PXE

[parasense]

Let's talk about enabling a "PXE" dialog under the Network area some place, probably DHCP/DNS options (aka dnsmasq settings).

What we want to do is wrap around the '/etc/config/dhcp' configuration parameters for PXE boot.
Like so:

config boot
option servername 'hostname-of-tftpd-goes here'
option serveraddress 'ipv4-of-tftpd-goes-here'
option filename 'pxelinux.o'

That configured OpenWRT to point at a TFTPD server, and it could be a remote system on the LAN, or even the OpenWRT router itself. There is a built-in tftpd service that goes along with dnsmasq, and it really orthogonal to these parameters. One should be able to have a tftpd on OpenWRT, but have PXE point elsewhere on the network should that be desired, or just point of the local dnsmaq built-in tftpd. The point being one could have a bazzillion tftpd services setup around their WAN, but here we configure where the DHCP PXE system points to for network booting. Obviously these parameters only make sense if luci is operating a dhcp service that can do PXE stuff.

[LipkeGu]

It seems he means the ability to select the servers. Dnsmasq has this option to send a list of servers in the DHCP Option "PXE Vendor Encapsulated Option"-Bootmenu. On the PXE boot the client sees a litte menue where the servers can be selected.

# Do real PXE, rather than just booting a single file, this is an
# alternative to dhcp-boot.
#pxe-prompt="What system shall I netboot?"
# or with timeout before first available action is taken:
#pxe-prompt="Press F8 for menu.", 60

# Available boot services. for PXE.
#pxe-service=x86PC, "Boot from local disk"

# Loads <tftp-root>/pxelinux.0 from dnsmasq TFTP server.
#pxe-service=x86PC, "Install Linux", pxelinux

# Loads <tftp-root>/pxelinux.0 from TFTP server at 1.2.3.4.
# Beware this fails on old PXE ROMS.
#pxe-service=x86PC, "Install Linux", pxelinux, 1.2.3.4

# Use bootserver on network, found my multicast or broadcast.
#pxe-service=x86PC, "Install windows from RIS server", 1

# Use bootserver at a known IP address.
#pxe-service=x86PC, "Install windows from RIS server", 1, 1.2.3.4

in the /etcconfig/dhcp we would then have:

config bootserver
        option serv '192.168.1.1'
        option file 'pxelinux'
        option desc 'Use this Server...'

[LipkeGu]

I'm thinking about to put this again up when im get it right up again i can fill a pull request with this changes but this will spread in about 3 or more PRs because there are some dependencies.

• Package DNSmasq needs an init script and an adjusted uci config
• Package Luci Itself
• Windows PXE clients needs DHCP option 252 and 250 which are equal to option 43 with some of these options: https://github.com/LipkeGu/Mini-BINL-Server/blob/master/WDS_Request.h#L39

problems:

• Dnsmasq needs an update to understand Microsoft extended ACK packets https://github.com/LipkeGu/bootpd/blob/trunk/Server.Network/Packets/TFTP.cs#L171 and windowssize and msftwindow and also variable-windowsize

[jow-]

Closing this as its not supported by OpenWrt and never gained traction. PRs welcome.

[vKnmnn]

There is one feature request for this feature. See #3356
I would also like to see this feature in OpenWRT.