Custom PXE Boot

When initiating a Custom PXE Boot, the server will automatically reboot and start the PXE process - it will not automatically perform a disk erase. The server will show Online and will not reflect the custom operating system you choose to install in the control panel. You must connect to the server via Remote Access in order to complete the installation.

Method

To perform an Custom PXE Boot on a server, navigate to the relevant server page, select Server Actions and choose Custom PXE Boot.
You will be presented with a confirmation dialogue and a field to provide a URL to your custom PXE script. It is recommended to provide a HTTP url vs a HTTPS url.
Select Custom PXE Boot to initiate the process. The server will reboot automatically and perform a PXE boot to load the custom PXE script your provided in Step 2.

curl --request PUT \
  --url https://api.ingenuitycloudservices.com/rest-api/servers/{server_id}/set-pxe \
  --header 'Accept: application/json' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --header 'X-Api-Token: API_KEY' \
  --data '{"pxe_script_url":"http://boot.netboot.xyz/ipxe/netboot.xyz.efi"}'

❯ ics-cli baremetal custompxe 123456 --url http://boot.netboot.xyz/ipxe/netboot.xyz.efi

PXE Scripts

PXE / iPXE is an industry standard method of allowing a server to boot and install an operating system over the network. A custom PXE script is a file containing a sequence of commands delivered over the network that tells the booting server which program to run (like an installer or a specific utility), where to find files, and what initial steps to take, effectively guiding the remote startup process.

You can learn more about the PXE process and how to write a PXE script here.

During the PXE boot process, the network will automatically be configured to provide a DHCP address to your server that matches the existing Public IP, Subnet Mask & Gateway address.

netboot.xyz

All of our servers have been tested with and fully support PXE booting from the open source project netboot.xyz which provides a pre-built PXE environment that includes many popular Linux, BSD and Windows operating systems. Using this PXE environment you can install popular operating systems such as openSUSE, Rancher, Harvester and Proxmox with no additional technical experience needed.

To get started with netboot.xyz you can find their extenstive documentation here

Note: Depending on the generation of your server and it’s existing BIOS configuration you may need to choose either the Legacy Mode BIOS or UEFI boot kernel option.

Install from an ISO

netboot.xyz also provides in-built support to install directly from some ISO based images by selecting IPXE Shell and entering the following information.

kernel https://boot.netboot.xyz/memdisk iso raw
initrd http://url/to/iso
boot

Note: There are many nuances involved in installing directly from an ISO in a PXE environment, so it is recommended to fully review the documentation provided by netboot.xyz