System information

Chapter 24. Setting Up A Remote Diskless System
The Network Booting Service (provided by system-co nfi g -netbo o t) is no longer available in
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6. Deploying diskless systems is now possible in this release without the
use of system-co nfi g -netbo o t.
To set up a basic remote diskless system booted over PXE, you need the following packages:
tftp-server
xi netd
d hcp
sysl i nux
d racut-netwo rk
Remote diskless system booting requires both a tftp service (provided by tftp-server) and a
DHCP service (provided by d hcp). The tftp service is used to retrieve kernel image and i ni trd
over the network via the PXE loader.
The following sections outline the necessary procedures for deploying remote diskless systems in a
network environment.
24 .1. Configuring a t ft p Service for Diskless Client s
The tftp service is disabled by default. To enable it and allow PXE booting via the network, set the
D i sabl ed option in /etc/xi netd . d /tftp to no . To configure tftp, perform the following steps:
Pro ced u re 24 .1. To co n f ig u re tftp
1. The tftp root directory (chro o t) is located in /var/l ib/tftpbo o t. Copy
/usr/share/sysl i nux/pxel i nux. 0 to /var/l ib/tftpbo o t/, as in:
cp /usr/share/sysl i nux/pxel i nux. 0 /var/l i b/tftpbo o t/
2. Create a pxel i nux. cfg directory inside the tftp root directory:
mkd i r -p /var/l i b/tftpbo o t/pxel i nux. cfg /
You will also need to configure firewall rules properly to allow tftp traffic; as tftp supports TCP
wrappers, you can configure host access to tftp via /etc/ho sts. al l o w. For more information on
configuring TCP wrappers and the /etc/ho sts. al l o w configuration file, refer to the Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 6 Security Guide; man ho sts_access also provides information about
/etc/ho sts. al lo w.
After configuring tftp for diskless clients, configure DHCP, NFS, and the exported file system
accordingly. Refer to Section 24.2, “Configuring DHCP for Diskless Clients” and Section 24.3,
“ Configuring an Exported File System for Diskless Clients” for instructions on how to do so.
24 .2. Configuring DHCP for Diskless Client s
⁠Chapt er 2 4 . Set t in g Up A Remot e Diskless Syst em
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