pxe linux network install

The steps are
1. install dhcp3-server and tftpd-hpa
2. get the netboot files
3. prepare the tftp dir
4. mount the cd images
5. share the cd mount dirs
6. edit the pxelinux.cfg/default file
7. restart services

1. install dhcp3-server and tftpd-hpa

sudo apt-get install dhcp3-server tftpd-hpa

My /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf:

ddns-updates on;
option domain-name "vstrom.local";
option domain-name-servers 192.168.0.2;
default-lease-time 86400;
max-lease-time 86400;
authoritative;
log-facility local7;

# vstrom
subnet 192.168.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
        option domain-name-servers 192.168.0.2;
        option domain-name "vstrom.local vstrom";
        option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
        range 192.168.0.50 192.168.0.59;
        option routers 192.168.0.1;
        ddns-update-style ad-hoc;
        filename "pxelinux.0";
        next-server 192.168.0.2;
}

My /etc/default/tftpd-ha:

#Defaults for tftpd-hpa
RUN_DAEMON="yes"
OPTIONS="-l -s /var/lib/tftpboot"

2. get the netboot files

lftp -c "open http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/intrepid/main/installer-i386/current/images/; mirror netboot/"
sudo mv netboot/* /var/lib/tftpboot
rm -r netboot

3. prepare the tftp dir

cd /var/lib/netboot

All I have in the tftp dir is pxelinux.0 and pxelinux.cfg so just delete the rest
Now create a distribution folder for the ubuntu installations

mkdir -p ubuntu/{intrepid,intrepid-live,jaunty,jaunty-live}

4. mount the cd images
I mount my cd images in /media/

mkdir -p /media/{intrepid,intrepid-live,jaunty,jaunty-live}

My /etc/fstab entries for the images:

ubuntu-8.10-desktop-i386.iso  /media/intrepid-live udf,iso9660 user,auto,loop 0 0
ubuntu-8.10-alternate-i386.iso  /media/intrepid udf,iso9660 user,auto,loop 0 0
jaunty-desktop-i386.iso  /media/jaunty-live   udf,iso9660 user,auto,loop 0 0
jaunty-alternate-i386.iso  /media/jaunty   udf,iso9660 user,auto,loop 0 0

(The paths to the isos are actually longer, like: /Public/OS/linux/...)

5. share the cd mount dirs
My /etc/exports entries (for nfs)

/media/intrepid-live   *(insecure,rw,no_root_squash,async,no_subtree_check)
/media/intrepid   *(insecure,rw,no_root_squash,async,no_subtree_check)
/media/jaunty-live     *(insecure,rw,no_root_squash,async,no_subtree_check)
/media/jaunty     *(insecure,rw,no_root_squash,async,no_subtree_check)

6. edit the pxelinux.cfg/default file
My /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default which is read by tftpd-hpa at start or reload

DISPLAY boot.txt

DEFAULT intrepid_live

LABEL intrepid-live
        kernel ubuntu/intrepid-live/vmlinuz
        append root=/dev/nfs boot=casper netboot=nfs nfsroot=192.168.0.2:/media/intrepid-live file=preseed/ubuntu.seed initrd=ubuntu/intrepid-live/initrd.gz --

LABEL intrepid
        kernel ubuntu/intrepid/linux
        append vga=normal initrd=ubuntu/intrepid/initrd.gz --

LABEL jaunty-live
        kernel ubuntu/jaunty-live/vmlinuz
        append root=/dev/nfs boot=casper netboot=nfs nfsroot=192.168.0.2:/media/intrepid-live file=preseed/ubuntu.seed initrd=ubuntu/jaunty-live/initrd.gz --

LABEL jaunty
        kernel ubuntu/jaunty/linux
        append vga=normal initrd=ubuntu/jaunty/initrd.gz --

LABEL gparted
        kernel gparted/vmlinuz1
        append initrd=gparted/initrd1.img boot=live union=aufs noswap noprompt vga=788 fetch=http://192.168.0.2/gparted/filesystem.squashfs

LABEL grml
        KERNEL grml/linux26
        APPEND root=/dev/nfs rw nfsroot=192.168.0.2:/media/grml boot=live lang=us nomce quiet apm=power-off nodhcp noprompt noeject initrd=grml/initrd.gz vga=791

My boot.txt, just to type the boot commands available

=============================================
Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope
  jaunty-live
  jaunty (alternative install)

Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex
  intrepid-live
  intrepid (alternative install)

Tools
  gparted
  grml

7. restart services

sudo /etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server restart
sudo /etc/init.d/tftpd-hpa restart