PXE in Static IP Network

ping2vamsi · 01-11-2012, 01:57 AM

Hi..

Is there any possibility to implement PXE boot server in a static network. Please let me know if there any...

Thanks
Vamsi

EricTRA · 01-11-2012, 02:04 AM

Hello and welcome to LinuxQuestions,

AFAIK there's no possibility to do that since PXE relies on DHCP. What you could do is setup Static DHCP (DHCP reservation) or work with a DHCP server on a completely different subnet, not accessible from the 'static network'.

Looking forward to your participation in the forums. Have fun with Linux.

Kind regards,

Eric

tsumaru · 01-11-2012, 08:19 AM

as mentioned PXE is a form of DHCP. if all your computers have static addresses allocated in their OS then that makes no difference to the presence of a pxe server.

i believe dhcpd3 can do pxe but im not 100% of the configuration. All you would need to do is set it up to serve pxe

jefro · 01-11-2012, 11:06 AM

In a round about way you could use gpxe/ipxe to solve this.

A normal static lan would not be impacted by a temporary dhcp pxe server. I do it all the time on a static lan. I just don't leave it on too long in case someone boots to lan.

Reuti · 01-12-2012, 06:43 AM

What is “static network” in detail? All my nodes in the cluster have fixed addresses but get them from the dhcp server and hence also PXE is working. You can put rules inside dhcpd.conf like:

Code:

use-host-decl-names on;

    host node01 {
        hardware ethernet 00:23:8B:DB:D4:22;
        fixed-address 192.168.1.1;
    }

EricTRA · 01-13-2012, 12:39 AM

Hi Reuti,

What you have set up is 'static DHCP' as I understand it. I don't know if you're asking or explaining that in your post but for those who don't know it:

Quote:

static allocation: The DHCP server allocates an IP address based on a table with MAC address/IP address pairs, which are manually filled in (perhaps by a network administrator). Only requesting clients with a MAC address listed in this table will be allocated an IP address. This feature (which is not supported by all DHCP servers) is variously called Static DHCP Assignment (by DD-WRT), fixed-address (by the dhcpd documentation), Address Reservation (by Netgear), DHCP reservation or Static DHCP (by Cisco/Linksys), and IP reservation or MAC/IP binding (by various other router manufacturers).

from Wikipedia.

Kind regards,

Eric