HowTos/PXE/PXE Setup/Menus

Simple Menu

/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default

default menu.c32
prompt 0
timeout 300
ONTIMEOUT local

MENU TITLE PXE Menu

LABEL Pmajic
        MENU LABEL Pmajic
        kernel images/pmagic/bzImage
        append noapic initrd=images/pmagic/initrd.gz root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk_size=100000

label Dos Bootdisk
        MENU LABEL ^Dos bootdisk
        kernel memdisk
        append initrd=images/622c.img

LABEL CentOS 5 x86 NO KS eth0
        MENU LABEL CentOS 5 x86 NO KS eth0
        KERNEL images/centos/5/x86/vmlinuz
        APPEND ks initrd=images/centos/5/x86_64/initrd.img ramdisk_size=100000 ksdevice=eth1 ip=dhcp url --url http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/mirrors/CentOS-5-i386/

LABEL CentOS 5 x86_64 NO KS eth0
        MENU LABEL CentOS 5 x86_64 NO KS eth0
        KERNEL images/centos/5/x86_64/vmlinuz
        APPEND ks initrd=images/centos/5/x86_64/initrd.img ramdisk_size=100000 ksdevice=eth1 ip=dhcp url --url http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/mirrors/CentOS-5-x86_64/

This example describes (generally) the method by which one can do a PXE installation from a package and image archive served by a webserver. We do NOT recommend doing so by pointing at a mirror across the public internet.

There are several reasons for this:

anaconda (which is the installation engine underneath such an install) does not have good package retrieval timeout recovery and retry mechanism
anaconda does not support web proxies
The installation progress messages which anaconda places in virtual consoles 3, 4, and 5 are at best cryptic, and not overly meaningful to a person who has not done many installations using that tool.
anaconda's GUI install method also is NOT well suited to 'minimal' installs, as it pulls in an overly large installation, prolonging an already fragile install process.
It is essentially impossible to debug installation issues during such installs, as the server side logs which detail which detail install progress state, and which list the packages have been retrieved are unavailable
It is also painfully slow to do such an install without a local package archive.

People attempting such installations tend to be 'drive-by' distribution 'samplers' or 'first time newbies' who impose a load of many questions on CentOS support structures, seem to always be insistent on receiving immediate answers, but (from experience) have usually not read the Installation documentation. As such, there is little incentive to support such efforts by the regulars in the #centos IRC channel.

Bottom line: "across the internet" installations are not likely to end well for novice installers, and are not recommended.

Multilevel Menu

default - Main Menu
tools - Tools menux
x86_Servers - x86 Servers Menu
x86_64_Servers - x86_64 Servers Menu

/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default

default menu.c32
prompt 0
timeout 300
ONTIMEOUT local

MENU TITLE Main Menu

LABEL local
        MENU LABEL Boot local hard drive
        LOCALBOOT 0

LABEL x86 Servers
        MENU LABEL x86 Servers
        KERNEL menu.c32
        APPEND pxelinux.cfg/x86_Servers

LABEL x86_64 Servers
        MENU LABEL x86_64 Servers
        KERNEL menu.c32
        APPEND pxelinux.cfg/x86_64_Servers

LABEL Tools
        MENU LABEL Tools
        KERNEL menu.c32
        APPEND pxelinux.cfg/tools

/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/tools

MENU TITLE Tools Menu

LABEL Main Menu
        MENU LABEL Main Menu
        KERNEL menu.c32
        APPEND pxelinux.cfg/default

LABEL Clonezilla
        MENU LABEL Clonezilla
        KERNEL menu.c32
        APPEND pxelinux.cfg/clonezilla

LABEL Pmajic
        MENU LABEL Pmajic
        kernel images/pmagic/bzImage
        append noapic initrd=images/pmagic/initrd.gz root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk_size=100000

label Dos Bootdisk
        MENU LABEL ^Dos bootdisk
        kernel memdisk
        append initrd=images/622c.img

/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/x86_Servers

MENU TITLE x86 Server Menu

LABEL Main Menu
        MENU LABEL Main Menu
        KERNEL menu.c32
        APPEND pxelinux.cfg/default

LABEL CentOS 5 x86 NO KS eth0
        MENU LABEL CentOS 5 x86 NO KS eth0
        KERNEL images/centos/5/x86/vmlinuz
        APPEND ks initrd=images/centos/5/x86_64/initrd.img ramdisk_size=100000 ksdevice=eth1 ip=dhcp url --url http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/mirrors/CentOS-5-i386/

LABEL CentOS 5 x86 NO KS eth1
        MENU LABEL CentOS 5 x86 NO KS eth1
        KERNEL images/centos/5/x86/vmlinuz
        APPEND ks initrd=images/centos/5/x86/initrd.img ramdisk_size=100000 ksdevice=eth1 ip=dhcp url --url http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/mirrors/CentOS-5-i386/

/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/x86_64_Servers

MENU TITLE x86_64 Server Menu

LABEL Main Menu
        MENU LABEL Main Menu
        KERNEL menu.c32
        APPEND pxelinux.cfg/default

LABEL CentOS 5 x86_64 NO KS eth0
        MENU LABEL CentOS 5 x86_64 NO KS eth0
        KERNEL images/centos/5/x86_64/vmlinuz
        APPEND ks initrd=images/centos/5/x86_64/initrd.img ramdisk_size=100000 ksdevice=eth1 ip=dhcp url --url http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/mirrors/CentOS-5-x86_64/

LABEL CentOS 5 x86_64 NO KS eth1
        MENU LABEL CentOS 5 x86_64 NO KS eth1
        KERNEL images/centos/5/x86_64/vmlinuz
        APPEND ks initrd=images/centos/5/x86_64/initrd.img ramdisk_size=100000 ksdevice=eth1 ip=dhcp url --url http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/mirrors/CentOS-5-x86_64/