I have done a bit of what you want.
If the client box doesn't have pxe booting built in (bios)
you can make a pxe boot floppy: http://etherboot.sourceforge.net
PXE client talks to dhcp server, server sends back this filename:
# /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf
filename="pxelinux.0" ;
PXE client loads that file from tftp server:
root at shaz:/var/lib/tftpboot # ls pxelinux.0
pxelinux.0
And runs it. pxelinux.0 gets pxelinux.cfg/default from tftp server and
acts on it.
default menu = load menu.c32 from tftp and run, which gives the user a
nice menu so that I don't have to remember what all is in this config.
At this point, read the comments for each item. The Ubuntu install is
the closest thing to "boot a CD image" which isn't really what you
want
- I am guessing you want access to the whole CD, not just the boot part.
That can kind of be done buy loadiing up an OS that has networking and
then have the CD files on a network file server. I hear this has been
discussed on this list - I am interested but don't need it anytime soon,
so I didn't bother looking.
Enjoy,
Carl Karsten
ps, is there a wiki that things like this can be posted on?
root at shaz:/var/lib/tftpboot # cat pxelinux.cfg/default
# pxelinux.cfg/default
# display ubuntu-installer/i386/boot-screens/syslinux.txt
default menu
prompt 1
timeout 0
F1 pxelinux.cfg/default
label pxesmb
# SMB on pxe TCP/IP stack
kernel memdisk
append initrd=smb/pxesmbboot.IMA keeppxe
label sbm-floppy
# smart boot manager - menu of all bootable devices on the local box
kernel memdisk
append initrd=util/sbm.img
label menu
# makes a menu out of this file, allows editing the options on the client
kernel menu.c32
label memtest86
# test memory of local box
kernel memtest
label memtest86+
# a better version?
kernel memtest1
label tomsrtbt
# Linux on one floppy (doesn't work with pxe - help?)
kernel memdisk
append initrd=linux/tomsrtbt.raw pause
label linux
# ubuntu instaler
kernel ubuntu-installer/i386/linux
append vga=normal initrd=ubuntu-installer/i386/initrd.gz
ramdisk_size=13318 root=/dev/rd/0 rw --
label expert
kernel ubuntu-installer/i386/linux
append DEBCONF_PRIORITY=low vga=normal
initrd=ubuntu-installer/i386/initrd.gz ramdisk_size=13318 root=/dev/rd/0
rw --
label server
kernel ubuntu-installer/i386/linux
append base-config/package-selection=
base-config/install-language-support=false vga=normal
initrd=ubuntu-installer/i386/initrd.gz ramdisk_size=13318 root=/dev/rd/0
rw --
label server-expert
kernel ubuntu-installer/i386/linux
append base-config/package-selection=
base-config/install-language-support=false DEBCONF_PRIORITY=low
vga=normal initrd=ubuntu-installer/i386/initrd.gz ramdisk_size=13318
root=/dev/rd/0 rw --
label linux-hands-off
kernel ubuntu-installer/i386/linux
append initrd=initrd.gz ramdisk_size=12890 root=/dev/rd/0 rw
preseed/locale=en_US kbd-chooser/method=us netcfg/wireless_wep=
netcfg/choose_interface=eth1 netcfg/get_hostname=
preseed/url=http://192.168.1.7/preseed.cfg vga=6 --
label server-ho
kernel ubuntu-installer/i386/linux
append initrd=initrd.gz ramdisk_size=12890 root=/dev/rd/0 rw
preseed/locale=en_US kbd-chooser/method=us netcfg/wireless_wep=
netcfg/get_hostname= preseed/url=http://192.168.1.7/preseed.server.cfg
vga=6 --
label freedos
# um... some sort of dos that isn't M$.
kernel memdisk
append initrd=floppy.img
label image
# hard disk imager, will burn multipe CD's on a local burner
kernel memdisk
append initrd=BootItNG/image-exe.img
label dosimage
# hard disk imager, will burn multipe CD's on a local burner
kernel memdisk
append initrd=BootItNG/dosimage.IMA
label proboot
# Intel Boot Agent Utility (wiats this?)
kernel memdisk
append initrd=util/proboot.ima
label dell333b
# Intel Eather Express Pro (built into Dell V333), tcp/ip, smb
kernel memdisk
append initrd=smb/dell333.img
label xpmsdos
# WinME, might read NTFS, dosn't boot from here.
kernel memdisk
append initrd=util/xpmsdos.img pause
label w98ebd
# Win98 Emergancy Boot Disk - has drivers for all sorts of old CD's
# and a .cab uf handy utilities that get expanded into a ram disk.
kernel memdisk
append initrd=util/w98ebd.img