Steps

1. Export the installation ISO image or the installation tree to an NFS, HTTPS, HTTP, or FTP server.
2. Configure the TFTP server and DHCP server, and start the TFTP service on the PXE server.
3. Boot the client and start the installation.

Procedure

1. As root, install the following packages. If you already have a DHCP server configured in your network, exclude the dhcp-server packages:

   # yum install tftp-server dhcp-server

2. Allow incoming connections to the tftp service in the firewall:

   # firewall-cmd --add-service=tftp

   Note

   • This command enables temporary access until the next server reboot. To enable permanent access, add the --permanent option to the command.
   • Depending on the location of the installation ISO file, you might have to allow incoming connections for HTTP or other services.

3. Configure your DHCP server to use the boot images packaged with SYSLINUX as shown in the following example /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf file. Note that if you already have a DHCP server configured, then perform this step on the DHCP server.

   option space pxelinux;
   option pxelinux.magic code 208 = string;
   option pxelinux.configfile code 209 = text;
   option pxelinux.pathprefix code 210 = text;
   option pxelinux.reboottime code 211 = unsigned integer 32;
   option architecture-type code 93 = unsigned integer 16;
   
   subnet 10.0.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
   	option routers 10.0.0.254;
   	range 10.0.0.2 10.0.0.253;
   
   	class "pxeclients" {
   	  match if substring (option vendor-class-identifier, 0, 9) = "PXEClient";
   	  next-server 10.0.0.1;
   
   	  if option architecture-type = 00:07 {
   	    filename "uefi/shim.efi";
   	    } else {
   	    filename "pxelinux/pxelinux.0";
   	  }
   	}
   }

4. Access the pxelinux.0 file from the SYSLINUX package in the Binary DVD ISO image file, where my_local_directory is the name of the directory that you create:

   # mount -t iso9660 /path_to_image/name_of_image.iso /mount_point -o loop,ro

   # cp -pr /mount_point/BaseOS/Packages/syslinux-tftpboot-version-architecture.rpm /my_local_directory

   # umount /mount_point

5. Extract the package:

   # rpm2cpio syslinux-tftpboot-version-architecture.rpm | cpio -dimv

6. Create a pxelinux/ directory in tftpboot/ and copy all the files from the directory into the pxelinux/ directory:

   # mkdir /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux

   # cp my_local_directory/tftpboot/* /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux

7. Create the directory pxelinux.cfg/ in the pxelinux/ directory:

   # mkdir /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/pxelinux.cfg

8. Add a default configuration file to the pxelinux.cfg/ directory as shown in the following example:

   default vesamenu.c32
   prompt 1
   timeout 600
   
   display boot.msg
   
   label linux
     menu label ^Install system
     menu default
     kernel images/RHEL-8.1/vmlinuz
     append initrd=images/RHEL-8.1/initrd.img ip=dhcp inst.repo=http://10.32.5.1/RHEL-8.1/x86_64/iso-contents-root/
   label vesa
     menu label Install system with ^basic video driver
     kernel images/RHEL-8.1/vmlinuz
     append initrd=images/RHEL-8.1/initrd.img ip=dhcp inst.xdriver=vesa nomodeset inst.repo=http://10.32.5.1/RHEL-8.1/x86_64/iso-contents-root/
   label rescue
     menu label ^Rescue installed system
     kernel images/RHEL-8.1/vmlinuz
     append initrd=images/RHEL-8.1/initrd.img rescue
   label local
     menu label Boot from ^local drive
     localboot 0xffff

   Note

   • The installation program cannot boot without its runtime image. Use the inst.stage2 boot option to specify location of the image. Alternatively, you can use the inst.repo= option to specify the image as well as the installation source.
   • The installation source location used with inst.repo must contain a valid .treeinfo file.
   • When you select the RHEL8 installation DVD as the installation source, the .treeinfo file points to the BaseOS and the AppStream repositories. You can use a single inst.repo option to load both repositories.

9. Create a subdirectory to store the boot image files in the /var/lib/tftpboot/ directory, and copy the boot image files to the directory. In this example, the directory is /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/images/RHEL-8.1/:

   # mkdir -p /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/images/RHEL-8.1/
   # cp /path_to_x86_64_images/pxeboot/{vmlinuz,initrd.img} /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/images/RHEL-8.1/

10. On the DHCP server, start and enable the dhcpd service. If you have configured a DHCP server on the localhost, then start and enable the dhcpd service on the localhost.

    # systemctl start dhcpd
    # systemctl enable dhcpd

11. Start and enable the tftp.socket service:

    # systemctl start tftp.socket
    # systemctl enable tftp.socket

    The PXE boot server is now ready to serve PXE clients. You can start the client, which is the system to which you are installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux, select PXE Boot when prompted to specify a boot source, and start the network installation.

Procedure

1. As root, install the following packages. If you already have a DHCP server configured in your network, exclude the dhcp-server packages.

   # yum install tftp-server dhcp-server

2. Allow incoming connections to the tftp service in the firewall:

   # firewall-cmd --add-service=tftp

   Note

   • This command enables temporary access until the next server reboot. To enable permanent access, add the --permanent option to the command.
   • Depending on the location of the installation ISO file, you might have to allow incoming connections for HTTP or other services.

3. Configure your DHCP server to use the boot images packaged with shim as shown in the following example /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf file. Note that if you already have a DHCP server configured, then perform this step on the DHCP server.

   option space pxelinux;
   option pxelinux.magic code 208 = string;
   option pxelinux.configfile code 209 = text;
   option pxelinux.pathprefix code 210 = text;
   option pxelinux.reboottime code 211 = unsigned integer 32;
   option architecture-type code 93 = unsigned integer 16;
   
   subnet 10.0.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
   	option routers 10.0.0.254;
   	range 10.0.0.2 10.0.0.253;
   
   	class "pxeclients" {
   	  match if substring (option vendor-class-identifier, 0, 9) = "PXEClient";
   	  next-server 10.0.0.1;
   
   	  if option architecture-type = 00:07 {
   	    filename "BOOTX64.efi";
   	  } else {
   	    filename "pxelinux/pxelinux.0";
   		}
     }
   }

4. Access the BOOTX64.efi file from the shim package, and the grubx64.efi file from the grub2-efi package in the Binary DVD ISO image file where my_local_directory is the name of the directory that you create:

   # mount -t iso9660 /path_to_image/name_of_image.iso /mount_point -o loop,ro

   # cp -pr /mount_point/BaseOS/Packages/shim-version-architecture.rpm /my_local_directory

   # cp -pr /mount_point/BaseOS/Packages/grub2-efi-version-architecture.rpm /my_local_directory

   # umount /mount_point

5. Extract the packages:

   # rpm2cpio shim-version-architecture.rpm | cpio -dimv

   # rpm2cpio grub2-efi-version-architecture.rpm | cpio -dimv

6. Copy the EFI boot images from your boot directory. Replace ARCH with shim or grub followed by the architecture, for example, grubx64.

   # cp my_local_directory/boot/efi/EFI/redhat/ARCH.efi /var/lib/tftpboot/uefi/

   # cp my_local_directory/boot/efi/EFI/redhat/ARCH.efi /var/lib/tftpboot/uefi

7. Add a configuration file named grub.cfg to the tftpboot/ directory as shown in the following example:

   set timeout=60
   menuentry 'RHEL 8' {
     linuxefi images/RHEL-8.1/vmlinuz ip=dhcp inst.repo=http://10.32.5.1/RHEL-8.1/x86_64/iso-contents-root/
     initrdefi images/RHEL-8.1/initrd.img
   }

   Note

   • The installation program cannot boot without its runtime image. Use the inst.stage2 boot option to specify location of the image. Alternatively, you can use the inst.repo= option to specify the image as well as the installation source.
   • The installation source location used with inst.repo must contain a valid .treeinfo file.
   • When you select the RHEL8 installation DVD as the installation source, the .treeinfo file points to the BaseOS and the AppStream repositories. You can use a single inst.repo option to load both repositories.

8. Create a subdirectory to store the boot image files in the /var/lib/tftpboot/ directory, and copy the boot image files to the directory. In this example, the directory is /var/lib/tftpboot/images/RHEL-8.1/:

   # mkdir -p /var/lib/tftpboot/images/RHEL-8.1/
   # cp /path_to_x86_64_images/pxeboot/{vmlinuz,initrd.img} /var/lib/tftpboot/images/RHEL-8.1/

9. On the DHCP server, start and enable the dhcpd service. If you have configured a DHCP server on the localhost, then start and enable the dhcpd service on the localhost.

   # systemctl start dhcpd
   # systemctl enable dhcpd

10. Start and enable the tftp.socket service:

    # systemctl start tftp.socket
    # systemctl enable tftp.socket

    The PXE boot server is now ready to serve PXE clients. You can start the client, which is the system to which you are installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux, select PXE Boot when prompted to specify a boot source, and start the network installation.

Procedure

1. As root, install the following packages. If you already have a DHCP server configured in your network, exclude the dhcp-server packages.

   # yum install tftp-server dhcp-server

2. Allow incoming connections to the tftp service in the firewall:

   # firewall-cmd --add-service=tftp

   Note

   • This command enables temporary access until the next server reboot. To enable permanent access, add the --permanent option to the command.
   • Depending on the location of the installation ISO file, you might have to allow incoming connections for HTTP or other services.

3. Create a GRUB2 network boot directory inside the tftp root:

   # grub2-mknetdir --net-directory=/var/lib/tftpboot
   Netboot directory for powerpc-ieee1275 created. Configure your DHCP server to point to /boot/grub2/powerpc-ieee1275/core.elf

   Note

   The command output informs you of the file name that needs to be configured in your DHCP configuration, described in this procedure.

   1. If the PXE server runs on an x86 machine, the grub2-ppc64-modules must be installed before creating a GRUB2 network boot directory inside the tftp root:

      # yum install grub2-ppc64-modules

4. Create a GRUB2 configuration file: /var/lib/tftpboot/boot/grub2/grub.cfg as shown in the following example:

   set default=0
   set timeout=5
   
   echo -e "\nWelcome to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 installer!\n\n"
   
   menuentry 'Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8' {
     linux grub2-ppc64/vmlinuz ro ip=dhcp inst.repo=http://10.32.5.1/RHEL-8.1/x86_64/iso-contents-root/
     initrd grub2-ppc64/initrd.img
   }

   Note

   • The installation program cannot boot without its runtime image. Use the inst.stage2 boot option to specify location of the image. Alternatively, you can use the inst.repo= option to specify the image as well as the installation source.
   • The installation source location used with inst.repo must contain a valid .treeinfo file.
   • When you select the RHEL8 installation DVD as the installation source, the .treeinfo file points to the BaseOS and the AppStream repositories. You can use a single inst.repo option to load both repositories.

5. Mount the Binary DVD ISO image using the command:

   # mount -t iso9660 /path_to_image/name_of_iso/ /mount_point -o loop,ro

6. Create a directory and copy the initrd.img and vmlinuz files from Binary DVD ISO image into it, for example:

   # cp /mount_point/ppc/ppc64/{initrd.img,vmlinuz} /var/lib/tftpboot/grub2-ppc64/

7. Configure your DHCP server to use the boot images packaged with GRUB2 as shown in the following example. Note that if you already have a DHCP server configured, then perform this step on the DHCP server.

   subnet 192.168.0.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
     allow bootp;
     option routers 192.168.0.5;
     group { #BOOTP POWER clients
       filename "boot/grub2/powerpc-ieee1275/core.elf";
       host client1 {
       hardware ethernet 01:23:45:67:89:ab;
       fixed-address 192.168.0.112;
       }
     }
   }

8. Adjust the sample parameters subnet, netmask, routers, fixed-address and hardware ethernet to fit your network configuration. Note the file name parameter; this is the file name that was outputted by the grub2-mknetdir command earlier in this procedure.

9. On the DHCP server, start and enable the dhcpd service. If you have configured a DHCP server on the localhost, then start and enable the dhcpd service on the localhost.

   # systemctl start dhcpd
   # systemctl enable dhcpd

10. Start and enable the tftp.socket service:

    # systemctl start tftp.socket
    # systemctl enable tftp.socket

    The PXE boot server is now ready to serve PXE clients. You can start the client, which is the system to which you are installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux, select PXE Boot when prompted to specify a boot source, and start the network installation.