WDS PXELinux contention issue
 

I have set up a pxe boot server based on centos with the tftp server and dhcp server running on the same box. In the dhcp conf file, BIOS systems are configured to download pxelinux.0 and EFI systems are supposed to download bootx64.efi. The setup is working perfectly for BIOS systems. But the problem is that for EFI based servers, they are getting the IP from the the dhcp server and then booting into a WDS server with windows installation options which is also running in our network. When I shut down the windows server, the EFI servers are getting the correct bootx64.efi and showing the menu.

My question is, even though the dhcp server explicitly sends the next-server ip,which is the linux server, how come the EFI systems are booting into the windows box WDS. And why is this happening for only the EFI systems and not the BIOS systems. Any help will be much appreciated.

I'm not sure what the cause is but as a rule you shouldn't have 2 pxe servers serving the same subnets.

I am aware of that, but we already have an windows based infrastructure with AD domains and WDS, I am trying to set up some linux systems and have their own infrastructure services. I have managed to set up openldap, bind and dhcpd so far. But i'm stuck with PXELinux on EFI boxes.

Sorry I haven't touched any EFI boxes but I'd try separating the subnet the linux hosts are on from the WDS supported subnet, possibly there's an iphelper or equivalent configured on the router which could be removed.