About

This repository contains code that provides a working PXE server (via HTTP, TFTP, DHCP, and/or iPXE) implemented purely in Python. Currently, only Python 2.6 and newer is supported. Please read DOCUMENTATION.md for further explanation of the PyPXE project as well as recommended use. See the issues page for open issues, bugs, and enhancements/improvements.

DISCLAIMER: None of thes implemented services are fully compliant with any standards or specifications. However, the true specifications and standards were followed when building PyPXE and while they work for PXE any other uses are purely coincidental. Use at your own risk.

Usage

Using PyPXE as a Library

PyPXE implements the following services for the purpose of creating a Python-based PXE environment: TFTP, HTTP, and DHCP. Each PyPXE service must be imported individually. For example, to import the TFTP service simply use:

from pypxe import tftp

or, if you prefer, you can use:

import pypxe.tftp

For more information on how each service works and how to manipulate them, see DOCUMENTATION.md.

QuickStart

pypxe-server.py uses all three services in combination with the option of enabling/disabling them individually while also setting some options. Edit the pypxe-server.py settings to your preferred settings or run with --help or -h to see what command line arguments you can pass. Treat the provided netboot directory as tftpboot that you would typically see on a TFTP server, put all of your network-bootable files in there and setup your menu(s) in netboot/pxelinux.cfg/default.

Note: Python 2.6 does not include the argparse module, it is included in the standard library as of 2.7 and newer. The argparse module is required to take in command line arguments and pypxe-server.py will not run without it.

Simply run the following command and you will have an out-of-the-box PXE-bootable server that runs TFTP and serves files out of the netboot directory!

$ sudo python pypxe-server.py

If you require the ability to handle DHCP PXE requests then you can either enable the built-in DHCP server (after configuring, of course)...

$ sudo python pypxe-server.py --dhcp

...or start pypxe-server.py in ProxyDHCP mode rather than a full DHCP server to prevent DHCP conflicts on your network...

$ sudo python pypxe-server.py --dhcp-proxy

PyPXE Server Arguments

The following are arguments that can be passed to pypxe-server.py when running from the command line:

Main Arguments

Argument	Description	Default
--ipxe	Enable iPXE ROM	False
--no-ipxe	Disable iPXE ROM	True
--http	Enable built-in HTTP server	False
--no-http	Disable built-in HTTP server	True
--dhcp	Enable built-in DHCP server	False
--dhcp-proxy	Enable built-in DHCP server in proxy mode (implies --dhcp)	False
--no-dhcp	Disable built-in DHCP server	True
--tftp	Enable built-in TFTP server which is enabled by default	True
--no-tftp	Disable built-in TFTP server which is enabled by default	False
--debug	Enable selected services in DEBUG mode; services are selected by passing the name in a comma separated list. Options are: http, tftp and dhcp; one can also prefix an option with - to prevent debugging of that service; for example, the following will enable debugging for all services except the DHCP service --debug all,-dhcp. This mode adds a level of verbosity so that you can see what's happening in the background.	''
--config	Load configuration from JSON file. (see example_cfg.json)	None
--static-config	Load DHCP lease configuration from JSON file. (see example-leases.json)	None
--syslog	Specify a syslog server	None
--syslog-port	Specify a syslog server port	514

DHCP Service Arguments

Argument	Description	Default
--dhcp-server-ip DHCP_SERVER_IP	Specify DHCP server IP address	192.168.2.2
--dhcp-server-port DHCP_SERVER_PORT	Specify DHCP server port	67
--dhcp-begin DHCP_OFFER_BEGIN	Specify DHCP lease range start	192.168.2.100
--dhcp-end DHCP_OFFER_END	Specify DHCP lease range end	192.168.2.150
--dhcp-subnet DHCP_SUBNET	Specify DHCP subnet mask	255.255.255.0
--dhcp-router DHCP_ROUTER	Specify DHCP lease router	192.168.2.1
--dhcp-dns DHCP_DNS	Specify DHCP lease DNS server	8.8.8.8
--dhcp-broadcast DHCP_BROADCAST	Specify DHCP broadcast address	'<broadcast>'
--dhcp-fileserver-ip DHCP_FILESERVER_IP	Specify DHCP file server IP address	192.168.2.2
--dhcp-whitelist	Only serve clients specified in the static lease file (--static-config)	False

File Name/Directory Arguments

Argument	Description	Default
--netboot-dir NETBOOT_DIR	Specify the local directory where network boot files will be served	'netboot'
--netboot-file NETBOOT_FILE	Specify the PXE boot file name	automatically set based on what services are enabled or disabled, see DOCUMENTATION.md for further explanation

Network Block Device Arguments

Argument	Description	Default
--nbd NBD_BLOCK_DEVICE	Specify the block device to be served by NBD and enable NBD. This can be a disk image.	''
--nbd-write	Open the block device for write access. UNSAFE: Multiple clients can cause corruption	False
--nbd-cow	When write is enabled, create a volatile file per client with their changes. Clients can write but changes are not shared or kept.	True (Only applies if write is on)
--nbd-cow-in-mem	Client volatile changes are stored in RAM rather than on disk. WARNING: High RAM usage (up to sizeof(block device)*clients)	False
--nbd-copy-to-ram	Disk image is copied to RAM on start to speed up access. Changes are lost when write is used without cow.	False
--nbd-server	The NBD server IP address to bind to	0.0.0.0
--nbd-port	The NBD server port to bind to	10809

Notes

• Core.iso located in netboot is from the TinyCore Project and is provided as an example to network boot from using PyPXE
• chainload.kpxe located in netboot is the undionly.kpxe from the iPXE Project
• ldlinux.c32, libutil.c32, pxelinux.0, menu.c32, and memdisk located in netboot are from the SYSLINUX Project version 6.02