Linux Networking Cookbook

2.5. Network Installation of Pyramid on Fedora

Problem

You would rather install Pyramid Linux via PXE boot because you have several boards to install, or you have onboard Compact Flash, or you just prefer to do it this way. Your installation server runs Fedora Linux.

Solution

No problem, you can do this because the Soekris boards (and PC Engines, and all their little cousins) support netbooting. While the HTTP, TFTP, and DHCP services in this recipe can be on different machines, the examples here assume they are all on a single PC.

To get started, first download the latest Pyramid dd image or tarball from http://metrix.net/support/dist/ into the directory of your choice:

	$ wget http://metrix.net/support/dist/pyramid-1.0b2.img.gz

Then, you need these services installed:

• DHCPD

• TFTP

• HTTP

• Subversion

You don't need a big old heavyweight HTTP server like Apache. Lighttpd is great for lightweight applications like this. Install the necessary packages with this command:

	# yum install dhcp lighttpd tftp-server subversion

Copy this /etc/dhcpd.conf file exactly:

	# dhcpd.conf
	  subnet 192.168.200.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
	  range 192.168.200.100 192.168.200.200;

	  allow booting;
	  allow bootp;
	  next-server 192.168.200.1;
	  filename "PXE/pxelinux.0";

	  max-lease-time 60;
	  default-lease-time 60;
	}

next-server is the IP address of the boot server; it must be 192.168.200.1.

Next, configure tftp-server. All you do is change two lines in /etc/xinetd.d/tftp. Make sure they look like this:

 disable = no server_args = -svv /tftpboot ...