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    PfSense as PXE boot server

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
    14 Posts 6 Posters 27.5k Views 3 Watching
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    • D Offline
      doktornotor Banned
      last edited by

      It's available just fine on 2.3.3 and 2.4.

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      • B Offline
        Balanga
        last edited by

        Strange….  I did an upgrade during the last week and it says I'm on the latest version - 2.3.2-RELEASE-p1(amd64)...

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        • B Offline
          Balanga
          last edited by

          I have tftpd installed now, and wondered if there is a straightforward way of copying boot images which currently exist on my FreeNAS PXE server.

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          • D Offline
            doktornotor Banned
            last edited by

            Just use SCP and upload to /tftpboot. (Definitely wouldn't use the GUI for uploading ISO images.)

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            • R Offline
              revengineer
              last edited by

              Is there a how to for this subject or is somebody willing to explain how to set this up? I searched and found nothing pfsense specific. Instructions for other OS are complex and likely do not apply. I would love to PXE boot ISOs hosted on pfsense.

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              • B Offline
                Balanga
                last edited by

                At the moment I only use pfSense as a DHCP server, the rest of the PXE boot process is handled by my FreeNAS box.

                On the pfSense box goto

                Services -> DHCP Server

                Near the bottom there are options for TFTP Server, NextServer, Default BIOS filename, Root path.

                I haven't yet got round to migrating from FreeNAS to pfSense, but these are the options you need to set up to get PXE booting to work.

                Also, I'd recommend reading http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php?title=PXELINUX

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                • R Offline
                  revengineer
                  last edited by

                  Thank you for the reply. In the meantime, I have figured this out. The settings in pfsense were relatively simple to figure out. More difficult was the installation of pxelinux and configuration thereof. I started with the link you provided and then went through numerous tutorials to get my various boot disks to work. When I find time I will document this better.

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                  • M Offline
                    mjeltsch @revengineer
                    last edited by

                    @revengineer Did you finally get around documenting the process better? I am just going through various tutorials (most of them being outdated) and any documentation would help a lot! But I guess after 2 years, you also might not remember the details...

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                    • J Offline
                      jtay
                      last edited by

                      @mjeltsch I just set this up today. I was not able to setup a pxe server on my pfsense box, however my pfsense server is running dhcp and I was able to setup another centos 7 server in my infrastructure and have pfsense hand over pxe clients to the pxe server.

                      I built a centos 7 pxe/tftp server following these instructions (minus dnsmasq and dhcp):
                      https://www.tecmint.com/install-pxe-network-boot-server-in-centos-7/

                      For pfsense settings:
                      got to : Services > dhcp server
                      add your pxe server address by "TFTP Server"
                      check Enable under "Network Booting"
                      add your pxe server address by "Next Server"
                      Add your default BIOS file name (I added "pxelinux.0" per it being the default configured on the centos 7 pxe server guide)

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                      • M Offline
                        mjeltsch
                        last edited by

                        I actually finally managed to use the SG-3100 for PXE-booting (both for the dhcp and the PXE server). I did not want to increase my electricity bill by running another server... I document it here: https://jeltsch.org/PXE

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                        • F Offline
                          fibrewire
                          last edited by

                          nice! I'm working on a similar project. when I circle back to pxe boot from pfSense I'll expand on this.

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