Booting from network

MRD · 11-30-08, 03:20 PM

Ok, so...

Say you have a netbook w/o a cdrom or floppy drive. You want to run a bootable CD.

Is there a way to boot over the network and boot an image of a bootable cd contained on another machine (nfs or samba shared)?

Say I want to start up this machine and run a system restore, a linux installer, a windows installer... is this possible to configure, and if so, what should I be looking at?

It seems it has something to do with PXE... but I can't seem to find any good explanations really.

VinnyTAMU · 11-30-08, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MRD

Ok, so...

Say you have a netbook w/o a cdrom or floppy drive. You want to run a bootable CD.

Is there a way to boot over the network and boot an image of a bootable cd contained on another machine (nfs or samba shared)?

Say I want to start up this machine and run a system restore, a linux installer, a windows installer... is this possible to configure, and if so, what should I be looking at?

It seems it has something to do with PXE... but I can't seem to find any good explanations really.

Can you install gentoo from a flash drive? I know my coworker installed Debian on his netbook from a usb drive.

We have a net install environment for our servers at work. When you boot from the network it presents you with a menu showing a list of images. We have three: Dban, FreeBSD 7.0 (custom image) and Debian Stable (custom image). You select the image and it starts the install, or runs dban. I can ask our systems guy some of the specifics tomorrow at work.

MRD · 11-30-08, 05:21 PM

You can install Gentoo from a usb flash drive, but I'm looking for a general solution that will allow me to boot any optical disk image (or even floppy disk image). You can install Gentoo from just about anything.

The menu you describe sounds like exactly what I want actually.

Shelnutt2 · 11-30-08, 06:16 PM

I think what you want is GRUB with PXE,

http://grub.enbug.org/PXEBOOT

http://www.kegel.com/linux/pxe.html

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/altinstall.xml

Jason Kitchens · 11-30-08, 07:37 PM

I've fooled around with UDA and IF my memory isnt totally gone (it probally is) I think that I had a VM pxe booting a iso. Take a look at this one also.

http://www.ultimatedeployment.org/

I've got a couple of old fujitsu tablets and small fujitsu notebooks without a way to boot from cd or usb, and was looking into uda to load a low resource linux install. Just never got around to trying it out all the way.

Captain Newbie · 12-02-08, 12:35 AM

I'm also interested in this.

I.M.O.G. · 12-02-08, 01:04 AM

I haven't done this and don't know a whole lot... But if you want to do this I believe you want to get a PXE boot server running on your network. The instructions at the following link are distro-specific, but from the Linux advice I've seen out of you in the past, you can probably generalize them and pull out the relevant parts for yourself. If nothing else, this should give you a framework of how this works on the server side:

http://linux-sxs.org/internet_serving/pxeboot.html

This is probably useful also, tho it mostly focuses on the client side of your question:

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/altinstall.xml

11-30-08, 03:20 PM	Thread Starter #1
MRD Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: CT	Booting from network Ok, so... Say you have a netbook w/o a cdrom or floppy drive. You want to run a bootable CD. Is there a way to boot over the network and boot an image of a bootable cd contained on another machine (nfs or samba shared)? Say I want to start up this machine and run a system restore, a linux installer, a windows installer... is this possible to configure, and if so, what should I be looking at? It seems it has something to do with PXE... but I can't seem to find any good explanations really.
	QUOTE Thanks

11-30-08, 05:21 PM	Thread Starter #3
MRD Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: CT	You can install Gentoo from a usb flash drive, but I'm looking for a general solution that will allow me to boot any optical disk image (or even floppy disk image). You can install Gentoo from just about anything. The menu you describe sounds like exactly what I want actually.
	QUOTE Thanks

11-30-08, 06:16 PM	#4
Shelnutt2 Overclockers Team Content Editor Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: /home/	I think what you want is GRUB with PXE, http://grub.enbug.org/PXEBOOT http://www.kegel.com/linux/pxe.html http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/altinstall.xml __________________ Build!.Borg!.Recruit!.Folding.for.Team.32! Gigabyte P35-DS3R, E6300, 2x512MB Team Group DDR2 667, EVGA 7800GT Heat Want to run the folding@home gpu client in linux? www.linuxfah.info Your teacher is a dumbass. The equation is exact. ~Frodo Baggins Damn....It's 12:00 AM and I thought my 805 would be a magic pumkin and turn into a conroe.........boy was I fooled:) ~Stilletto This is what I get for not only being a newb, but also disregarding instructions! ~ShadowPho I hate women... but im not gay lol. ~MrCrowley Love can fade but knowledge stays forever (unless you develop alzheimers). ~Constantinos
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11-30-08, 07:37 PM	#5
Jason Kitchens Member Join Date: Dec 2005	I've fooled around with UDA and IF my memory isnt totally gone (it probally is) I think that I had a VM pxe booting a iso. Take a look at this one also. http://www.ultimatedeployment.org/ I've got a couple of old fujitsu tablets and small fujitsu notebooks without a way to boot from cd or usb, and was looking into uda to load a low resource linux install. Just never got around to trying it out all the way.
	QUOTE Thanks

12-02-08, 12:35 AM	#6
Captain Newbie Senior Django-loving Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Right seat with a bored "don't kill me" expression	I'm also interested in this. __________________ B.S. Computer Science, B.A. Political Science \| Commercial Pilot Airplane Single and Multiengine Land, Instrument Airplane "And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod The high untresspassed sanctity of space Put out my hand, and touched the face of God." Strong * Focused * Safe Apple Mac Pro 4,1, Two Nehalem Xeons 2.26GHzx4 (Hyperthreaded), 12 GB DDR3 FBDRAM \| MacBook Pro 15" (2009)
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12-02-08, 01:04 AM	#7
I.M.O.G. Glorious Leader Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Rootstown, OH	I haven't done this and don't know a whole lot... But if you want to do this I believe you want to get a PXE boot server running on your network. The instructions at the following link are distro-specific, but from the Linux advice I've seen out of you in the past, you can probably generalize them and pull out the relevant parts for yourself. If nothing else, this should give you a framework of how this works on the server side: http://linux-sxs.org/internet_serving/pxeboot.html This is probably useful also, tho it mostly focuses on the client side of your question: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/altinstall.xml __________________ The OC Forums Way We are a team. We are a community. We are a fellowship made strong by mutual respect and shared dedication to the task of enriching all who come here. The OC Forums Thank You Thread Put your computer to work for our OC Forum Teams! Try out our POST TEMPLATES, they save you time answering common questions! I spend half my money on CPUs, GPUs, and Liquid Nitrogen. The other half I waste. Last edited by I.M.O.G.; 12-02-08 at 02:02 AM.
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