pxelinux
Network PXE bootloader for BIOS systems
TLDR
Basic PXELINUX setup
$ cp pxelinux.0 [/tftproot/]
Create config directory$ mkdir -p [/tftproot/pxelinux.cfg/]
Create default config$ vi [/tftproot/pxelinux.cfg/default]
SYNOPSIS
PXELINUX bootloader configuration
DESCRIPTION
PXELINUX is a SYSLINUX derivative for PXE network booting. It loads via TFTP and allows booting Linux kernels and other operating systems over the network.
EXAMPLES
$ # Setup TFTP root
mkdir -p /tftproot/pxelinux.cfg
cp /usr/lib/PXELINUX/pxelinux.0 /tftproot/
cp /usr/lib/syslinux/modules/bios/*.c32 /tftproot/
# DHCP config (dhcpd.conf)
next-server 192.168.1.1;
filename "pxelinux.0";
mkdir -p /tftproot/pxelinux.cfg
cp /usr/lib/PXELINUX/pxelinux.0 /tftproot/
cp /usr/lib/syslinux/modules/bios/*.c32 /tftproot/
# DHCP config (dhcpd.conf)
next-server 192.168.1.1;
filename "pxelinux.0";
CONFIGURATION
$ # /tftproot/pxelinux.cfg/default
DEFAULT linux
TIMEOUT 50
PROMPT 1
LABEL linux
KERNEL vmlinuz
APPEND initrd=initrd.img root=/dev/nfs nfsroot=server:/path ip=dhcp
LABEL local
LOCALBOOT 0
DEFAULT linux
TIMEOUT 50
PROMPT 1
LABEL linux
KERNEL vmlinuz
APPEND initrd=initrd.img root=/dev/nfs nfsroot=server:/path ip=dhcp
LABEL local
LOCALBOOT 0
CONFIG FILE SEARCH ORDER
$ /pxelinux.cfg/01-88-99-aa-bb-cc-dd # MAC address
/pxelinux.cfg/C0A80001 # IP in hex
/pxelinux.cfg/default # Fallback
/pxelinux.cfg/C0A80001 # IP in hex
/pxelinux.cfg/default # Fallback
CAVEATS
Requires TFTP and DHCP servers. BIOS/legacy boot only (use SYSLINUX for UEFI). Part of SYSLINUX project.
HISTORY
PXELINUX was developed by H. Peter Anvin as part of the SYSLINUX project for PXE network boot.