PXE Network Boot Server

Boot any computer on your LAN into a Linux installer over Ethernet — no USB needed.

Server IP: 192.168.50.225 | Web UI: http://192.168.50.225:9000

How It Works

Client Machine                   PXE Server (192.168.50.225)
──────────────                   ───────────────────────────
BIOS/UEFI: "Boot from network"
        │
        ▼ DHCP Request (UDP 67)
        ──────────────────────► dnsmasq
                                   │  "Your IP is 192.168.50.x"
                                   │  "TFTP server is 192.168.50.225"
                                   │  "Boot file: pxelinux.0"
        ◄──────────────────────────┘
        │
        ▼ TFTP fetch pxelinux.0 + boot menu (UDP 69)
        ──────────────────────► /var/lib/tftpboot/
        │
        ▼ User selects OS from menu
        ──────────────────────► TFTP fetch vmlinuz + initrd
        ▼
        kernel boots, fetches installer stage2 via HTTP (port 80)
        ──────────────────────► nginx serves /var/www/pxe/
        ▼
        OS installs automatically from kickstart/preseed file

Stack

Component	Role
dnsmasq	DHCP server + TFTP server (single process)
nginx	HTTP server — serves ISO repos, kickstart files
syslinux/pxelinux	PXE bootloader loaded by client over TFTP
kickstart / preseed	Fully automated OS installation answers
Flask Web UI	Browser-based manager at port 9000 — upload ISOs, manage boot menu

Supported OS Installs

OS	Kickstart	Min RAM
Rocky Linux 10 Minimal (x86_64)	`http/ks/rocky-10-minimum-ks.cfg`	4 GB
Rocky Linux 9 (x86_64)	`http/ks/rocky9-ks.cfg`	2 GB
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (x86_64)	`http/ks/ubuntu2404-preseed.cfg`	2 GB
Memtest86+	—	—

⚠️ Rocky Linux 10 embeds the entire anaconda installer (~600 MB decompressed) in the initrd. The target VM needs at least 4 GB RAM or the installer will silently crash and reboot in a loop.

Quick Start

1. Prerequisites

Rocky Linux server connected to the same LAN as the machines you want to boot
Root/sudo access
Ports 67/udp (DHCP), 69/udp (TFTP), 80/tcp (HTTP), 9000/tcp (Web UI)

⚠️ If your network already has a DHCP server (e.g. your router), disable it or configure proxy DHCP (options 43/66/67).

2. Edit Configuration

Open setup.sh and set the variables at the top:

LAN_INTERFACE="ens160"           # Your LAN network interface
SERVER_IP="192.168.50.225"       # This server's static IP
DHCP_RANGE_START="192.168.50.100"
DHCP_RANGE_END="192.168.50.200"
GATEWAY="192.168.50.1"

3. Run Setup

sudo bash setup.sh

Installs dnsmasq + nginx + syslinux, configures everything, starts services, and fixes SELinux contexts.

4. Download OS Kernels

sudo bash fetch-kernels.sh

Downloads vmlinuz + initrd for Rocky 9 and Ubuntu 24.04 into /var/lib/tftpboot/images/.

5. Start the Web UI

The Web UI is installed at /opt/pxe-webui and runs as a systemd service:

sudo systemctl start pxe-webui
sudo systemctl enable pxe-webui

Open http://<SERVER_IP>:9000 in your browser.

Default login: admin / pxeadmin

6. Upload an OS ISO via Web UI

Log in to the Web UI
Go to Upload tab
Select a Rocky Linux or Ubuntu ISO file
The UI will extract the ISO, copy the kernel/initrd to TFTP, and add a boot menu entry automatically

7. Boot a Client

On the target machine: BIOS/UEFI → set Network/PXE as first boot device
Boot — machine gets an IP, shows the PXE menu (auto-selects Rocky 10 after 60s)
Installation runs fully automated via kickstart
VM powers off when done — change boot order to Hard Disk, then power on

8. Check Status

sudo bash pxe-status.sh

# Watch live PXE/DHCP/TFTP activity
sudo tail -f /var/log/dnsmasq-pxe.log

# Watch HTTP requests from installing clients
sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/access.log

Project Structure

PXE-server/
├── setup.sh                        # Main installer script
├── fetch-kernels.sh                # Downloads OS netboot kernels
├── pxe-status.sh                   # Health check / diagnostics
├── config/
│   └── dnsmasq.conf                # Reference dnsmasq config
├── tftpboot/
│   └── pxelinux.cfg/
│       └── default                 # PXE boot menu
├── http/
│   └── ks/
│       ├── rocky9-ks.cfg           # Rocky 9 kickstart
│       ├── rocky-10-minimum-ks.cfg # Rocky 10 kickstart
│       └── ubuntu2404-preseed.cfg  # Ubuntu 24.04 preseed
├── web-ui/                         # Flask Web UI source
│   ├── app.py                      # Flask application (auth + API)
│   ├── requirements.txt
│   ├── pxe-webui.service           # systemd unit file
│   ├── templates/
│   │   ├── index.html              # Main dashboard
│   │   └── login.html              # Login page
│   └── static/
│       ├── css/style.css
│       └── js/app.js
└── docs/
    └── architecture.md

Live deployment paths:

Source	Deployed to
`web-ui/`	`/opt/pxe-webui/`
Python venv	`/opt/pxe-webui-venv/`
Boot kernels	`/var/lib/tftpboot/images/`
ISO repos	`/var/www/pxe/<os-name>/`
Kickstart files	`/var/www/pxe/ks/`

Web UI

The Flask Web UI at http://192.168.50.225:9000 provides:

Dashboard — server status, installed OSes, service health
Upload — drag-and-drop ISO upload with live progress bar
Boot Menu — view and edit pxelinux.cfg/default in the browser
Delete — remove an OS and all associated files

Authentication: session-based login. Passwords stored as SHA-256 hashes.

To change the Web UI password:

python3 -c "import hashlib; print(hashlib.sha256(b'yournewpassword').hexdigest())"
# Paste the output into ADMIN_PASSWORD_HASH in /opt/pxe-webui/app.py
sudo systemctl restart pxe-webui

SELinux Notes (Rocky Linux)

SELinux is enforcing on this server. All PXE content directories must have the correct contexts:

# HTTP content (nginx)
sudo semanage fcontext -a -t httpd_sys_content_t "/var/www/pxe(/.*)?"
sudo restorecon -Rv /var/www/pxe

# TFTP content (dnsmasq)
sudo semanage fcontext -a -t tftpdir_t "/var/lib/tftpboot(/.*)?"
sudo restorecon -Rv /var/lib/tftpboot

The Web UI runs from /opt/pxe-webui to avoid SELinux user_home_t restrictions on home directories.

UEFI Support

sudo dnf install -y grub2-efi-x64 shim-x64
cp /boot/efi/EFI/rocky/grubx64.efi /var/lib/tftpboot/
cp /boot/efi/EFI/rocky/shimx64.efi /var/lib/tftpboot/

In dnsmasq.conf:

dhcp-match=set:efi-x86_64,option:client-arch,7
dhcp-boot=tag:efi-x86_64,grubx64.efi

Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
Client gets no IP	Check `LAN_INTERFACE` in setup.sh; check for conflicting DHCP server
PXE ROM timeout	Ensure ports 67/udp and 69/udp are open in firewall
`pxelinux.0` not found	Re-run setup.sh; check syslinux is installed
Files return 404	SELinux context wrong — run `restorecon -Rv /var/www/pxe`
Installer loops / reboots	Not enough RAM — Rocky 10 needs 4 GB minimum
Kickstart never fetched	Missing `inst.stage2=` or `inst.waitfornet=` in boot append line
Web UI won't start	Check `sudo journalctl -u pxe-webui -n 50`; verify `/opt/pxe-webui` exists
Login fails on Web UI	Default: `admin` / `pxeadmin`

# Restart all services
sudo systemctl restart dnsmasq nginx pxe-webui

# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u dnsmasq -n 50
sudo journalctl -u nginx -n 50
sudo journalctl -u pxe-webui -n 50
sudo tail -f /var/log/dnsmasq-pxe.log
sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/access.log

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PXE Network Boot Server

How It Works

Stack

Supported OS Installs

Quick Start

1. Prerequisites

2. Edit Configuration

3. Run Setup

4. Download OS Kernels

5. Start the Web UI

6. Upload an OS ISO via Web UI

7. Boot a Client

8. Check Status

Project Structure

Web UI

SELinux Notes (Rocky Linux)

UEFI Support

Troubleshooting

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Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
config		config
docs		docs
http/ks		http/ks
tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg		tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg
web-ui		web-ui
.gitignore		.gitignore
README.md		README.md
fetch-kernels.sh		fetch-kernels.sh
pxe-status.sh		pxe-status.sh
setup.sh		setup.sh

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PXE Network Boot Server

How It Works

Stack

Supported OS Installs

Quick Start

1. Prerequisites

2. Edit Configuration

3. Run Setup

4. Download OS Kernels

5. Start the Web UI

6. Upload an OS ISO via Web UI

7. Boot a Client

8. Check Status

Project Structure

Web UI

SELinux Notes (Rocky Linux)

UEFI Support

Troubleshooting

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