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How to do the multiple OS in a single Pxeboot server.

I want to boot different OS like Fedora, CentOS, RHEL in the client

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I thought it is good to mention the whole setup I have which may contain interesting tricks.

  • It is possible to make separate directories within tftp root folder:

    $ tree -L 2
.
├── anax_bios_flash.img
├── clonezilla_20100623
│   ├── filesystem.squashfs
│   ├── initrd.img
│   ├── parameters.txt
│   └── vmlinuz
├── display_ubuntu
│   ├── adtext.cfg
│   ├── f10.txt
│   ├── f1.txt
│   ├── f2.txt
│   ├── f3.txt
│   ├── f4.txt
│   ├── f5.txt
│   ├── f6.txt
│   ├── f7.txt
│   ├── f8.txt
│   ├── f9.txt
│   ├── menu.cfg
│   ├── po4a.cfg
│   ├── prompt.cfg
│   ├── splash0.png
│   ├── splash1.png
│   ├── splash.png
│   ├── splash.xcf
│   ├── stdmenu.cfg
│   ├── text.cfg
│   └── vesamenu.c32
├── etc
│   └── boot.conf
├── FDSTD.144
├── hello.boot
├── memdisk
├── Notes.txt
├── openbsd_3.9
│   ├── bsd
│   ├── bsd.mp
│   ├── bsd.rd
│   └── pxeboot.0
├── ploplinux_4.0.0
│   ├── boot.msg
│   ├── bzimage
│   ├── initrfs.gz
│   ├── memtest
│   ├── ploplinux
│   ├── plpbt.bin
│   ├── plpinstc.com
│   ├── pluspacks
│   ├── pxelinux.0
│   ├── pxelinux.cfg
│   └── readme.txt
├── pmagic_5.5
│   ├── boot
│   ├── bzImage
│   ├── initramfs
│   └── sample_pxelinux.cfg
├── pmagic_6.7
│   ├── boot
│   ├── bzImage
│   └── initramfs
├── pxechain.com
├── pxelinux.0
├── pxelinux.cfg
│   ├── default
│   └── default.backup
├── slitaz-cooking.iso
├── ubuntu_10.04
│   ├── initrd.gz
│   └── vmlinuz
├── ubuntu_mini.iso
└── unattended_4.9
    ├── bzImage
    ├── default
    ├── initrd
    ├── menu.c32
    └── pxelinux.0

  • Then change pxelinux.cfg/default, pxelinux.cfg/CLIENT_MAC or pxelinux.cfg/PORTION_OF_CLIENT_IP

    For me, I used Ubuntu Netboot as template, So as you can see pxelinux.cfg/default includes display_ubuntu/menu.cfg which by itself includes display_ubuntu/text.cfg which contains the main menu of Ubuntu boot:

    Contents of pxelinux.cfg/default

    include display_ubuntu/menu.cfg
default display_ubuntu/vesamenu.c32
prompt 0
timeout 0

    Contents of display_ubuntu/menu.cfg

    menu hshift 7
menu width 65
menu margin 5

menu title GNU/Linux Rescue Collection

include display_ubuntu/stdmenu.cfg
include display_ubuntu/text.cfg

menu begin advanced
    menu title Advanced options
    label mainmenu
        menu label ^Back..
        menu exit
    include display_ubuntu/stdmenu.cfg
    include display_ubuntu/adtext.cfg
menu end

label help
    menu label ^Help
    config display_ubuntu/prompt.cfg

    Contents of display_ubuntu/text.cfg

    DEFAULT partedmagic_6.7

LABEL test_kernel
    MENU LABEL ^Test Kernel
    KERNEL hello.boot

LABEL partedmagic_6.7
    LINUX pmagic_6.7/bzImage
    INITRD pmagic_6.7/initramfs
    APPEND edd=off load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw vga=normal loglevel=9 max_loop=256

LABEL partedmagic_5.5
    MENU LABEL PartedMagic 5.5
    LINUX pmagic_5.5/bzImage
    APPEND initrd=pmagic_5.5/initramfs edd=off noapic load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw vga=791 loglevel=0 max_loop=256

menu begin pmagic_advanced
        menu title PartedMagic 5.5 Advanced
        label mainmenu
                menu label ^Back..
                menu exit
        include /pmagic_5.5/boot/syslinux.cfg
menu end

LABEL clonezilla_20100623
    MENU LABEL ^CloneZilla 2010.06.23
    KERNEL clonezilla_20100623/vmlinuz
    APPEND initrd=clonezilla_20100623/initrd.img boot=live union=aufs noswap noprompt vga=788 ocs_live_keymap=NONE ocs_lang=en_US.UTF-8 fetch=tftp://192.168.10.123/clonezilla_20100623/filesystem.squashfs

LABEL unattended_4.9
    MENU LABEL Unattended 4.9 for ^XP
    KERNEL unattended_4.9/bzImage
    APPEND initrd=unattended_4.9/initrd z_path=\\192.168.10.123\install_4.9

LABEL slitaz
    MENU LABEL ^Slitaz.iso
    TEXT HELP
Testing boot from iso.
    ENDTEXT 
    KERNEL memdisk
    APPEND initrd=slitaz-cooking.iso

LABEL mini_ubutnu
    MENU LABEL Mini-Ubuntu
    KERNEL memdisk
    APPEND initrd=ubuntu_mini.iso

LABEL freedos_std
    MENU LABEL ^FreeDOS STD
    TEXT HELP
Testing boot from Floppy IMG.
    ENDTEXT 
    KERNEL memdisk
    APPEND initrd=FDSTD.144

LABEL anax_bios_flash
    MENU LABEL Anax Bios Flash
    KERNEL memdisk
    APPEND initrd=anax_bios_flash.img

LABEL openbsd
    MENU LABEL ^OpenBSD 3.9
    KERNEL openbsd_3.9/pxeboot.0

LABEL plop_4.0.0
    MENU LABEL PlopLinux 4.0.0
    KERNEL ploplinux_4.0.0/bzimage
    APPEND initrd=ploplinux_4.0.0/initrfs.gz vga=1 nfsmount=192.168.10.123:/media/gnu_files/_servers/tftp/ploplinux_4.0.0/ploplinux

LABEL ubuntu_10.04_install
        menu label ^Ubuntu 10.04 net install
        kernel ubuntu_10.04/vmlinuz
        append vga=normal initrd=ubuntu_10.04/initrd.gz -- quiet

LABEL ubuntu_10.04_cli
        menu label Ubuntu 10.04 ^command-line net install
        kernel ubuntu_10.04/vmlinuz
        append tasks=standard pkgsel/language-pack-patterns= pkgsel/install-language-support=false vga=normal initrd=ubuntu_10.04/initrd.gz -- quiet

LABEL pxeserver2
        menu label Switch to 2nd PXE server...
        kernel pxechain.com
        append 192.168.10.254::pxelinux.0

Notes:

  • hello.boot is a just tiny kernel, I used it for initial PXE tests.

  • memdisk is used as kernel to load (over PXE):

    Raw floppy images: anax_bios_flash.img and FDSTD.144

    CD ISO images: slitaz-cooking.iso and ubuntu_mini.iso

  • pxechain.com used to chain load other PXE server.

    pxechain.com is available within syslinux-common package starting from trusty (Thanks to @muru) or syslinux project archive under different filename pxechn.c32.

  • All listed Linux distributions are loaded by same pxelinux.0 located on tftp root folder. The exception is with OpenBSD (which has BSD kernel), pxelinux.0 loads openbsd_3.9/pxeboot.0, the PXE bootstrap coming with OpenBSD. It has its own configuration at etc/boot.conf. (This method is called chain loading)

    Contents of etc/boot.conf

    set image openbsd_3.9/bsd

  • You can use include instead of listing the whole menu in a single file, or may be chain menus to to keep the original advanced menus/options of each distribution.

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  • Can we have a menu entry redirect to another server? I have only seen local images listed so far.
    – muru
    Jul 7, 2014 at 16:53
  • @muru, yes, I didn't look for such thing before. I've update the answer. (Server chaining using pxechain.com). Thank you I learned new thing from you.
    – user.dz
    Jul 7, 2014 at 18:16
  • Can't say you learned anything from. I just thought to mention it because pxechain.com, while available in the syslinux-common package of wheezy and trusty, is not available in that package for precise. I hoped you might know of an alternative. Guess I'll upgrade to trusty.
    – muru
    Jul 7, 2014 at 18:25
  • 1
    @muru, No you don't have to upgrade. syslinux is independent project. You can just download trusty package or upstream package from syslinux project site, Extract it and copy needed files.
    – user.dz
    Jul 7, 2014 at 18:40

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