The next step is to copy the files necessary to start the installation
to the tftp server so they can be found when the
client requests them. The tftp server is usually
the same server as the network server exporting the installation tree.
To copy these files, run the
Network Booting Tool on the NFS, FTP, or HTTP
server. A separate PXE server is not necessary.
For the command line version of these instructions, refer to Section 3.2.1 Command Line Configuration.
To use the graphical version of the
Network Booting Tool, you must be running the X
Window System, have root privileges, and have the
system-config-netboot RPM package installed. To
start the Network Booting Tool from the desktop,
go to (the main menu on the
panel) => =>
=> . Or, type the command
system-config-netboot at a shell prompt (for example,
in an XTerm or a GNOME
terminal).
If starting the Network Booting Tool for the
first time, select Network Install from the
First Time Druid. Otherwise, select
=> from the pulldown menu, and then click
Add. The dialog in Figure 3-1 is displayed.
Operating system identifier — Provide
a unique name using one word to identify the Red Hat Enterprise Linux version and
variant. It is used as the directory name in the
/tftpboot/linux-install/ directory.
Description — Provide a brief
description of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux version and variant.
Selects protocol for installation —
Selects NFS, FTP, or HTTP as the network installation type depending on
which one was configured previously. If FTP is selected and anonymous
FTP is not being used, uncheck Anonymous FTP and
provide a valid username and password combination.
Kickstart — Specify the location of
the kickstart file. The file can be a URL or a file stored locally
(diskette). The kickstart file can be created with the
Kickstart Configurator. Refer to Chapter 2 Kickstart Configurator for details.
Server — Provide the IP address or
domain name of the NFS, FTP, or HTTP server.
Location — Provide the directory
shared by the network server. If FTP or HTTP was selected, the
directory must be relative to the default directory for the FTP
server or the document root for the HTTP server. For all network
installations, the directory provided must contain the
RedHat/ directory of the installation
tree.
After clicking OK, the
initrd.img and vmlinuz files
necessary to boot the installation program are transfered from
images/pxeboot/ in the provided installation tree
to
/tftpboot/linux-install/<os-identifier>/
on the tftp server (the one you are running the
Network Booting Tool on).
If the network server is not running X, the pxeos
command line utility, which is part of the
system-config-netboot package, can be used to
configure the tftp server files as described in
Section 3.4 Starting the tftp Server:
pxeos -a -i "<description>" -p <NFS|HTTP|FTP> -D 0 -s client.example.com \
-L <net-location> -k <kernel> -K <kickstart> <os-identifer> |
The following list explains the options:
-a — Specifies that an OS instance is
being added to the PXE configuration.
-i
"<description>" — Replace
"<description>" with a
description of the OS instance. This corresponds to the
Description field in Figure 3-1.
-p <NFS|HTTP|FTP> — Specify which
of the NFS, FTP, or HTTP protocols to use for installation. Only
one may be specified. This corresponds to the Select
protocol for installation menu in Figure 3-1.
-D <0|1> —
Specify "0" which indicates that it is
not a diskless configuration since
pxeos can be used to configure a diskless
environment as well.
-s
client.example.com — Provide the
name of the NFS, FTP, or HTTP server after the -s
option. This corresponds to the Server field in
Figure 3-1.
-L
<net-location> — Provide the
location of the installation tree on that server after the
-L option. This corresponds to the
Location field in
Figure 3-1.
-k
<kernel>
— Provide the specific kernel version of the server
installation tree for booting.
-K
<kickstart> — Provide the
location of the kickstart file, if available.
<os-identifer> —
Specify the OS identifier, which is used as the directory name in
the /tftpboot/linux-install/ directory. This
corresponds to the Operating system identifier
field in Figure 3-1.
If FTP is selected as the installation protocol and anonymous login is
not available, specify a username and password for login, with the
following options before
<os-identifer> in the previous
command:
-A 0 -u <username> -p <password> |
For more information on command line options available for the
pxeos command, refer to the
pxeos man page.
