The Ultimate PXE Boot Server in Action!

In this video I show you how to install and configure a netboot.xyz PXE server with online and offiline/local assets for all your deployment needs!
######### Commands used #########
######### Installing Docker #########
yum install -y yum-utils
yum-config-manager --add-repo download.docker.com/linux/cen...
yum install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin
systemctl enable docker
systemctl start docker
######### Install vim #########
dnf install vim
######### Docker Compose #########
---
services:
netbootxyz:
image: lscr.io/linuxserver/netbootxyz:0.7.0-ls139
container_name: netbootxyz
environment:
- PUID=1000
- PGID=1000
- TZ=America/Toronto
- MENU_VERSION=2.0.75
- PORT_RANGE=30000:30010
- SUBFOLDER=/
volumes:
- ./config:/config
- ./assets:/assets
ports:
- 3000:3000
- 69:69/udp
- 8080:80
restart: unless-stopped
######### Start the container #########
docker compose up -d
0:00 - installing docker
1:08 - netbootxyz docker compose
3:50 - netbootxyz web interface
4:39 - DHCP configuration
6:56 - booting from pxe server
8:29 - pxe booting to rocky linux
11:07 - pxe booting to debain
11:40 - booting locally
13:26 - pxe booting debian 12 live cd
14:24 - pxe booting gparted utility
#netbootxyz #docker #pxe #rockylinux #linux #opensource

[@YofuMedia]

Thanks you for sharing, I was totally into it !!! you deserve more followers!!!

[@distrodomain]

Thank you for watching! :)

[@mspencerl87]

Bro, we got the same damn tattoos 😂 Mine's a little different but I have three black bands around my forearm

[@distrodomain]

Right on!, thank you for watching! :)

[@kdessinger]

That's great and all but I have a single ISO file that I want to boot from the network. It's Hiren's Boot Disk PE V1.0.1. I understand how to upload it to the Assets folder but how do I get it to show up in my boot menu? It get super confusing when you try and do it this way.

[@distrodomain]

For passing a simple iso to boot from, take a look at the project iventoy, it's also simple to setup and you can pass any iso to boot from the network, let me now if you would like to see a video about it, thanks for watching! :)

[@adkhamsec553]

Tank you for sharing this great video. I have e few questions related to this, is it possible to install Custom iso files and won't be any problems with small RAM space (ex. 4GB)? And the last question is is it possible to automate the installation of the iso file(configuring the network, setting up the user and password and so on...)?

[@adkhamsec553]

For extra info I am trying to install Ubuntu live server through the Cloud-Init method but it returns the no space left on the disk(RAM), it allows only less then half of the space of the RAM, my RAM is 4GBs and the iso file weights almost 2 GBs, to be honest I am stuck in this several months😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨

[@distrodomain]

Just for loading ISO files through pxe I recommend iVentoy it's a more simple solution, netboot.xyz if more customizable but it has a steeper learning curve. thank you for watching! :)

[@Jonathan-vx2qj]

Couldn’t you also have the dhcp server in a docker container as well? I don’t have a windows license or the desire to go to all the trouble of configuring Active Directory services for my homelab.

[@distrodomain]

Yes, this can be achieved on the same vm with docker, the windows example was only for those who want to use this in a domain enviroment, I did the example of also using unifi firewall to achive this, if your current dhcp server supports (home router or firewall), that would be the simpliest way to configure it. thank you for watching.

[@Jonathan-vx2qj]

@@distrodomain I made a pfSence machine in proxmox. it's weird though I mean I can get a VM to pxe boot to the xyz menu but that's it. no mater what i select I cannot get the files. even if I put them locally and change the ipxe file like you did it doesn't work using local/offline assets. My physical "DHCP server" router supports literally nothing, I cannot change any settings except the range. So I turned off the DHCP. I get my address from pfsense on the proxmox box.

[@distrodomain]

hmm pfsense is a good solution, if you are on the menu the pxe/dhcp part is working, are you able to browse the web server of netbootxyz?

[@user-tg6jn7ej6r]

Thank you for the information. I need to Install Windows server 2019 from PXE how can we do that?

[@distrodomain]

I will create a future guide on this, for the moment this is a good read and start netboot.xyz/docs/kb/pxe/windows/ let me know if it helps, thank you for watching! :)

[@e99g]

Please make a follow up upon Windows 11/10/7 Boot. Thanks

[@distrodomain]

I'll add it to the list, thanks for watching! :)

[@SuperHousemusic19]

Try Windows pxe boot, and how to add a iso that is not listed on defaults

[@distrodomain]

I'm prepearing a followup video with more advanced features, stay tuned!

[@yuqiao2397]

What if my router doesn't have an option to setup DHCP network boot?

[@distrodomain]

In that case you will have to setup a dhcp server, here is some documentation about it netboot.xyz/docs/booting/tftp thank you for wtching!

[@nickprober8055]

why would you need to do this on mac. macs are nowhere in the professional workplace, huge thumbs down on this one.

[@distrodomain]

The setup was done on a linux server virtual machine, I'm connecting to the virtual machine via ssh with my mac, you can do this if you are on windows by connecting to the linux machine using power shell too, here is a video on how to setup the linux virtual machine, kzbin.info/www/bejne/bV7QZGyIYtxrlcU thank you for the feedback.

[@tomspettigue8791]

Lol yeah they are

[@BinkersGaming]

your just upset that he has a mac and you do not.

[@jacqualinebrown3168]

Booz Allen Hamilton uses macs