#netboot

Установка Debian 9 (Stretch) через PXE сервер сетевой загрузки

В этом руководстве я расскажу как установить последнюю версию сервера Debian 9 через PXE-сервер с удаленных зеркал. Для настройки среды PXE мы будем использовать DHCP-сервер ISC-DHCP, а файлы Netboot Debian будут обслуживаться в локальной сети сервером TFTPD-HPA. Установка системы через PXE может увеличить скорость установки как в случае развертывания нескольких установок Debian в течение…

東京大学情報基盤センター Macintosh導入事例

東京大学で一時期行われていたNetBootによるシステム運用。NetBootを使うことにより一括してシステムを管理できる。これは起動用のボリュームをディスクイメージとしてネットワーク上から提供するようになっているため、個々のマシンのハードディスクは使っていない。FirmWareにネットワークに接続する機能があるため可能な手法である。

NetBootを装備していることにより、どの場所の端末からでもサーバーに内包されている自分のアカウントおよびユーザーディレクトリにアクセスできる。サーバーのログは一括管理されているため、サーバーの管理者として管理者用の端末にログインすれば管理作業は非常に簡便に行える。ちなみに施設などの大規模なシステムでは多量のユーザーを識別するためログインマネージャのユーザーアカウントのユーザー名はリストではなく入力フィールドとなる。

NetBootはPhoenix DesktopのX Kitの機能の下位互換の再現である。

ちなみにWindowsをはじめとするどのOSでも画面共有の機能が装備されていれば、よく使う手元に近い端末からLANなどに配置されたOSやシステムがインストールされたサーバーにアクセスして、画面共有機能を使ってあたかもシステムにインストールされているように他の環境を利用することが出来るだろう。この情報基盤センターのシステムでもWindows（やLinux）の端末に画面共有機能でアクセスすることに依ってiMacの端末からWindows（やLinux）を操作することが可能である。

パーソナルなシステムとして優れたアップルのMacおよびXServerおよびMac OS Xと、NECのサーバー、WindowsがインストールされているVIE端末、そしてMS Officeをはじめとする商用アプリケーション、UNIXとしてのターミナル・X11、Windows Media・QuickTime・Realなどのストリーミング機能など、それぞれの環境の強いところを融合させたシステムである。リッチなメディアとしての動画のストリーミングは特に重要な機能だろう。オープンソースのリソースも活かすことに依ってコストの削減を実現している。

How to: UEFI netboot menu #solution #it #programming

UEFI netboot menu

I have an existing PXE syslinux environment and I’d like to set up a similar EFI-based netboot environment.

I’m a big fan of the various menus as seen in the screenshot below and I’d like to find something equivalent.

Ideal features would be:

Menus

Sub-menus

Linux kernel/initrd TFTP load (naturally)

Arbitrary EFI application load

Fallthrough to next boot option

What piece of…

Fixed: How do I PXE boot multiple Windows 7 desktops off the same image? #solution #development #computers

How do I PXE boot multiple Windows 7 desktops off the same image?

Some years ago in my uni days I recall that the uni labs booted windows nt over the network. There was a shared drive for your own stuff, and other than that any changes you did to the running OS were reset when you restarted the machine.

Now I’d like to be able to do the same thing with Windows 7. I have found some howto’s for…

Fixed: How to boot ISO image using gpxe and memdisk? #programming #solution #computers

How to boot ISO image using gpxe and memdisk?

I have a repository of an ISO images (many different OS installers in ISO format) under http://myrepos/*.iso. I would like to boot from that repo using gPXE (with/without memdisk if necessary) and httpfs. I don’t want to extract those ISO images. It should work similarly to netboot.me or boot.kernel.org but using whole ISO images. Is it possible to…

As part of some maintenance here, I did a little research as to how to set up NetBoot for various different Macs. For this piece, interchange 'NetBoot' with 'NetInstall' if you're being pedantic - I'm NetBooting the install disc for a particular OS. NetBooting a full install should also be possible using the same techniques.

Mavericks Server (an app free to all developers) has a built-in NetBoot (NetInstall) server GUI, but it only supports a handful of modern versions of OS X. Thankfully, if you follow the instructions in the bootpd manpage you can manually build NetBoot images supporting both PowerPC and Intel Macs going back to OS X v10.2.

It should be noted that 10.0, 10.1, and even Mac OS 9 NetBoot images are also 'supported' in theory, however the OSes themselves will not actually mount the OS over the network (presumably due to changes in OS X, AppleTalk, AFP, etc over time moreso than intentional deprecation) so none of them will boot as intended. If you want to hack together a custom Mac OS ROM to boot Classic over NetBoot, be my guest!

Reasons to use NetBoot

You regularly need an easy, fast, way of installing OS X on multiple machines. NetBoot ALL the things!

You may not have a functional disc drive anymore (it happens!)

Installing over ethernet is much faster than from the CD-ROM drives in older Macs

It works over WiFi on modern Macs

You do custom kernel or OS development, and need a faster way of booting PPC or x86 Macs

Gigabit ethernet is quite likely faster than any SSD you could install in an older Mac

Directory Structure

NetBoot images are folders in your NetBoot storage location (typically /Library/NetBoot/NetBootSP0) with a .nbi extension and a handful of files inside - typically a single disk image, a settings plist, a bootloader, a kernel and a kernel extension cache. You can provide both PowerPC and x86 versions of the latter three items for OSes that support both PowerPC and x86, like 10.4 or 10.5.

Building a NetBoot Install Image

First thing to do is make or find a disk image of the OS you want to install. Be warned that a Mac usually comes with the minimum OS that will boot it, so if you make e.g. a 10.2.0 install disc image, it will not work on a first-gen PowerMac G5 even though that G5 came with 10.2.7. As updated retail discs are generally hard to come by, you may want to make images of the discs that came with your Mac when you bought it. Common sense applies, YMMV.

You will need some things from the disk image to build the NetBoot image in the first place; these files are architecture-specific if you're making a Universal image, so provide copies with the right arch in the corresponding ppc or i386 folder. If you don't use an architecture subfolder, it will assume the files are ppc-only.

Disk Image

Make a disk image of your chosen install disc; various versions can also be downloaded from Apple's Developer Site going back to 10.2 Server. You will want to convert any ISOs to a UDRW dmg first (hdiutil convert -format UDRW image.iso -o output.dmg).

Bootloader

The bootloader file, typically renamed 'booter', aka BootX (the CHRP PPC Open Firmware Mac OS X booter) or boot.efi (for x86 Macs), can be found on the install disc of your choice in the following places:

/usr/standalone/ppc/bootx.bootinfo /usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi

This file is what shows the initial Apple logo or Happy Mac while it loads the kernel & kextcache over the network (you'll know the kernel is loaded successfully when you see the spinner or rainbow wheel).

Kernel & Kextcache

The OS X Kernel is /mach_kernel on your install disc. Copy this to your NetBoot image as 'mach.macosx'. Similarly, the kernel cache will be found at /System/Library/Extensions.mkext, which you copy as 'mach.macosx.mkext'. You may find you need or want to 'lipo' the specific architecture you want from both of these binaries to the corresponding subfolder.

NBImageInfo.plist

Refer to the bootpd manpage for detailed instructions as to how to build this settings file. For reference, here's the one I use for my Universal 10.5 image. 'NFS' seems to be the best supported Type for older versions of OS X, from what I've found. You must use a unique 'Index' for each image.

Booting

Once you have a properly-built image, have restarted your NetBoot server instance (toggle the switch in Mavericks Server), and have your target Mac connected via Ethernet, you should see a NetBoot icon if you hold alt/option while booting. At this point, you can select it and hold down the usual modifiers when booting (v for verbose, for instance).

Limitations

Intel Macs support multiple NetBoot sources, with names, and modern devices will NetBoot happily over WiFi.

PowerPC Macs have certain limitations where NetBoot is involved; they seem to only show a single NetBoot disk, and do not show its name. This can cause problems if you have more than one ppc NetBoot volume, so you can either use a supported device model/MAC address whitelist or disable other PPC images. Typically they are only supported over Ethernet, and are far more finicky.

Misc Notes

At the time of this writing, OS 9, 10.0 and 10.1 do not boot completely anymore. If this changes in the future, it's worth noting the following:

10.0's install disc does not have an Extensions.mkext. You can build one yourself using mkextcache on a machine (or VM) running 10.1.

Mac OS 9 NetBoot images are crafted in a different way (documented in the manpage!), but fortunately Apple still provides a pre-made image on its website. You can use the excellent Pacifist to extract its contents on a modern machine.

Earlier versions of OS X, like the Public Beta or Developer Previews have a very different disc layout, so they couldn't be NetBooted in the same way anyway. That's not to say it can't be done… ;-)