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.

1. As root, install the tftp-server package:

   # yum install tftp-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.

3. Configure your DHCP server to use the boot images packaged with SYSLINUX. A sample configuration in the /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf file might look like:

   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:

   # 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 /publicly_available_directory

   # umount /mount_point

5. Extract the package:

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

6. Create a pxelinux/ directory within tftpboot/ and copy the required files, for example: pxelinux.0 libcom.c32, ldlinux.c32, vesamenu.c32 into it:

   # mkdir /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux

   # cp publicly_available_directory/tftpboot/pxelinux.0 /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. A sample configuration file at /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/pxelinux.cfg/default might look like:

   default vesamenu.c32
   prompt 1
   timeout 600
   
   display boot.msg
   
   label linux
     menu label ^Install system
     menu default
     kernel images/RHEL-8.0/vmlinuz
     append initrd=images/RHEL-8.0/initrd.img ip=dhcp inst.repo=http://10.32.5.1/RHEL-8.0/x86_64/iso-contents-root/
   label vesa
     menu label Install system with ^basic video driver
     kernel images/RHEL-8.0/vmlinuz
     append initrd=images/RHEL-8.0/initrd.img ip=dhcp inst.xdriver=vesa nomodeset inst.repo=http://10.32.5.1/RHEL-8.0/x86_64/iso-contents-root/
   label rescue
     menu label ^Rescue installed system
     kernel images/RHEL-8.0/vmlinuz
     append initrd=images/RHEL-8.0/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, we use the directory /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/images/RHEL-8.0/:

   # mkdir -p /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/images/RHEL-8.0/
   # cp /path_to_x86_64_images/pxeboot/{vmlinuz,initrd.img} /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/images/RHEL-8.0/

10. Start and enable the dhcpd service:

    # systemctl start dhcpd
    # systemctl enable dhcpd

11. Start and enable the xinetd service that manages the tftp service:

    # systemctl start xinetd
    # systemctl enable xinetd

    The PXE boot server is now ready to serve PXE clients. You can start the client (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.

1. As root, install the tftp-server package:

   # yum install tftp-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.

3. Configure your DHCP server to use the boot images packaged with shim. A sample configuration in the /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf file might look like:

   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:

   # 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 /publicly_available_directory

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

   # cp publicly_available_directory/boot/efi/EFI/redhat/BOOTX64.efi /var/lib/tftpboot/uefi/

   # cp publicly_available_directory/boot/efi/EFI/redhat/grubx64.efi /var/lib/tftpboot/uefi

7. Add a configuration file named grub.cfg to the tftpboot/ directory. A sample configuration file at /var/lib/tftpboot/uefi/grub.cfg may look like:

   set timeout=60
   menuentry 'RHEL 8' {
     linuxefi images/RHEL-8.0/vmlinuz ip=dhcp inst.repo=http://10.32.5.1/RHEL-8.0/x86_64/iso-contents-root/
     initrdefi images/RHEL-8.0/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, we use the directory /var/lib/tftpboot/images/RHEL-8.0/:

   # mkdir -p /var/lib/tftpboot/images/RHEL-8.0/
   # cp /path_to_x86_64_images/pxeboot/{vmlinuz,initrd.img} /var/lib/tftpboot/images/RHEL-8.0/

9. Start and enable the dhcpd service:

   # systemctl start dhcpd
   # systemctl enable dhcpd

10. Start and enable the xinetd service that manages the tftp service:

    # systemctl start xinetd
    # systemctl enable xinetd

    The PXE boot server is now ready to serve PXE clients. You can start the client (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.

1. As root, install the tftp-server package:

   # yum install tftp-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.

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’s 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. Below is an example configuration file:

   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-8.0/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. A sample configuration in the /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf file might look like:

   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. Start and enable the dhcpd service:

   # systemctl start dhcpd
   # systemctl enable dhcpd

10. Start and enable xinetd service that manages the tftp service:

    # systemctl start xinetd
    # systemctl enable xinetd

    The PXE boot server is now ready to serve PXE clients. You can start the client (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.