Here is a quick one on setting up a pxe server for your home lab that I just finally clicked for me.

Setting up Netboot.xyz on Unraid

First thing we need to do is get a pxe server running. If you are running Unraid, then great. netboot.xyz has a docker app setup and ready to go. All we have to do is configure it.

The base configuration is great for the most part. Make sure you don’t have any port overlap issues. You cannot switch the pxe port 69. But the webui and the file server can be mapped to whatever port you need.

Update assets to point somewhere on your unraid server. This is where you can host various things like your ubuntu autoinstall files. Mine is mapped to /mnt/user/data/netboot/assets.

Other than that, scroll to the bottom and click apply. When its all finished you can see the WebUI on its port and the file server on the other.

We are done here. Lets move on.

Setting up your DHCP Server on PFSense for PXE boot

1. Navigate to Services > DHCP Server
2. Select the DHCP Server that you are going to configure
3. Check Enable Network Booting
4. Set Next Server to the IP of your Netboot container

   Just the IP, not the port

5. For the next 5 file name fields just set them all to netboot.xyz.efi
6. Click Save
7. Click Apply

Go test it out and PROFIT

For more info, here are some links that I referenced.

Linuxservers.io Netboot Docker Repo

Instructions for other DHCP Servers can be found above

Linuxserver.io netboot intro blog post

LA Robertos Blog Post