

   # cp -r /var/www/html/redhat/iso/EFI /var/www/html/redhat

7. Make the boot loader configuration editable and ensure the boot files are owned by the user running httpd server (apache):

   # chmod 644 /var/www/html/redhat/EFI/BOOT/grub.cfg

   # chown -R apache:apache /var/www/html/redhat/EFI

8. Edit the /var/www/html/redhat/EFI/BOOT/grub.cfg file and replace its content with the following:

   set default="1"
   
   function load_video {
     insmod efi_gop
     insmod efi_uga
     insmod video_bochs
     insmod video_cirrus
     insmod all_video
   }
   
   load_video
   set gfxpayload=keep
   
   set timeout=60
   
   menuentry 'Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.0' --class fedora --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
       	linuxefi /redhat/images/pxeboot/vmlinuz inst.repo=http://192.168.124.2/redhat/iso quiet
       	initrdefi /redhat/images/pxeboot/initrd.img
   }
   submenu 'Troubleshooting -->' {
       	menuentry 'Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.0 in text mode' --class fedora --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
               	linuxefi /redhat/images/pxeboot/vmlinuz inst.repo=http://192.168.124.2/redhat/iso inst.text quiet
               	initrdefi /redhat/images/pxeboot/initrd.img
       	}
       	menuentry 'Rescue a Red Hat Enterprise Linux system' --class fedora --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
               	linuxefi /redhat/images/pxeboot/vmlinuz inst.stage2=http://192.168.124.2/redhat/iso inst.rescue quiet
               	initrdefi /redhat/images/pxeboot/initrd.img
       	}
   }

   In this file, update the following strings:

   Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.0

   Edit the version number to match the version of RHEL that you downloaded.

   192.168.124.2

   Replace with the IP address of your server.

9. Open ports in the firewall to allow HTTP (80), DHCP (67, 68) and DHCPv6 (546, 547) traffic:

   # firewall-cmd --zone public \
                  --add-port={80/tcp,67/udp,68/udp,546/udp,547/udp}

   This command enables temporary access until the next server reboot.

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

11. Reload firewall rules:

    # firewall-cmd --reload

12. Start the HTTP server:

    # systemctl enable --now httpd

13. Make the html directory and its content readable and executable:

    # chmod -cR u=rwX,g=rX,o=rX /var/www/html

14. Restore the SELinux context of the html directory:

    # restorecon -FvvR /var/www/html