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Chapter 5. Configuring iPXE to Reduce Provisioning Times
You can use Satellite to configure PXELinux to chainboot iPXE in BIOS mode and boot using the HTTP protocol if you have the following restrictions that prevent you from using PXE:
- A network with unmanaged DHCP servers.
- A PXE service that is blacklisted on your network or restricted by a firewall.
- An unreliable TFTP UDP-based protocol because of, for example, a low-bandwidth network.
For more information about iPXE support, see Supported architectures for provisioning article.
iPXE Overview
iPXE is an open source network boot firmware. It provides a full PXE implementation enhanced with additional features, including booting from HTTP server. For more information, see ipxe.org.
There are three methods of using iPXE with Red Hat Satellite:
- Booting virtual machines using hypervisors that use iPXE as primary firmware.
- Using PXELinux through TFTP to chainload iPXE directly on bare metal hosts.
- Using PXELinux through UNDI, which uses HTTP to transfer the kernel and the initial RAM disk on bare-metal hosts.
Security Information
The iPXE binary in Red Hat Enterprise Linux is built without some security features. For this reason, you can only use HTTP, and cannot use HTTPS. All security-related features of iPXE in Red Hat Enterprise Linux are not supported. For more information, see Red Hat Enterprise Linux HTTPS support in iPXE.
Prerequisites
- A host exists on Red Hat Satellite to use.
- The MAC address of the provisioning interface matches the host configuration.
- The provisioning interface of the host has a valid DHCP reservation.
- The NIC is capable of PXE booting. For more information, see supported hardware on ipxe.org for a list of hardware drivers expected to work with an iPXE-based boot disk.
- The NIC is compatible with iPXE.
To prepare iPXE environment, you must perform this procedure on all Capsules.
Procedure
Enable the tftp and httpboot services:
# satellite-installer --foreman-proxy-httpboot true --foreman-proxy-tftp true
Install the
ipxe-bootimgspackage:# yum install ipxe-bootimgs
Correct the SELinux file contexts:
# restorecon -RvF /var/lib/tftpboot/
Copy the iPXE firmware with the Linux kernel header to the TFTP directory:
# cp /usr/share/ipxe/ipxe.lkrn /var/lib/tftpboot/
Copy the UNDI iPXE firmware to the TFTP directory:
# cp /usr/share/ipxe/undionly.kpxe /var/lib/tftpboot/undionly-ipxe.0
Optionally, configure Foreman discovery. For more information, see Chapter 7, Configuring the Discovery Service.
- In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Administer > Settings, and click the Provisioning tab.
- Locate the Default PXE global template entry row and in the Value column, change the value to discovery.
5.1. Booting Virtual Machines
Some virtualization hypervisors use iPXE as primary firmware for PXE booting. Because of this, you can boot virtual machines without TFTP and PXELinux.
Chainbooting virtual machine workflow
Using virtualization hypervisors removes the need for TFTP and PXELinux. It has the following workflow:
- Virtual machine starts
- iPXE retrieves the network credentials, including an HTTP URL, using DHCP
- iPXE loads the iPXE bootstrap template from Satellite Server or Capsule
- iPXE loads the iPXE template with MAC as a URL parameter from Satellite Server or Capsule
- iPXE loads the kernel and initial RAM disk of the installer
Prerequisites
Ensure that the hypervisor that you want to use supports iPXE. The following virtualization hypervisors support iPXE:
- libvirt
- Red Hat Virtualization
- RHEV (deprecated)
- If you want to use Capsule Servers instead of your Satellite Server, ensure that you have configured your Capsule Servers accordingly. For more information, see Configuring Capsule for Host Registration and Provisioning in Installing Capsule Server.
Configuring Satellite Server to use iPXE
You can use the default template to configure iPXE booting for hosts. If you want to change the default values in the template, clone the template and edit the clone.
Procedure
-
In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Hosts > Provisioning Templates, enter
Kickstart default iPXEand click Search. - Optional: If you want to change the template, click Clone, enter a unique name, and click Submit.
- Click the name of the template you want to use.
- If you clone the template, you can make changes you require on the Template tab.
- Click the Association tab, and select the operating systems that your host uses.
- Click the Locations tab, and add the location where the host resides.
- Click the Organizations tab, and add the organization that the host belongs to.
- Click Submit to save the changes.
- In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Hosts > Operating systems and select the operating system of your host.
- Click the Templates tab.
- From the iPXE Template list, select the template you want to use.
- Click Submit to save the changes.
- In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Hosts > All Hosts.
- In the Hosts page, select the host that you want to use.
- Select the Operating System tab.
- Set PXE Loader to iPXE Embedded.
- Select the Templates tab.
- From the iPXE template list, select Review to verify that the Kickstart default iPXE template is the correct template.
Set the HTTP URL.
If you want to use Satellite Server for booting, run the following command on Satellite Server:
# satellite-installer \ --foreman-proxy-dhcp-ipxefilename "http://satellite.example.com/unattended/iPXE?bootstrap=1"If you want to use Capsule for booting, run the following command on Capsule:
# satellite-installer \ --foreman-proxy-dhcp-ipxefilename "http://capsule.example.com/unattended/iPXE?bootstrap=1"
5.2. Chainbooting iPXE from PXELinux
Use this procedure to set up iPXE to use a built-in driver for network communication or UNDI interface. To use HTTP with iPXE, use iPXE build with built-in drivers (ipxe.lkrn). Universal Network Device Interface (UNDI) is a minimalistic UDP/IP stack that implements TFTP client, however, cannot support other protocols like HTTP (undionly-ipxe.0). You can choose to either load ipxe.lkrn or undionly-ipxe.0 file depending on the networking hardware capabilities and iPXE driver availability.
Chainbooting iPXE directly or with UNDI workflow
- Host powers on
- PXE driver retrieves the network credentials using DHCP
-
PXE driver retrieves the PXELinux firmware
pxelinux.0using TFTP - PXELinux searches for the configuration file on the TFTP server
-
PXELinux chainloads iPXE
ipxe.lkrnorundionly-ipxe.0 - iPXE retrieves the network credentials, including an HTTP URL, using DHCP again
- iPXE chainloads the iPXE template from the template Capsule
- iPXE loads the kernel and initial RAM disk of the installer
Prerequisite
- If you want to use Capsule Servers instead of your Satellite Server, ensure that you have configured your Capsule Servers accordingly. For more information, see Configuring Capsule for Host Registration and Provisioning in Installing Capsule Server.
Configuring Satellite Server to use iPXE
You can use the default template to configure iPXE booting for hosts. If you want to change the default values in the template, clone the template and edit the clone.
Procedure
- In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Hosts > Provisioning Templates.
-
Enter
PXELinux chain iPXEto useipxe.lkrnor, for BIOS systems, enterPXELinux chain iPXE UNDIto useundionly-ipxe.0, and click Search. - Optional: If you want to change the template, click Clone, enter a unique name, and click Submit.
- Click the name of the template you want to use.
- If you clone the template, you can make changes you require on the Template tab.
- Click the Association tab, and select the operating systems that your host uses.
- Click the Locations tab, and add the location where the host resides.
- Click the Organizations tab, and add the organization that the host belongs to.
- Click Submit to save the changes.
-
In the Provisioning Templates page, enter
Kickstart default iPXEinto the search field and click Search. - Optional: If you want to change the template, click Clone, enter a unique name, and click Submit.
- Click the name of the template you want to use.
- If you clone the template, you can make changes you require on the Template tab.
- Click the Association tab, and associate the template with the operating system that your host uses.
- Click the Locations tab, and add the location where the host resides.
- Click the Organizations tab, and add the organization that the host belongs to.
- Click Submit to save the changes.
- In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Hosts > Operating systems and select the operating system of your host.
- Click the Templates tab.
- From the PXELinux template list, select the template you want to use.
- From the iPXE template list, select the template you want to use.
- Click Submit to save the changes.
- In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Configure > Host Groups, and select the host group you want to configure.
- Select the Operating System tab.
- Select the Architecture and Operating system.
-
Set PXE Loader to PXELinux BIOS to chainboot iPXE via PXELinux, or to iPXE Chain BIOS to load
undionly-ipxe.0directly. Set the HTTP URL.
If you want to use Satellite Server for booting, run the following command on Satellite Server:
# satellite-installer \ --foreman-proxy-dhcp-ipxefilename "http://satellite.example.com/unattended/iPXE?bootstrap=1"If you want to use Capsule for booting, run the following command on Capsule:
# satellite-installer \ --foreman-proxy-dhcp-ipxefilename "http://capsule.example.com/unattended/iPXE?bootstrap=1"
