Using network boot to provision hosts

After integrating provisioning infrastructure services with orcharhino, you can provision hosts with orcharhino by booting hosts over a network. Once the host boots, orcharhino Server or orcharhino Proxy Server provides operating system installation content that the host downloads. After the operating system has been installed, the host registers to orcharhino and orcharhino performs an initial configuration of the host.

BIOS and UEFI interfaces

Both BIOS and UEFI interfaces work as interpreters between the operating system and firmware of a computer, initializing hardware components and starting the operating system at boot time. With orcharhino, you can perform both BIOS and UEFI based PXE provisioning. For UEFI interfaces with an HTTP boot client, you can also perform UEFI HTTP provisioning.

UEFI Secure Boot

orcharhino supports host provisioning with UEFI Secure Boot. By default, you can provision operating systems from the vendor of the operating system of your orcharhino Server on Secure Boot enabled hosts. To provision operating systems on Secure Boot enabled hosts from different vendors, you have to provide signed shim and GRUB2 binaries provided by the vendor of your operating system.

Bonded network interfaces

You can configure a bonded interface that orcharhino will use during the installation process, for example, to download installation content. After provisioning completes, the provisioned system can also use the bonded interface.

orcharhino cannot PXE boot a bonded interface that requires configuration on a network switch as well as on your host.

After your host loads the kernel of an installer or the kernel of an operating system, bonding works as expected. Therefore, you can use a boot disk to work around PXE boot limitations when your bonded interface requires configuration on both a switch and your host.

Network boot provisioning workflow

The provisioning process follows a basic PXE workflow:

  1. You create a host and select a domain and subnet. orcharhino requests an available IP address from the DHCP orcharhino Proxy Server that is associated with the subnet or from the PostgreSQL database in orcharhino. orcharhino loads this IP address into the IP address field in the Create Host window. When you complete all the options for the new host, submit the new host request.

  2. Depending on the configuration specifications of the host and its domain and subnet, orcharhino creates the following settings:

    • A DHCP record on orcharhino Proxy Server that is associated with the subnet.

    • A forward DNS record on orcharhino Proxy Server that is associated with the domain.

    • A reverse DNS record on the DNS orcharhino Proxy Server that is associated with the subnet.

    • PXELinux, Grub, Grub2, and iPXE configuration files for the host in the TFTP orcharhino Proxy Server that is associated with the subnet.

    • A Puppet certificate on the associated Puppet server.

    • A realm on the associated identity server.

  3. The host is configured to boot from the network as the first device and HDD as the second device.

  4. The new host requests a DHCP reservation from the DHCP server.

  5. The DHCP server responds to the reservation request and returns TFTP next-server and filename options.

  6. The host requests the boot loader and menu from the TFTP server according to the PXELoader setting.

  7. A boot loader is returned over TFTP.

  8. The boot loader fetches configuration for the host through its provisioning interface MAC address.

  9. The boot loader fetches the operating system installer kernel, init RAM disk, and boot parameters.

  10. The installer requests the provisioning template from orcharhino.

  11. orcharhino renders the provision template and returns the result to the host.

  12. The installer performs installation of the operating system.

    • The installer registers the host to orcharhino by using Subscription Manager.

    • The installer notifies orcharhino of a successful build in the postinstall script.

  13. The PXE configuration files revert to a local boot template.

  14. The host reboots.

  15. The new host requests a DHCP reservation from the DHCP server.

  16. The DHCP server responds to the reservation request and returns TFTP next-server and filename options.

  17. The host requests the boot loader and menu from the TFTP server according to the PXELoader setting.

  18. A boot loader is returned over TFTP.

  19. The boot loader fetches the configuration for the host through its provision interface MAC address.

  20. The boot loader initiates boot from the local drive.

  21. If you configured the host to use Puppet classes, the host uses the modules to configure itself.

The fully provisioned host performs the following workflow:

  1. The host is configured to boot from the network as the first device and HDD as the second device.

  2. The new host requests a DHCP reservation from the DHCP server.

  3. The DHCP server responds to the reservation request and returns TFTP next-server and filename options.

  4. The host requests the boot loader and menu from the TFTP server according to the PXELoader setting.

  5. A boot loader is returned over TFTP.

  6. The boot loader fetches the configuration settings for the host through its provisioning interface MAC address.

  7. For BIOS hosts:

    • The boot loader returns non-bootable device so BIOS skips to the next device (boot from HDD).

  8. For EFI hosts:

    • The boot loader finds Grub2 on a ESP partition and chainboots it.

  9. If the host is unknown to orcharhino, a default boot loader configuration is provided. When Discovery service is enabled, it boots into discovery, otherwise it boots from HDD.

This workflow differs depending on custom options. For example:

Discovery

If you use the discovery service, orcharhino automatically detects the MAC address of the new host and restarts the host after you submit a request. Note that TCP port 8443 must be reachable by the orcharhino Proxy to which the host is attached for orcharhino to restart the host.

PXE-less Provisioning

After you submit a new host request, you must boot the specific host with the boot disk that you download from orcharhino and transfer by using an external storage device.

Compute Resources

orcharhino creates the virtual machine and retrieves the MAC address and stores the MAC address in orcharhino. If you use image-based provisioning, the host does not follow the standard PXE boot and operating system installation. The compute resource creates a copy of the image for the host to use. Depending on image settings in orcharhino, seed data can be passed in for initial configuration, for example by using cloud-init. orcharhino can connect to the host by using SSH and execute a template to finish the customization.

Prerequisites for network-boot provisioning

The requirements for network-boot provisioning include:

  • Provisioning infrastructure services (DNS, DHCP, TFTP) are integrated with orcharhino and configured.

  • Provisioning templates are associated with a client operating system.

    For BIOS provisioning, you must associate a PXELinux template with the operating system. For UEFI provisioning, you must associate a PXEGrub2 template with the operating system. If you associate both PXELinux and PXEGrub2 templates, orcharhino deploys configuration files for both on a TFTP server, so that you can switch between PXE loaders easily.

  • A bare-metal machine or a blank virtual machine. The provisioned machine must appear on the same network as your provisioning infrastructure services.

    You can integrate a compute resource with orcharhino and let the compute resource create virtual machines through this integration. You can also provision virtual machines from unintegrated infrastructure as you would bare-metal machines.

  • Provide the installation medium for the operating systems that you want to use to provision hosts. For more information, see Synchronizing repositories in Managing Content.

  • Provide an activation key for host registration. For more information, see Creating an activation key in Managing Content.

Additional resources

Required boot order for network boot

This requirement applies to physical and virtual machines that you want to provision in orcharhino.

Machines with BIOS interface

The first booting device: network

The second booting device: hard drive

When orcharhino manages TFTP boot configuration files, hosts can be provisioned by rebooting.

Machines with UEFI interface

The first booting device: network

Depending on the UEFI firmware type and configuration, the operating system installer configures the operating system boot loader as the first entry.

You can reboot back into the installer by using the efibootmgr utility to switch back to booting from network.

Configuring orcharhino Proxy for Secure Boot

If you want to provision Secure Boot enabled hosts, configure your orcharhino Proxy for the client operating system.

Configuring orcharhino Proxy to provision AlmaLinux on Secure Boot enabled hosts

Secure Boot follows a chain of trust from the start of the host to the loading of Linux kernel modules. The first shim that is loaded determines which distribution can be booted or loaded by using a kexec system call until the next reboot.

To provision AlmaLinux on Secure Boot enabled hosts, you have to provide signed shim and GRUB2 binaries provided by the vendor of your operating system.

You have to perform the following configuration steps on each TFTP orcharhino Proxy for a subnet to provision Secure Boot enabled hosts on that subnet.

The following example works for AlmaLinux on x86_64 architecture.

Prerequisites

  • Ensure that the cpio package is installed on your orcharhino Proxy.

Procedure

  1. Set the path for the shim and GRUB2 binaries for the operating system of your host:

    $ BOOTLOADER_PATH="/var/lib/tftpboot/bootloader-universe/pxegrub2/almalinux/default/x86_64"

    If you require specific versions of the shim and GRUB2 binaries for the version of the operating system of your host, replace default with the Major and Minor version of the operating system separated by a dot. If no Minor version is set, replace default with the Major version.

    ATIX AG recommends to not use version-specific shim and GRUB2 binaries unless it is really necessary.

  2. Create the directory to store the shim and GRUB2 binaries for the operating system of your host:

    $ install -o foreman-proxy -g foreman-proxy -d $BOOTLOADER_PATH

  3. Download the shim and GRUB2 packages for the operating system of your host. For example:

    $ wget -O /tmp/grub2-efi-x64.rpm https://server.example.com/grub2-efi-x64.rpm
$ wget -O /tmp/shim-x64.rpm https://server.example.com/shim-x64.rpm

    You can download the grub2-efi-x64 package from https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/10/BaseOS/x86_64/os/Packages/. You can download the shim-x64 package from https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/10/BaseOS/x86_64/os/Packages/.

  4. Extract the shim and GRUB2 binaries:

    $ rpm2cpio /tmp/grub2-efi-x64.rpm | cpio -idv --directory /tmp
$ rpm2cpio /tmp/shim-x64.rpm | cpio -idv --directory /tmp

  5. Make the shim and GRUB2 binaries available for host provisioning:

    $ cp /tmp/boot/efi/EFI/almalinux/grubx64.efi $BOOTLOADER_PATH/grubx64.efi
$ cp /tmp/boot/efi/EFI/almalinux/shimx64.efi $BOOTLOADER_PATH/shimx64.efi
$ ln -sr $BOOTLOADER_PATH/grubx64.efi $BOOTLOADER_PATH/boot.efi
$ ln -sr $BOOTLOADER_PATH/shimx64.efi $BOOTLOADER_PATH/boot-sb.efi
$ chmod 644 $BOOTLOADER_PATH/grubx64.efi $BOOTLOADER_PATH/shimx64.efi
Verification

  • Verify the contents of your boot loader directory:

    $ tree /var/lib/tftpboot/bootloader-universe
/var/lib/tftpboot/bootloader-universe
└── pxegrub2
    └── almalinux
        └── default
            └── x86_64
                ├── boot.efi -> grubx64.efi
                ├── boot-sb.efi -> shimx64.efi
                ├── grubx64.efi
                └── shimx64.efi
Next steps

  • You can now provision Secure Boot enabled AlmaLinux hosts by using the Grub2 UEFI SecureBoot and Grub2 UEFI HTTPS SecureBoot PXE loaders.

Creating hosts with PXE boot provisioning

PXE boot provisioning is a method of unattended host provisioning that requires minimal interaction during the process.

You enter the host details on orcharhino Server and boot your host. orcharhino Server automatically manages the PXE configuration, organizes networking services, and provides the operating system and configuration for the host.

Create a host entry to add the host details. When you save the host entry, orcharhino creates the relevant provisioning settings. This also includes creating the necessary directories and files for PXE booting. When you boot the host, the host requests a DHCP lease. The DHCP service responds with a lease which includes the location of the installation content. The host uses the installation content to install the operating system.

During the installation, the host registers to orcharhino Server by using the activation key, installs the necessary host management tools from the orcharhino Client for AlmaLinux repository, and performs initial configuration.

To use the CLI instead of the orcharhino management UI, see the CLI procedure.

Procedure

  1. In the orcharhino management UI, navigate to Hosts > Create Host.

  2. In the Name field, enter a name for the host.

  3. Optional: Click the Organization tab and change the organization context to match your requirement.

  4. Optional: Click the Location tab and change the location context to match your requirement.

  5. From the Host Group list, select a host group that you want to assign your host to. That host group will populate the form.

  6. Click the Interfaces tab, and on the interface of the host, click Edit.

  7. Verify that the fields are populated with values. Note in particular:

    • orcharhino automatically assigns an IP address for the new host.

    • In the MAC address field, enter a MAC address of the provisioning interface of the host. This ensures the identification of the host during the PXE boot process.

    • The Name from the Host tab becomes the DNS name.

    • Ensure that orcharhino automatically selects the Managed, Primary, and Provision options for the first interface on the host. If not, select them.

  8. Click OK to save. To add another interface, click Add Interface. You can select only one interface for Provision and Primary.

    For more information about network interfaces, see Configuring network interfaces in Managing Hosts.

  9. Click the Operating System tab, and verify that all fields contain values. Confirm each aspect of the operating system.

  10. Optional: Click Resolve in Provisioning template to check the new host can identify the right provisioning templates to use.

  11. On the Parameters tab, click Add parameter. Add a parameter named kt_activation_keys, select the string type, and enter the name of the activation key as the value. The activation key has to belong to the same organization as your host. You can also enter a comma-separated list of multiple activation keys.

  12. Click Submit to save the host details.

CLI procedure

  1. Create the host by using Hammer:

    $ hammer host create \
--build true \
--enabled true \
--hostgroup "My_Host_Group" \
--location "My_Location" \
--mac "My_MAC_Address" \
--managed true \
--name "My_Host_Name" \
--organization "My_Organization"

  2. Configure the network interface:

    $ hammer host interface update \
--host "_My_Host_Name_" \
--managed true \
--primary true \
--provision true

Configuring orcharhino Proxy for UEFI HTTP booting

You can provision hosts from orcharhino by using the UEFI HTTP Boot if the hosts have this capability. Configure your orcharhino Proxy for UEFI HTTP booting.

Prerequisites

  • Ensure that your environment meets the requirements for HTTP booting. For more information, see HTTP booting in Planning for orcharhino.

Procedure

  1. On your orcharhino Proxy, enable the foreman-proxy-http, foreman-proxy-httpboot, and foreman-proxy-tftp features:

    $ orcharhino-installer \
--foreman-proxy-http true \
--foreman-proxy-httpboot true \
--foreman-proxy-tftp true

  2. Ensure that orcharhino Proxy is associated with the provisioning subnet. In the orcharhino management UI, navigate to Infrastructure > Subnets.

  3. Click Edit Subnet > orcharhino Proxies.

  4. Select the orcharhino Proxy for both TFTP and HTTPBoot options.

  5. Click OK to save.

Verification

  • Ensure that the orcharhino Proxy has TFTP and HTTPBoot features recognized. In the orcharhino management UI, navigate to Infrastructure > orcharhino Proxies and click on orcharhino Proxy to see the list of recognized features. Click Refresh Features if any of the features are missing.

Next steps

Creating hosts with UEFI HTTP boot provisioning

You can provision hosts from orcharhino by using the UEFI HTTP Boot if the hosts have this capability. In HTTP boot, configuration files are transferred over HTTP instead of TFTP as in PXE boot. Using this method can help reduce the booting time during host provisioning. HTTP is also more reliable for transfer of large files, such as Live images, than TFTP.

You enter the host details on orcharhino Server and boot your host. orcharhino Server automatically manages the HTTP boot configuration, organizes networking services, and provides the operating system and configuration for the host.

Create a host entry to add the host details. When you save the host entry, orcharhino creates the relevant provisioning settings. This also includes creating the necessary directories and files for PXE booting. When you boot the host, the host requests a DHCP lease. The DHCP service responds with a lease which includes the location of the installation content. The host uses the installation content to install the operating system.

During the installation, the host registers to orcharhino Server by using the activation key, installs the necessary host management tools from the orcharhino Client for AlmaLinux repository, and performs initial configuration.

To use the CLI instead of the orcharhino management UI, see the CLI procedure.

Prerequisites
Procedure

  1. In the orcharhino management UI, navigate to Hosts > Create Host.

  2. In the Name field, enter a name for the host.

  3. Optional: Click the Organization tab and change the organization context to match your requirement.

  4. Optional: Click the Location tab and change the location context to match your requirement.

  5. From the Host Group list, select a host group that you want to assign your host to. That host group will populate the form.

  6. Click the Interfaces tab, and on the interface of the host, click Edit.

  7. Verify that the fields are populated with values. Note in particular:

    • orcharhino automatically assigns an IP address for the new host.

    • In the MAC address field, enter a MAC address of the provisioning interface of the host. This ensures the identification of the host during the PXE boot process.

    • The Name from the Host tab becomes the DNS name.

    • Ensure that orcharhino automatically selects the Managed, Primary, and Provision options for the first interface on the host. If not, select them.

  8. Click OK to save. To add another interface, click Add Interface. You can select only one interface for Provision and Primary.

    For more information about network interfaces, see Configuring network interfaces in Managing Hosts.

  9. Click the Operating System tab, and verify that all fields contain values. Confirm each aspect of the operating system.

  10. From the PXE Loader list, select Grub2 UEFI HTTP.

  11. Optional: Click Resolve in Provisioning template to check the new host can identify the right provisioning templates to use.

  12. On the Parameters tab, click Add parameter. Add a parameter named kt_activation_keys, select the string type, and enter the name of the activation key as the value. The activation key has to belong to the same organization as your host. You can also enter a comma-separated list of multiple activation keys.

  13. Click Submit to save the host details.

CLI procedure

  1. Create the host by using Hammer:

    $ hammer host create \
--build true \
--enabled true \
--hostgroup "My_Host_Group" \
--location "My_Location" \
--mac "My_MAC_Address" \
--managed true \
--name "My_Host_Name" \
--organization "My_Organization" \
--pxe-loader "Grub2 UEFI HTTP"

  2. Configure the network interface:

    $ hammer host interface update \
--host "My_Host_Name" \
--managed true \
--primary true \
--provision true

Deploying SSH keys during provisioning

Use this procedure to deploy SSH keys added to a user during provisioning. For information on adding SSH keys to a user, see Managing SSH Keys for a User in Administering orcharhino.

Procedure

  1. In the orcharhino management UI, navigate to Hosts > Templates > Provisioning Templates.

  2. Create a provisioning template, or clone and edit an existing template.

  3. In the template, click the Template tab.

  4. In the Template editor field, add the create_users snippet to the %post section:

    <%= snippet('create_users') %>

  5. Select the Default checkbox.

  6. Click the Association tab.

  7. From the Application Operating Systems list, select an operating system.

  8. Click Submit to save the provisioning template.

  9. Create a host that is associated with the provisioning template or rebuild a host using the operating system associated with the modified template. For more information, see Creating a Host in Managing Hosts.

    The SSH keys of the Owned by user are added automatically when the create_users snippet is executed during the provisioning process. You can set Owned by to an individual user or a user group. If you set Owned by to a user group, the SSH keys of all users in the user group are added automatically.

Using iPXE to reduce provisioning times

iPXE is an open-source network-boot firmware. It provides a full PXE implementation enhanced with additional features, such as booting from an HTTP server. For more information about iPXE, see iPXE website.

You can use iPXE if the following restrictions prevent you from using PXE:

  • A network with unmanaged DHCP servers.

  • A PXE service that is unreachable because of, for example, a firewall restriction.

  • A TFTP UDP-based protocol that is unreliable because of, for example, a low-bandwidth network.

Prerequisites for using iPXE

You can use iPXE to boot virtual machines in the following cases:

  • Your virtual machines run on a hypervisor that uses iPXE as primary firmware.

  • Your virtual machines are in BIOS mode. In this case, you can configure PXELinux to chainboot iPXE and boot by using the HTTP protocol.

For booting virtual machines in UEFI mode by using HTTP, you can follow Creating hosts with uefi http boot provisioning instead.

Supportability

ATIX AG does not officially support iPXE in orcharhino.

Host requirements

  • The MAC address of the provisioning interface matches the host configuration.

  • The provisioning interface of the host has a valid DHCP reservation.

  • The NIC is capable of PXE booting. For more information, see supported hardware on ipxe.org for a list of hardware drivers expected to work with an iPXE-based boot disk.

  • The NIC is compatible with iPXE.

Configuring iPXE environment

Configure an iPXE environment on all orcharhino Proxies that you want to use for iPXE provisioning.

In AlmaLinux, security-related features of iPXE are not supported and the iPXE binary is built without security features. For this reason, you can only use HTTP but not HTTPS. You can recompile iPXE from source to use security features such as HTTPS.
Prerequisites

  • If you want to use orcharhino Proxy Servers instead of your orcharhino Server, ensure that you have configured your orcharhino Proxy Servers accordingly.

    It is essential to add your orcharhino Proxy Server to the list of trusted proxies on orcharhino Server!

    For more information, see Configuring orcharhino Proxy for host registration and provisioning in Installing orcharhino Proxy Server.

Procedure

  1. Enable the TFTP and HTTPboot services on your orcharhino Proxy:

    $ orcharhino-installer \
--foreman-proxy-httpboot true \
--foreman-proxy-tftp true

  2. Install the ipxe-bootimgs package on your orcharhino Proxy:

    $ dnf install ipxe-bootimgs

  3. Copy iPXE firmware to the TFTP directory.

    • Copy the iPXE firmware with the Linux kernel header:

      $ cp /usr/share/ipxe/ipxe.lkrn /var/lib/tftpboot/

    • Copy the UNDI iPXE firmware:

      $ cp /usr/share/ipxe/undionly.kpxe /var/lib/tftpboot/undionly-ipxe.0

  4. Correct the SELinux file contexts:

    $ restorecon -RvF /var/lib/tftpboot/

  5. Set the HTTP URL.

    • If you want to use orcharhino Server for booting, reconfigure your orcharhino Server:

      $ orcharhino-installer \
--foreman-proxy-dhcp-ipxefilename "http://orcharhino.example.com/unattended/iPXE?bootstrap=1"

    • If you want to use orcharhino Proxy Server for booting, reconfigure your orcharhino Proxy Server:

      $ orcharhino-installer --foreman-proxy-dhcp-ipxe-bootstrap true

Booting virtual machines

Some virtualization hypervisors use iPXE as primary firmware for PXE booting. If you use such a hypervisor, you can boot virtual machines without TFTP and PXELinux.

Booting a virtual machine has the following workflow:

  1. Virtual machine starts.

  2. iPXE retrieves the network credentials, including an HTTP URL, by using DHCP.

  3. iPXE loads the iPXE bootstrap template from orcharhino Proxy.

  4. iPXE loads the iPXE template with MAC as a URL parameter from orcharhino Proxy.

  5. iPXE loads the kernel and initial RAM disk of the installer.

Prerequisites

  • Your hypervisor must support iPXE. The following virtualization hypervisors support iPXE:

  • You have configured your iPXE environment. For more information, see Configuring iPXE Environment.

You can use the original templates shipped in orcharhino as described below. If you require modification to an original template, clone the template, edit the clone, and associate the clone instead of the original template.
Procedure

  1. In the orcharhino management UI, navigate to Hosts > Templates > Provisioning Templates.

  2. Search for the required template:

    • The AutoYaST default iPXE template for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server hosts.

    • The Kickstart default iPXE template for AlmaLinux hosts.

    • The Preseed default iPXE template for Debian/Ubuntu hosts.

  3. Click the name of the template.

  4. Click the Association tab and select the operating systems that your host uses.

  5. Click the Locations tab and add the location where the host resides.

  6. Click the Organizations tab and add the organization that the host belongs to.

  7. Click Submit to save the changes.

  8. In the orcharhino management UI, navigate to Hosts > Operating systems and select the operating system of your host.

  9. Click the Templates tab.

  10. From the iPXE template list, select the required template:

    • The AutoYaST default iPXE template for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server hosts.

    • The Kickstart default iPXE template for AlmaLinux hosts.

    • The Preseed default iPXE template for Debian/Ubuntu hosts.

  11. Click Submit to save the changes.

  12. In the orcharhino management UI, navigate to Hosts > All Hosts.

  13. In the Hosts page, select the host that you want to use.

  14. Select the Operating System tab.

  15. Set PXE Loader to iPXE Embedded.

  16. Select the Templates tab.

  17. In Provisioning Templates, click Resolve and verify that the iPXE template resolves to the required template.

  18. Click Submit to save host settings.

Chainbooting iPXE from PXELinux

You can set up iPXE to use a built-in driver for network communication (ipxe.lkrn) or Universal Network Device Interface (UNDI) (undionly-ipxe.0). You can choose to load either file depending on the networking hardware capabilities and iPXE driver availability.

UNDI is a minimalistic UDP/IP stack that implements TFTP client. However, UNDI cannot support other protocols like HTTP. To use HTTP with iPXE, use the iPXE build with built-in drivers (ipxe.lkrn).

Chainbooting iPXE has the following workflow:

  1. Host powers on.

  2. PXE driver retrieves the network credentials by using DHCP.

  3. PXE driver retrieves the PXELinux firmware pxelinux.0 by using TFTP.

  4. PXELinux searches for the configuration file on the TFTP server.

  5. PXELinux chainloads iPXE ipxe.lkrn or undionly-ipxe.0.

  6. iPXE retrieves the network credentials, including an HTTP URL, by using DHCP again.

  7. iPXE chainloads the iPXE template from your Templates orcharhino Proxy.

  8. iPXE loads the kernel and initial RAM disk of the installer.

Prerequisites

You can use the original templates shipped in orcharhino as described below. If you require modification to an original template, clone the template, edit the clone, and associate the clone instead of the original template.
Procedure

  1. In the orcharhino management UI, navigate to Hosts > Templates > Provisioning Templates.

  2. Search for the required PXELinux template:

    • PXELinux chain iPXE to use ipxe.lkrn

    • PXELinux chain iPXE UNDI to use undionly-ipxe.0

  3. Click the name of the template you want to use.

  4. Click the Association tab and select the operating systems that your host uses.

  5. Click the Locations tab and add the location where the host resides.

  6. Click the Organizations tab and add the organization that the host belongs to.

  7. Click Submit to save the changes.

  8. On the Provisioning Templates page, search for the required template:

    • The AutoYaST default iPXE template for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server hosts.

    • The Kickstart default iPXE template for AlmaLinux hosts.

    • The Preseed default iPXE template for Debian/Ubuntu hosts.

  9. Click the name of the template.

  10. Click the Association tab and associate the template with the operating system that your host uses.

  11. Click the Locations tab and add the location where the host resides.

  12. Click the Organizations tab and add the organization that the host belongs to.

  13. Click Submit to save the changes.

  14. In the orcharhino management UI, navigate to Hosts > Operating systems and select the operating system of your host.

  15. Click the Templates tab.

  16. From the PXELinux template list, select the template you want to use.

  17. From the iPXE template list, select the required template:

    • The AutoYaST default iPXE template for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server hosts.

    • The Kickstart default iPXE template for AlmaLinux hosts.

    • The Preseed default iPXE template for Debian/Ubuntu hosts.

  18. Click Submit to save the changes.

  19. In the orcharhino management UI, navigate to Configure > Host Groups, and select the host group you want to configure.

  20. Select the Operating System tab.

  21. Select the Architecture and Operating system.

  22. Set the PXE Loader:

    • Select PXELinux BIOS to chainboot iPXE (ipxe.lkrn) from PXELinux.

    • Select iPXE Chain BIOS to load undionly-ipxe.0 directly.

PXE loaders

In orcharhino, a PXE loader defines the filename DHCPv4 option to use during provisioning. orcharhino deploys the required files to TFTP orcharhino Proxy.

Table 1. PXE loaders and DHCPv4 filenames
PXE loader option filename value Use for

None

No filename passed

Non-PXE booting, for example HTTP booting with iPXE or image-based provisioning

PXELinux BIOS

pxelinux.0

BIOS machines with PXE booting

PXELinux UEFI

pxelinux.efi

UEFI machines with PXE booting

Grub2 BIOS

grub2/grubarch.0

BIOS machines with PXE booting

Grub2 UEFI

subdir/grub2/grubarch.efi

UEFI machines with PXE boot using GRUB2

Grub2 UEFI SecureBoot

subdir/grub2/shimarch.efi

SecureBoot-enabled UEFI machines with PXE booting

Grub2 UEFI HTTP

http://orcharhino-proxy.network2.example.com:8000/httpboot/subdir/grub2/grubarch.efi

UEFI machines with HTTP booting

Grub2 UEFI HTTPS

https://orcharhino-proxy.network2.example.com:9090/httpboot/subdir/grub2/grubarch.efi

UEFI machines with HTTP booting over HTTPS

Grub2 UEFI HTTPS SecureBoot

https://orcharhino-proxy.network2.example.com:9090/httpboot/subdir/grub2/shimarch.efi

SecureBoot-enabled UEFI machines with HTTP booting over HTTPS

iPXE Embedded

orcharhino iPXE URL

Machines with iPXE embedded in their NIC firmware

iPXE UEFI HTTP

http://orcharhino-proxy.network2.example.com:8000/httpboot/ipxe-arch.efi

UEFI machines with HTTP boot using iPXE implementation

iPXE Chain BIOS

undionly-ipxe.0

BIOS machines with PXE boot chainloading iPXE executable

iPXE Chain UEFI

ipxe.efi

UEFI machines with PXE boot chainloading iPXE executable

The text and illustrations on this page are licensed by ATIX AG under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 4.0 International ("CC BY-SA 4.0") license. This page also contains text from the official Foreman documentation which uses the same license ("CC BY-SA 4.0").