---
title: "PXE Boot"
slug: "pxe-boot"
status: "update"
updated: 2023-03-31T14:12:08Z
published: 2023-03-31T14:12:08Z
canonical: "docs.zpesystems.com/pxe-boot"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.zpesystems.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# PXE Boot

Nodegrid supports PXE boot (Pre-Boot Execution Environment). PXE is part of the UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) used to boot a software image retrieved at boot time from a network server. Data centers prefer this method for OS booting, installation, and deployment.

By default, PXE boot is enabled in Nodegrid. It can be disabled on WebUI (*Security :: Services*) or CLI (/settings/services scope). The example shows how to configure the DHCP/PXE server in Linux (Ubuntu) with installed Apache web server, tftpd-hpa service and Nodegrid 5.8.x.

**NOTE**PXE, DHCP and TFTP servers must be installed.

1. Download Nodegrid network boot files (tarball) - Contact Support to obtain the file
2. Copy Nodegrid network boot tar.gz (tarball) file to the DHCP server
3. Unzip the tar file (creates two directories: nodegrid 5.8.xx and boot).  
Alternatively, create the directory and put tar file in that directory. Then unzip the tarball file (i.e., cd /var/lib/tftpboot/PXE directory).  
**Example:**

```none
root@ubuntu-srv1:~# cd /var/lib/tftpboot/
root@ubuntu-srv1:/var/lib/tftpboot# ls -l
drwxrwxr-x 2 root  root       4096 Apr 24 03:20 nodegrid-5.8.xx
root@ubuntu-srv1:/var/lib/tftpboot# ls -l nodegrid-5.8.xx
total 558468
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  22270823 Apr 24 03:19 initrd
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 544343672 Apr 24 03:19 rootfs.img.gz
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root root         7 Apr 24 03:19 version
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   5242832 Apr 24 03:19 vmlinuz
      root@ubuntu-srv1:/var/lib/tftpboot#
```
4. (optional) To format the Hard Drive, create a file named "reformat" inside the nodegrid directory  
**Example**:

```none
touch nodegrid-5.8.xx/reformat
```
  - Open **dhcpd.conf** and add these lines in the “host definition” section. The hardware ethernet value must match the Nodegrid device MAC address. The fixed-address is the Nodegrid device IP address.

**Legacy Mode Example**

```none
host PXEboot_NSC {
     hardware ethernet e4:1a:2c:56:02:9e;
     fixed-address 192.168.22.61;
     option tftp-server-name "192.168.22.201";
     next-server 192.168.22.201;
     option bootfile-name "PXE/boot/grub/i386-pc/core.0";
     option domain-name "zpesystems.com";
     option domain-name-servers 192.168.22.205, 75.75.75.75, 75.75.76.76;
     option routers 192.168.22.202;
}
```

**UEFI Mode Example:**

```none
host PXEboot_NSC {
     hardware ethernet e4:1a:2c:56:02:9e;
     fixed-address 192.168.22.61;
     option tftp-server-name "192.168.22.201";
     next-server 192.168.22.201;
     option bootfile-name "PXE/boot/grub/x86_64-efi/core.efi";
     option domain-name "zpesystems.com";
     option domain-name-servers 192.168.22.205, 75.75.75.75, 75.75.76.76;
     option routers 192.168.22.202;
```

1. On Web server (i.e., Apache), cd /var/www and create a soft link to the file for the network boot:  
**ln -s**and filename to link to the directory.

```none
root@ubuntu-srv1:/var/www# pwd
root@ubuntu-srv1:/var/www#
root@ubuntu-srv1:/var/www# ln -sf /var/lib/tftpboot/PXE/nodegrid-5.8.xx/ nodegrid-5.8.xx
```
2. Restart the DHCP server.

```none
sudo service isc-dhcp-server restart
```
3. Restart tftpd-hpa process.
4. Start the Nodegrid device. This installs the Nodegrid netboot image on the device.