Set Up Bootstrap Host

To be able to bootstrap your physical hosts and install an OS you need the following components in your infrastructure:

  • A PXE enabled DHCP server on the same L2 network with the physical hosts.
  • A TFTP server.
  • An HTTP server.

All these components can live on the same host. This guide will walk you through creating a bootstrap host that will act as DHCP/TFTP/HTTP server for your infrastructure.

Fast Forward

If you already have all these components in your infrastructure, and you are able to access and configure them, proceed to the What’s Next section.

Note

In case you already have a working DHCP server but you cannot change its configuration, you still need a bootstrap host so that you set up a PXE environment using a proxyDHCP server.

See also

What You’ll Need

  • A configured management environment.
  • A host on the same L2 network with the physical hosts, that will act as your bootstrap host.
  • The IP address of that host.

Procedure

  1. Connect to your host via its console.

  2. Install a Linux OS on your bootstrap host. Follow the official installation guide. Choose one of the following options based on your desired OS.

    Debian 11

    Follow the official installation instructions for Debian bullseye.

Verify

  1. Go to your management environment and SSH to your bootstrap host:

    root@rok-tools:~# ssh root@<IP>

    Replace <IP> with the IP address of your bootstrap host, for example:

    root@rok-tools:~# ssh root@192.168.2.10 root@host:~#

Summary

You have successfully created a bootstrap host.

What’s Next

The next step is to create an SSH key that you are going to use to connect to your physical hosts after the OS installation completes.