[SUCCESS STORY] Mobile iPXE Device

[jrsmile]

Hi There,

it has been a long time since i contributed to ipxe.
this has changed today.
i finished my proove of concept on a mobile pxe server.

Hardware: http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/kingston/mlwg2 + reasonable big SD-Card
Software: Open-Wrt+ipxe

the scenario:
in my daily job i am confronted with hardware encrypted, optical-drive-less, usb deactivated laptops around the country. the only solution is to bring them onsite to reimage them via pxe boot.
in the field this is not possible.

the result:
now ipxe to the rescue i simply switch on my mlwg2 and connect it via a lan cable to the laptop, 10 minutes later the laptop is reimaged an can be given back to the person to which it belonged.

the solution:
the mlwg2 is open-wrt compatible and can be flashed by simply throwing an sd card into it. the script reflashes the device from its bulky firmware to openwrt and allows me to connect via my mobilephone for config changes on the fly.

a little tftpd-enable here and boot-file=undionly.kpxe there makes a perfect pxe server out of it.

luckily the device can mount the sd-card (ext4) to the local file system (to be configured in webui)

after copying the required wimboot, boot.wim and bcd files to the card it is ready to be used outdoors.
tests shows that i can use it a full 8hours a day before recharging and my customers are happy.

Thanks iPXE for everything.

[jrsmile]

first impressions:

Welcome Page:


OS Selector:

[robinsmidsrod]

This looks like a really good system! Have you shared the PHP code and the other tweaks in a code repo somewhere? I think more people would be interested in knowing how this is put together.

[jrsmile]

unfortunately i didn't and the code is a mess. but i will create a howto in the near future (sadly there is still my day job ) and attach all code in a zip file.

[robinsmidsrod]

Create a github account and share your code repository there. Add a link here for reference. I'm sure people would find it useful even if the code is a mess. At least that would give them something to improve upon.