Specifications

Remote Booting Linux on Intel Processors (CERN Variant)
Concurrent Technologies Page 4 of 30
}
}
host client2
{
hardware ethernet 00:40:9E:00:FF:F1;
fixed-address 192.67.84.172;
server-name "192.67.84.170";
option host-name "Client2"
option dhcp-message
"192.67.84.170:/home/ClientLocalRootFs/client2/home";
#Checks vendor class for a PXE Client.
if substring (option vendor-class-identifier,
0, 9) = "PXEClient"
{
filename "pxelinux.0";
}
else
{
filename "LinuxBootImage.nbi";
}
}
}
• To have the DHCP server start automatically next time the system boots edit the
“/etc/rc.d/rc.local” file and include “dhcpd” in the last line of the file.
The “dhcpd.conf” file above assigns a unique IP address to each client based on the clients
Ethernet, or MAC address. In this case the Client1 will be served an IP address of
192.67.84.171 for network boot purposes and told that the server serving its boot image is
192.67.84.170 and its boot image name is “LinuxBootImage.nbi”. The option statements
provide additional information to a DHCP client, and will be explained and used later.
7. By default the Red Hat firewall is configured to deny DHCP packets. However, the firewall
may be configured to allow DHCP packets and NFS packets, see the “ipchains” and or the
“iptables” manual for how to configure the firewall. For the purposes of this application note
we assume the firewall is correctly configured or disabled. To disable the firewall type the
following,
• “chkconfig ipchains off”
• “chkconfig iptables off”
To enable the firewall at boot time again type, “chkconfig ipchains on” and or “chkconfig
iptables on”
8. In addition to the IP address returned to the Client by the DHCP server, the DHCP server will
also inform the Client the name and location of its boot image. The boot process on the Client
uses this information to request its boot file via TFTP; a TFTP server answers this request.
To enable the TFTP server edit the “/etc/xinetd.d/tftp” file so that the “disable = yes” option
reads “disable = no”. Create the default TFTP working directory “mkdir /tftpboot”
9. An NFS server will be required for the NFS examples later in the application note. To install
follow these commands
2
,
2
The NFS server will already be installed on a CERN workstation