Multiple TFTP servers

Including multiple TFTP servers

This section was added based on this forum thread with credit going to Jordan Hoff who describes how to provide the necessary services to allow FOG to span across isolated network segments. A traditional 'Master Storage Node' as described here only provides File Storage services to increase unicast throughput within a single network. The steps below describe how to modify a Storage Node to also provide PXE and TFTP services for a separate network segment.

Ubuntu Server LTS 10.04 using fog_0.29

sudo is assumed unless specified.

Changes on the Master Server

On the master server, edit the /etc/exports file, and append the following line:

/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg *(ro,sync,no_wdelay,no_root_squash,insecure,no_subtree_check)

While you're in there, append no_subtree_check to the other entries to prevent warnings in the next step.
Then, enable the newly configured exports by executing the following command:

exportfs -a

Now, we need to setup rsyncd:
Edit /etc/default/rsync to change RSYNC_ENABLE=false to:

RSYNC_ENABLE=inetd

Install xinetd:

sudo apt-get -y install xinetd

Create or edit /etc/xinetd.d/rsync file to launch rsync (if it already exists just change RSYNC_ENABLE=false to:RSYNC_ENABLE=true):

service rsync
{
    disable = no
    socket_type = stream
    wait = no
    user = root
    server = /usr/bin/rsync
    server_args = --daemon
    log_on_failure += USERID
    flags = IPv6
}

Now create or edit a /etc/rsyncd.conf file with the following:

max connections = 2
motd file = /etc/rsyncd.motd
log file = /var/log/rsyncd.log
pid file = /var/run/rsyncd.pid
lock file = /var/run/rsync.lock
timeout = 300

[tftpboot]
    path = /tftpboot
    comment = Fog tftpboot share
    read only = true
    exclude = *pxelinux.cfg/*

And start the rsyncd daemon:

rsync --daemon

Restart xinetd:

service xinetd restart

Now, our master server is ready to share everything it needs for another PXE server to operate. Lets go and setup a new server!

---

Setting up the remote Storage Node

Setup your secondary server as you normally would, before installing fog. (In this example, I use Ubuntu, so you will have to modify this process if you are using anything else)
After the network is configured and updates are applied, download and extract fog_0.29 following the basic instructions.
Before executing the setup script, there are two files to modify:
Edit the main /opt/fog-setup/fog_0.29/bin/installfog.sh script. Locate the section titled:# Storage Node installation Insert the following line after configureFTP; and save the script:

configureTFTPandPXE;

Edit the /opt/fog-setup/fog_0.29/lib/ubuntu/config.sh script: Locate the line beginning with storageNodePackages (on line #24) and add these two packages within the quotes:

tftpd-hpa tftp-hpa

Then, just install the fog storage node as usual. The modifications above will install and configure TFTP / PXE services for us. Then, all we have to do is tie it back to the main server.

First, remove everything in the /tftpboot folder on the secondary node:

rm -rf /tftpboot/*

Now initiate rsync for the /tftpboot folder:

rsync -rv mainserver.yourcompany.com::tftpboot/ /tftpboot

Now, we setup the crontab to run every hour(at the 15 minute mark of each, or modify to your liking)

crontab -e (you may be asked to select an editor)
15 * * * * rsync -rv mainserver.yourcompany.com::tftpboot /tftpboot

Then, all that is left is to setup our NFS share for the pxelinux.cfg folder. Modify /etc/fstab and add the following:

mainserver.yourcompany.com:/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg nfs nolock 0 0

Save and close, then we mount this folder one time (the fstab entry above ensures that it will re-mount automatically at reboot):

mount /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg

Add the Storage Node to your main server

See: Adding the Node to the Management Portal
And that's it! Go ahead and test out your fancy new PXE server.

Exceptions

• Note that in testing the above solution did NOT automatically sync the /images folder. I manually run the following command for each image I want from the Storage Node:

  sudo scp -r root@mainFOGserver:/images/nameOfImage /images/

• Another very useful addition is this patch which provides clients the intelligence to use the closest node.
• This also does NOT provide WOL packets to be sent via the local Storage Nodes.