PXE network boot howto

This document walks through how to set up PXE, a boot-over-network system. The intended audience is kernel-level developers, not general system administrators. This means that our goal is setting up two machines connected locally via Ethernet. One machine is a development workstation (devel) where you develop kernel and run PXE server, and the other is a test machine (testbed) where you run your kernel.

Prerequisites

The testbed hardware must be capable of PXE boot. Two machines must be connected locally. Write down the MAC addresses of both machines.

testbed setup

The only thing you need to do is to turn on PXE boot from BIOS setup. Enter into BIOS, search for PXE boot option, and turn it on. Check if PXE network boot precedes other boot method. If needed, modify boot sequence.

devel setup

PXE server is actually DHCP server plus tftp server.

DHCP server setup

tftp server setup

Useful links

• Wikipedia entry for PXE

-- Main.jisooy - 16 Jun 2008