[AusNOG] PXE boot with custom on the fly builds

[Will Dowling]

> Have any of you had experience with using PXE to image linux and or 
> windows servers on the fly but also including parameters like root / 
> admin password + trigger latest updates + IP assignment ?
> 
> I am thinking of setting up another little lab to try and test out doing 
> a PXE imaging environment for bettering the deployment of servers and 
> what not.

The server builds I do for work are preseeded debian-installers for 
Ubuntu. The only thing you enter is the IP, Netmask, Gateway and 
Hostname - everything else is done for you.

I've considered for other projects wrapping this up into a web-based 
tool around tftpd-hpa so you can build server 'profiles' and have them 
reinstall over PXE as often as you like - but wasn't sure this would be 
a tool many people would be interested in.

The only reason this works so well for me is because all our system 
configurations are packaged and a box is merely a combination of these 
packages depending on its role.


Will Dowling

T: +61 (0407) 421 559
F: +61 (08) 6364 4881
E: will at autodeist.com