How to configure PXE Server in RHEL 6 ?

Server IP settings.

IP 192.168.0.70
SUBNET 255.255.255.0
nmcontrolled no
onboot yes
DNS1=192.168.0.1

Yum install system-config-kickstart
# Install the kickstart package.

system-config-kickstart
# run the kickstart utility.

In the second last option you can remove text mode installation option and opt For a graphical one. 

Select the http installation method 

Use the defaults. 

In the disk label option choose the first option (Initialize the disk label).
The partitions that I have created are like this.

Mount Point            type         size
/boot         ext4         500
 swap         swap         2048
  /                     ext4         18000

Make sure that SELinux option is disabled and Security level is set to Disable firewall.

Save the ks.cfg file to the filesystem.

Yum install –y syslinux xinetd tftp-server dhcp httpd
# Install all the required packages through yum

mkdir /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg
cp  /usr/share/syslinux/pxelinux.0  /var/lib/tftpboot/

vi /etc/xinetd.d/tftp
# Open the xinetd settings to enable tftp server.
# at line 14 set the parameter to no from yes.
Disable=no 

service xinetd restart
# Restart the service to apply the settings made.

chkconfig xinetd on
# set the service to start with each subsequent system reboots.


vi /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf
# Open the file and configure the DHCP Server.


# Global Options
Allow booting;
Allow bootp;
authoritative;

# Subnet definition
subnet 192.168.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
# Parameters for the local subnet
option routers               192.168.0.1;
option subnet-mask           255.255.255.0;
option domain-name           “example.com”;
option domain-name-servers   192.168.0.1;
default-lease-time           21600;
max-lease-time               43200;
# Client IP range
range dynamic-bootp 192.168.0.100 192.168.0.200;
filename  “pxelinux.0”;
next-server  192.168.0.70;
}

# Here the next–sever parameter is the address of the kickstart server.

service dhcpd restart
Chkconfig dhcpd on

# restart the service and make it permanent.

mkdir –p /var/pxe/rhel6
mkdir /var/lib/tftpboot/rhel6
# make some required directories.

Insert your RHEL 6 dvd

mount  /dev/cdrom   /mnt
# Mount it to /mnt

ls –l /mnt
# Check the contents to see if it is properly mounted.

cp –ivr /mnt/*  /var/pxe/rhel6
# copy all the contents to the /var/pxe/rhel6 directory.

umount /mnt
eject
# after the file copy operation unmount and eject the dvd.

cp  /var/pxe/rhel6/images/pxeboot/vmlinuz   /var/lib/tftpboot/rhel6
cp  /var/pxe/rhel6/images/pxeboot/initrd.img   /var/lib/tftpboot/rhel6
# copy the vmlinuz and initrd.img files to the tftpboot directory.

cp /usr/share/syslinux/menu.c32  /var/lib/tftpboot/
# copy the menu file.

vi /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default

timeout 100
default menu.c32

menu title $$$$$$Boot Menu$$$$$$
label 1
  menu label ^ 1) RHEL6
  kernel rhel6/vmlinuz
  append initrd=rhel6/initrd.img  ks=http://192.168.0.70/ks/ks.cfg  ksdevice=eth0

# Prepare the boot menu. 

chkconfig httpd on

vi  /etc/httpd/conf.d/pxeboot.conf

# create new entry

Alias /rhel6 /var/pxe/rhel6

   Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
   Order Deny,Allow
   Deny from all
   Allow from 127.0.0.1  192.168.0.0/24
# Ip address you allow



service httpd restart
(ignore the domain name error if it occurs.)

# Prepare the httpd server


mkdir /var/www/html/ks

cp /ks.cfg   /var/www/html/ks/ks.cfg
chmod 644 /var/www/html/ks/ks.cfg

# make the directory and copy the kickstart file to it.
# and make the kickstart file globally read only.

The pxe server is ready.

Plug a computer into the network and boot it through LAN using pxe.

The client pc should  have a display as below.