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MikeyCarter · 2012-07-20, 20:36

I want to turn my laptop into a mobile NetBoot station for doing Fedora Linux upgrades.

Problem is most DHCP servers you can't add the BOOTP stuff to. Nor do I want to override the DHCP server, especially if I'm on a public network.

So first question, is there any way to have my laptop broadcast it's a "next server" or has a ipxe boot file?

If not a broadcast is there any way to hard code the ipxe CD disk to have the laptop address?

I realize I can chain it from the command line... just want to automate it so I insert the disk and it just loads.

***robinsmidsrod*** · (This post was last modified: 2012-07-22 18:58 by robinsmidsrod.)

If you do not control the DHCP server on the network you can't use chainloading. That means you'll have to load iPXE from either CD or USB (or floppy). That boot medium can contain a custom iPXE script using the EMBED= feature in the Makefile. See http://ipxe.org/embed for how to do that. The bigger problem is that if you don't control the DHCP server, and you want the machines to boot from files on your laptop (which has a dynamic IP, most likely) you have a problem of accessibility. Even though the client machines can boot, the target server that is hard-coded into the embedded script will most likely not be available unless you're doing some funky DNS manipulation.

MikeyCarter · 2012-07-23, 01:37

(2012-07-22 18:57)robinsmidsrod Wrote: If you do not control the DHCP server on the network you can't use chainloading. That means you'll have to load iPXE from either CD or USB (or floppy). That boot medium can contain a custom iPXE script using the EMBED= feature in the Makefile. See http://ipxe.org/embed for how to do that. The bigger problem is that if you don't control the DHCP server, and you want the machines to boot from files on your laptop (which has a dynamic IP, most likely) you have a problem of accessibility. Even though the client machines can boot, the target server that is hard-coded into the embedded script will most likely not be available unless you're doing some funky DNS manipulation.

I own my own DNS/Domain so I can have my laptops IP set to netboot-mobile.mydomain.ca dynamically. Then hard code the hostname. Or have the script on some server where I can send the IP when my laptop boots.

Thanks for the info. Looks like this is exactly what I was looking for.