PXE boot iMacs
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Hello Community
We have 31 iMacs that I need to image with a Win7 image on our Fog system. I am trying to make a boot pen that will allow me to PXE boot them into the fog screen. I have tried ( [url]http://www.fogproject.org/wiki/index.php/Bootable_Media[/url] ) but found that the folder in the fog files has changed and even following the instructions to the letter my syslinux pen prep produces no boot partition on the pen.
I’m no network tech, so a laymen’s tutorial on making a bootable iMac pen drive that PXE boots is what I need, or to simply be told this is not feasible
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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[url]http://ipxe.org/download[/url]
If they have drives use the prebuilt ISO or make USB
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Going to try this now, just got to burn an Ubuntu live CD so I can use the DD commands
Awesome, think it is working, but now I need to get the correct fog files onto the pen too, and is a config file need also?
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if the fog server and network are configured correctly you don’t need any fog files on the disk, though Macintosh support is still experimental. best of luck to you
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I didn’t have luck with usb booting iPXE media, but I didn’t spend much time on it. I’ve successfully used the ROM-o-matic site to build an iPXE ISO which I burned to CD and booted from. I haven’t found a Mac it doesn’t work on yet and I’ve tried quite a few ranging in age from 2006 to 2010.
Here’s how I did it and the method that works for me - I’m not saying it’s 100% correct or the only way to do it. There was talk on another forum about creating a netboot image containing iPXE somehow, but I haven’t looked into it.
[LIST=1]
[]Go to [url]https://rom-o-matic.eu/[/url]
[]Choose the ‘Advanced’ option
[]Choose the desired output format - I chose ISO, but you may want to try the .usb - I’ve never tried it
[]I left the NIC options set to default ‘all-drivers’ for compatibility - don’t know if it’s necessary or not
[]Under the configuration options, choose the options listed here: [url]http://www.fogproject.org/wiki/index.php/Building_undionly.kpxe[/url] - you want to check all options from the rom-o-matic page except for those on the Building_undionly.kpxe page with the “//” preceding them
[]In the ‘Embedded script’ box, paste the custom iPXE script shown on the Building_undionly.kpxe page, remembering to edit the IP to reflect that of your FOG server.
[]Leave the rest of the options as-is, and click ‘Proceed’
[]It will then generate the iPXE media in the requested format and download it to your local machine.
[]Burn or copy the generated file to its intended media as you would via any image - likely ‘dd’ or similar
[]Insert the media into the Mac you wish to image and boot from it using the ‘Option’ key or ‘C’ key
[/LIST] -
If you have your dhcp setup correctly with the address of your fog server, all you had to do was burn [URL=‘http://boot.ipxe.org/ipxe.iso’][U][COLOR=#0066cc]http://boot.ipxe.org/ipxe.iso[/COLOR][/U][/URL]
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You all are aware, you can also use the svn *pxe files to attempt to do what you’re trying to do? All it would require is some user class redirections in the dhcp server to tell the systems what file to download. Specifically, you’ll want to use the snp.efi or ipxe.efi files.
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[quote=“Raff, post: 37317, member: 298”]If you have your dhcp setup correctly with the address of your fog server, all you had to do was burn [URL=‘http://boot.ipxe.org/ipxe.iso’][U][COLOR=#0066cc]http://boot.ipxe.org/ipxe.iso[/COLOR][/U][/URL][/quote]
While this worked for some of our Macs, we had others that wouldn’t boot from their pre-built iso - at least the version they had on the website at the time, which was fixed by the method I explained. I assume the rom-o-matic site is more up-to-date, but I don’t know
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[quote=“Tom Elliott, post: 37318, member: 7271”]You all are aware, you can also use the svn *pxe files to attempt to do what you’re trying to do? All it would require is some user class redirections in the dhcp server to tell the systems what file to download. Specifically, you’ll want to use the snp.efi or ipxe.efi files.[/quote]
Tom, I haven’t yet been able to find a way to do what you’re suggesting with Microsoft DHCP, although I’ve seen directions and examples when using FOG for DHCP, thus-far it’s a no-go if you’re using Windows Server for DHCP. Even then, I don’t see a way around the physical boot media unless you re-bless the Mac using the legacy boot flag. I was able to boot from the *.efi files when using the boot CD without re-blessing, but not without. I believe that’s why someone else created a netboot image for iPXE - so that they could netboot from Mac Server which then pointed to the FOG server. Just my experience
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On our Server 2012 R2 DHCP Server I set up a policy for EFI boot files for matching MAC addresses of our UEFI-only PXE boot stations. It works great
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[quote=“d4rk3, post: 37496, member: 23583”]On our Server 2012 R2 DHCP Server I set up a policy for EFI boot files for matching MAC addresses of our UEFI-only PXE boot stations. It works great :)[/quote]
Are you using the specific MAC addresses of each individual Apple host in your organization in said policy, or just the prefix of the MAC address (OUI) where the manufacturer is Apple? The first method sounds tedious, which is why I ask. If you can apply the policy to those with an OUI matching Apple’s using regex that would be awesome. Here: [url]http://standards.ieee.org/develop/regauth/oui/public.html[/url] when searching for Apple lists the OUIs that belong to Apple. Can you tell me where to find this option in 2012 R2?
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Specific MAC’s, sorry…tedious I know, but you only have to enter them once and then update the policy as needed.
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[quote=“d4rk3, post: 37526, member: 23583”]Specific MAC’s, sorry…tedious I know, but you only have to enter them once and then update the policy as needed.[/quote]
I’ve found the policies section you’re referring to and I’m going to try to test the second method I suggested this week. I would think one could create a new policy called something like ‘EFI iPXE booting’, set the ‘Condition’ to ‘MAC Address’, ‘Operator’ to ‘Equals’, and create a ‘value’ for each MAC OUI assigned to Apple, using the ‘append wildcard’ option for each option and ‘OR’, not ‘AND’, then specifying the correct option 66 and 67. We’ll see how it goes
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It’s very possible, I haven’t even tried that route due to lack of time over the summer when I just had to put the legacy/UEFI boot file issue to rest.