Script to install a PXE boot server for diskless clients

pxe_server_install.sh

# This installs a PXE boot server.
#
# It's based on https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DisklessUbuntuHowto.
# It's been used with ubuntu-10.10-server-amd64.iso and ubuntu-10.10-server-i386.iso.
#
# It requires two network cards. One for access to the outside world and one
# for a private network of PXE clients. I've choosen this setup to not cause problems
# with DHCP on the normal network.
#
# It also requires that you have a second partition mounted on /nfsroot.

CLUSTER_NET_IP=10.1.1.1
CLUSTER_NET_BROADCAST=10.1.1.255
CLUSTER_NET_NETMASK=255.255.255.0
CLUSTER_NET_SUBNET=10.1.1.0
CLUSTER_NET_IP_FROM=10.1.1.10
CLUSTER_NET_IP_TO=10.1.1.254
CLUSTER_NET_DNS=8.8.8.8
CLUSTER_NET_NFS_ACCESS=10.1.1.*
KERNEL=`uname -r`

echo "#### Installing and configuring client system ####"
apt-get install nfs-common -y

cp -ax /. /nfsroot/.
cp -ax /dev/. /nfsroot/dev/.

sed 's/MODULES=most/MODULES=netboot/g' /nfsroot/etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf > /tmp/a && mv /tmp/a /nfsroot/etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf
sed 's/BOOT=local/BOOT=nfs/g' /nfsroot/etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf > /tmp/a && mv /tmp/a /nfsroot/etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf

chroot /nfsroot mkinitramfs -o /tmp/initrd.img-$KERNEL

echo "auto lo" > /nfsroot/etc/network/interfaces
echo "iface lo inet loopback" >> /nfsroot/etc/network/interfaces
echo "iface eth0 inet manual" >> /nfsroot/etc/network/interfaces

echo "proc            /proc           proc    defaults        0       0" > /nfsroot/etc/fstab
echo "/dev/nfs        /               nfs    defaults          1       1" >> /nfsroot/etc/fstab
echo "none            /tmp            tmpfs   defaults        0       0" >> /nfsroot/etc/fstab
echo "none            /var/run        tmpfs   defaults        0       0" >> /nfsroot/etc/fstab
echo "none            /var/lock       tmpfs   defaults        0       0" >> /nfsroot/etc/fstab
echo "none            /var/tmp        tmpfs   defaults        0       0" >> /nfsroot/etc/fstab

echo "#### Installing and configuring server ####"
apt-get install dhcp3-server tftpd-hpa syslinux nfs-kernel-server initramfs-tools -y

mkdir -p /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg

echo "auto eth1" >> /etc/network/interfaces
echo "iface eth1 inet static" >> /etc/network/interfaces
echo "  address $CLUSTER_NET_IP" >> /etc/network/interfaces
echo "  netmask $CLUSTER_NET_NETMASK" >> /etc/network/interfaces
  
echo "iptables --flush" > /etc/rc.local
echo "iptables --table nat --flush" >> /etc/rc.local
echo "iptables --delete-chain" >> /etc/rc.local
echo "iptables --table nat --delete-chain" >> /etc/rc.local
echo "iptables --table nat --append POSTROUTING --out-interface eth0 -j MASQUERADE" >> /etc/rc.local
echo "iptables --append FORWARD --in-interface eth1 -s $CLUSTER_NET_IP -j ACCEPT" >> /etc/rc.local
echo "echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward" >> /etc/rc.local

echo "allow booting;" >> /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf
echo "allow bootp;" >> /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf
echo "subnet $CLUSTER_NET_SUBNET netmask $CLUSTER_NET_NETMASK {" >> /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf
echo "  range $CLUSTER_NET_IP_FROM $CLUSTER_NET_IP_TO;" >> /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf
echo "  option broadcast-address $CLUSTER_NET_BROADCAST;" >> /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf
echo "  option routers $CLUSTER_NET_IP;" >> /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf
echo "  option domain-name-servers $CLUSTER_NET_DNS;" >> /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf
echo "  filename \"/pxelinux.0\";" >> /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf
echo "}" >> /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf

echo "TFTP_USERNAME=\"tftp\"" > /etc/default/tftpd-hpa
echo "TFTP_DIRECTORY=\"/tftpboot\"" >> /etc/default/tftpd-hpa
echo "TFTP_ADDRESS=\"$CLUSTER_NET_IP:69\"" >> /etc/default/tftpd-hpa
echo "TFTP_OPTIONS=\"--secure\"" >> /etc/default/tftpd-hpa

echo "DEFAULT linux" > /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default
echo "LABEL linux" >> /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default
echo "KERNEL vmlinuz-$KERNEL" >> /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default
echo "APPEND root=/dev/nfs initrd=initrd.img-$KERNEL nfsroot=$CLUSTER_NET_IP:/nfsroot ip=dhcp rw" >> /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default

cp /usr/lib/syslinux/pxelinux.0 /tftpboot
mv /nfsroot/tmp/initrd.img-$KERNEL /tftpboot
cp /boot/vmlinuz-$KERNEL /tftpboot
chmod -R 777 /tftpboot
echo "/nfsroot $CLUSTER_NET_NFS_ACCESS(rw,no_root_squash,async,no_subtree_check)" >> /etc/exports
exportfs -rv

echo "Done. Reboot the server and connect with a PXE client."

Hi Joakim. This is nice. Do you have a modified script to use with a server with just one network adapter?
Orlando