3.2. PXE Boot Configuration

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 Applications (the main menu on the panel) => System Settings => Server Settings => Network Booting Service. 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 Configure => Network Installation from the pulldown menu, and then click Add. The dialog in Figure 3-1 is displayed.

Figure 3-1. Network Installation Setup

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).

3.2.1. Command Line Configuration

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:

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.