Need help, network install

D

devind0

Hello,

I am looking to set up a server to install bsd over pxe. I am going to be getting a bunch of computers from my old school (10+) and need a way to quickly nuke whats on them and install bsd. I need to install bsd on all of these machines, and i figured that the network boot option would be the best way to go. All of these machines are the same model , so loading specific drivers for different hardware shouldnt be a problem.

I am using a windows server to host the bsd files, im using tftpd as the tftp server.

I have been trying to follow this guide as reference
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/pxe/article.html

But get lost part way in. What files do i need to put in my tftp server directory? How can i set it up so that the machines boot up to a tftp image, and finish the install from ftp?
(using a windows server so cant use nfs)



If someone could help me or nudge me in the direction of helpful information it would be extremely helpful, ive been at this for about 5 hours now and cant get it figured out.

thanks
-Devin
 
That article is pretty old. If you're really set on PXE, install one of those systems as a FreeBSD server. Erik Nørgaard's FreeBSD PXEBoot Guide is much newer, and my own PXE Booting Utilities With FreeBSD shows an alternate method. Surely a Windows server can do this also, but I haven't done that and can't make recommendations (other than "Don't!").

Unless you're planning on repeatedly reinstalling these to reset them after someone has used them for a while, a bootonly CD is probably just as quick and would work as well.

If they're really all identical, just install one, then backup it up with dump(8) and restore on the other systems. See Backup Options For FreeBSD.
 
Thanks

I didn't think to use one of the machines I just got as the server. That is a way better idea than mine was to use my existing windows. Thank you for the more up to date links, I'm setting up a server by following them as I write. Thank you for the helpful documentation.
-Devin
 
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