pxenow

Start an impromptu PXE server immediately, here, now, right in current working directory.

Features

• Configures dnsmasq to DHCP in proxy mode: it should work even on networks with an existing DHCP server
• Provides squashfs via NFS, not TFTP + memdisk: no need to fit the entire ISO in RAM
• ISO files are mounted/unmounted automatically and symlinks created when necessary
• Syslinux/pxelinux boot menu with options to start Memtest86+, HDT, PLoP and netboot.xyz, in addition to user-specified ISOs
• Downloads Memtest86+, PLoP and netboot.xyz executables automatically if not found

Limitations

• Currently supports only BIOS systems, no UEFI
• Syslinux config can be reliably generated only for live Debian, Ubuntu and derivatives, but should be easy to add more distros or the installer (see the get_syslinux_config_for function)
• Many commands require root privileges. There's an option (-S) to call sudo automatically, but it hasn't been tested extensively
• Tested only on Arch Linux and Xubuntu as servers, some commands may fail on other distros

Requirements

• Python 3.7
• dnsmasq
• NFS
• syslinux and pxelinux (on Arch Linux both are located in the syslinux package)
• netifaces (optional) or use the -s and -n parameters

To install netifaces locally:

python -m virtualenv venv
source venv/bin/activate
python setup.py install

Usage

usage: pxenow [-h] [-i INTERFACE] [-n NETMASK] [-s SERVER] [-k KEYMAPS] [-N]
              [-S]
              [iso [iso ...]]

Create a PXE server right here, right now.

positional arguments:
  iso                   Path to ISO images

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -i INTERFACE, --interface INTERFACE
                        Interface to bind, e.g. enp3s0
  -n NETMASK, --netmask NETMASK
                        Netmask, used only if -s is also used
  -s SERVER, --server SERVER
                        IP address of current machine, used as TFTP, DHCP and
                        NFS server
  -k KEYMAPS, --keymaps KEYMAPS
                        Comma-separated list of keymaps
  -N, --nfs             Blindly overwrite /etc/exports and manage NFS server
  -S, --sudo            Use sudo for commands that require root permissions

Specify -s and -n if you haven't installed netifaces. If -i is given, -s and -n are ignored. If none of these is specified, the script will try to guess the interface and address to use.

With -N the script starts/stops the nfs-server service automatically and completely overwrites /etc/exports if needed. Without -N it outputs the correct exports and you'll have to copy them into /etc/exports and manually manage the NFS service.

License

MIT.