Docker image for TFTP server in PXE

This Docker image provides a TFTP server with iPXE as network bootstrap program (NBP). It is part of the Docker compose PXE service

The image is also available from Docker Hub:

$ docker pull dreknix/pxe-tftpd

Configure iPXE

The iPXE software is configured as follows:

• enable DOWNLOAD_PROTO_HTTPS
• enable PING_CMD
• enable CONSOLE_CMD
• enable CONSOLE_FRAMEBUFFER
• change KEYBOARD_MAP to de

In order to boot from local disk in UEFI mode a patch is used, which is currently not part of the main branch of iPXE.

In ipxe.pxe and ipxe.efi the script embedded.ipxe is embedded. The boot menu is loaded via:

chain http://${next-server}:8069/boot/boot.ipxe

The port can be configured by creating a .env_local file and build the image.

Configure DHCP server

The DHCP server must be configured, so that the right file will be loaded via TFTP. An example can be found in the iPXE documentation.

option architecture-type code 93 = unsigned integer 16;

subnet 192.168.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {

  interface eth0;

  # speeding up DHCP with iPXE
  option ipxe.no-pxedhcp 1;

  class "pxeclients" {

    match if substring (option vendor-class-identifier, 0, 9) = "PXEClient";

    next-server 192.168.1.69;  # pxe.example.org

    if exists user-class and option user-class = "iPXE" {
      filename "http://pxe.example.org:8069/boot/boot.ipxe";
    } elsif option architecture-type = 00:00 {
      filename "ipxe.pxe";
    } else {
      filename "ipxe.efi";
    }

  }

    ...
}

In this example the network, interface, next-server and filename url must be adjusted to the current network settings.

Testing

Show which ports are used:

$ sudo netstat -tulpn | grep tftp

Try to download a file:

$ curl tftp://localhost/ipxe.efi

License

MIT