Kea DHCP UEFI PXE boot sends wrong boot file

[Misterb]

@TheNetStriker said in Kea DHCP UEFI PXE boot sends wrong boot file:

What exactly do you mean with DHCP options?

The following excerpt is taken from a Netgate blog post about KEA:

Basic functionality is present in version 23.09, but the Kea implementation lacks the following DHCP server features:

Local DNS Resolver/Forwarder Registration for static and dynamic DHCP clients
Remote DNS server registration
DHCPv6 Prefix Delegation
High Availability Failover
Lease statistics/graphs
Custom DHCP options

So I assume that UEFI setting the DHCP option 93 will be ignored by KEA.

[TheNetStriker]

@Misterb I guess just found what is causing this problem. The order of the client-classes are correct, but the order of the require-client-classes is wrong. I just put the ipxe_legacy... class in both require-client-classes arrays to the bottom and restarted the DHCP service and now booting works for legacy and uefi bios.

I would have found this sooner, but for some reason the DHCP restart button in pfSense does not work. I had to restart the service over the command line.

I will take a look at the config generator for this config file. Maybe I can fix the problem myself and upload a pull request on GitHub to fix this.

[TheNetStriker]

I think I found the problem. In the services.inc file is an array_unshift command for the legacy classes which puts the legacy class at the top of the array. I just changed this to add the class to the end of the array and now booting from legacy and uefi works!

I also created a patch file for the services.inc file:

--- /etc/inc/services.inc.save	2023-11-24 15:19:26.797541000 +0100
+++ /etc/inc/services.inc	2023-11-24 15:24:17.000000000 +0100
@@ -1548,7 +1548,7 @@
 					if (!is_array($keapool['require-client-classes'])) {
 						$keapool['require-client-classes'] = [];
 					}
-					array_unshift($keapool['require-client-classes'], $name);
+					$keapool['require-client-classes'][] = $name;
 				}
 
 				if (!empty($poolconf['rootpath'])) {
@@ -1719,7 +1719,7 @@
 				if (!is_array($keasubnet['require-client-classes'])) {
 					$keasubnet['require-client-classes'] = [];
 				}
-				array_unshift($keasubnet['require-client-classes'], $name);
+				$keasubnet['require-client-classes'][] = $name;
 			}
 
 			if (!empty($dhcpifconf['rootpath'])) {

Just add this to the system patches and set the "Path Strip Count" to 0.

Can we somehow get a pfSense developer to take a look at this if this is the correct solution?

[SteveITS]

@TheNetStriker you can open a Redmine.pfsense.org issue.

[TheNetStriker]

@SteveITS I just created a bug report:
https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/15032

[nockdown]

We also have a problem with network boot and Kea DHCP server. We use Fog Project as our network boot server.

Setting in pfSense that works with ISC DHCP:

TFTP Server: IP of my netboot server (Fog Project)
Enable Network Booting: yes
Next Server: IP of my netboot server (Fog Project)
Default BIOS File Name: ipxe.kpxe
UEFI 32 bit File Name: i386-efi/snponly.efi
UEFI 64 bit File Name: snponly.efi
Root Path: /tftpboot

But if we change DHCP Server Backend to Kea DHCP, clients receive such error:

NBP filename is ipxe.kpxeÿ
NBP filesize is 0 Bytes
PXE-E23: Client received TFTP error from server.

As you can see client receive wrong Default BIOS File Name from Kea DHCP Server.

[TheNetStriker]

@nockdown Have you tried to apply the patch I posted under System -- Patches? This should fix the problem with the wrong pxe file until this is fixed by Netgate.

[bctit]

@TheNetStriker We are having the exact same problem. I've not been able to prove the solution still as I'm finding that my edits to /usr/local/etc/kea/kea-dhcp4.conf to move the legacy to the bottom of each of the arrays are reverted when the DHCP service restarts. Am I missing something?

Thanks!
Tony

[bctit]

I've now realised that services.inc creates the conf file. I've edited services.inc and can now see that legacy is the lowest priority and the problem seems to be solved.

Thanks!

[Max 1]

I dont want to create more like this theme, i'm asking here
pfsense
Current Base System2.7.2
Latest Base System2.7.2
Kea DHCP
legacy BIOS

~~May 16 10:48:41	kea-dhcp4	1713	INFO [kea-dhcp4.dhcpsrv.0x5b893e15f00] EVAL_RESULT Expression pool_lan_0 evaluated to 1
May 16 10:48:41	kea-dhcp4	1713	INFO [kea-dhcp4.leases.0x5b893e15f00] DHCP4_LEASE_ADVERT [hwtype=1 00:21:97:93:09:13], cid=[no info], tid=0x98930913: lease 192.168.110.3 will be advertised
May 16 10:48:41	kea-dhcp4	1713	INFO [kea-dhcp4.dhcp4.0x5b893e15f00] EVAL_RESULT Expression ipxe_legacy_lan evaluated to 1
May 16 10:48:41	kea-dhcp4	1713	INFO [kea-dhcp4.dhcp4.0x5b893e15f00] EVAL_RESULT Expression ipxe_legacy_lan_pool_0 evaluated to 1
May 16 10:48:43	kea-dhcp4	1713	INFO [kea-dhcp4.dhcpsrv.0x5b893e15f00] EVAL_RESULT Expression pool_lan_0 evaluated to 1
May 16 10:48:43	kea-dhcp4	1713	INFO [kea-dhcp4.leases.0x5b893e15f00] DHCP4_LEASE_ALLOC [hwtype=1 00:21:97:93:09:13], cid=[no info], tid=0x98930913: lease 192.168.110.3 has been allocated for 7200 seconds
May 16 10:48:43	kea-dhcp4	1713	INFO [kea-dhcp4.dhcp4.0x5b893e15f00] EVAL_RESULT Expression ipxe_legacy_lan evaluated to 1
May 16 10:48:43	kea-dhcp4	1713	INFO [kea-dhcp4.dhcp4.0x5b893e15f00] EVAL_RESULT Expression ipxe_legacy_lan_pool_0 evaluated to 1
May 16 10:48:47	kea-dhcp4	1713	INFO [kea-dhcp4.dhcpsrv.0x5b893e15f00] EVAL_RESULT Expression pool_lan_0 evaluated to 1
May 16 10:48:47	kea-dhcp4	1713	INFO [kea-dhcp4.leases.0x5b893e15f00] DHCP4_LEASE_ADVERT [hwtype=1 00:21:97:93:09:13], cid=[no info], tid=0x98930913: lease 192.168.110.3 will be advertised
May 16 10:48:47	kea-dhcp4	1713	INFO [kea-dhcp4.dhcp4.0x5b893e15f00] **EVAL_RESULT Expression ipxe_legacy_lan evaluated to 1**
May 16 10:48:47	kea-dhcp4	1713	INFO [kea-dhcp4.dhcp4.0x5b893e15f00] **EVAL_RESULT Expression ipxe_legacy_lan_pool_0 evaluated to 1**~~

[CZvacko]

@TheNetStriker Your patch resolved order, so UEFI client can get .efi boot file.
I edited services.inc file (by Diagnostics / Edit File) and changed mentioned lines.
But similar as @nockdown now my UEFI client receive boot file with addtional ÿ.
Not sure if I should do anything related to "Path Strip Count" ? And how to do it...