Network boot a bunch of Raspberry Pi 3¶

Assumptions¶

Installed OS on server: Debian
Installed OS on clients: Raspbian
bootcode.bin installed on each SD-Card

Prerequisites¶

Install packages on server:
```
dnsmasq nfs-kernel-server tcpdump
```
Modify the common cmdline.txt:
```
dwc_otg.lpm_enable=0 console=serial0,115200 console=tty1 root=/dev/nfs \
nfsroot=<server-ip>:/<nfs-root>,udp,nfsvers=3,rsize=32768,wsize=32768, \
hard,intr rw ip=dhcp rootwait elevator=deadline
```
With the following parameters:
- server-ip: The IP address of your NFS server
- nfs-root: The root directory of the exported NFS filesystem
Note

Use the nfsvers/rsize/wsize parameters for higher speed.
Put a copy of the complete /boot directory of a raspbian install into a directory with the name /tftpboot/rpi.
Add to /etc/dnsmasq.conf:
```
port=0
dhcp-range=<ip-range>,proxy
log-dhcp
enable-tftp
tftp-root=/tftpboot
pxe-service=0,"Raspberry Pi Boot   "
dhcp-ignore=tag:!known
dhcp-host=<mac-address>,<ip-address>
dhcp-host=b8:27:eb:82:8f:f4,140.181.65.134 #landpi003
```
With the following parameters:
- ip-range: Range of IP addresses to listen to (e.g. 192.168.1.255)
- mac-address: MAC address of client
- ip-address: IP address of client
Note

Make sure to include the three spaces in the pxe-service name. Add one ‘dhcp-host’ line per managed client.

Modify /etc/exports:

# Example export for network-booted raspberry pis
/nfs/rpi *(rw,sync,no_subtree_check,no_root_squash)

This location contains the complete / tree of a raspbian install.

Prepare raspberry pi¶

Program usb boot mode using the original SD-Card image:

sudo su
apt-get update
apt-get install rpi-update
BRANCH=next rpi-update
echo program_usb_boot_mode=1 >> /boot/config.txt
reboot

Check that this was successful:
```
vcgencmd otp_dump | grep 17
Should yield: 17:3020000a
```
Remove the program_usb_boot_mode=1 line from /boot/config.txt

Prepare SD-card¶

Copy bootcode.bin from ‘next’ branch of rpi-update (hexxeh) to an otherwise empty SD-card:

cfdisk /dev/mmcblk0 # Delete all partitions, and create a new one.
sudo mkfs.vfat /dev/mmcblk0p1
mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt
wget https://github.com/Hexxeh/rpi-firmware/raw/next/bootcode.bin
cp bootcode.bin /mnt

Assuming that your SD-card is mounted as mmcblk0.

Prepare server¶

Start watching for bootpc requests from raspberrypi:
```
tcpdump -i eth0 port bootpc | grep b8:27
```

Add a line to /etc/dnsmasq.conf:

dhcp-host=<mac-address>,<ip-address> #<hostname>
Example:
dhcp-host=b8:27:eb:12:3b:4c,192.168.1.3 #raspberrypi003

On the server start a watcher on tftp-requests:

sudo tail -f /var/log/syslog | grep tftp

Watch for lines like:

dnsmasq-tftp[5790]: file /tftpboot/<serial-number>/start.elf not found

Write down <serial-number>

Create a symbolic link for this serial number:
```
cd /tftpboot
ln -s rpi <serial-number>
```
/tftpboot/rpi contains all /boot files (see above)

Modify /nfs/rpi/etc/rc.local:

Add a line after # Set hostname based on serial number
test ${_SN} == "<serial-number>" && hname=<hostname>

Copy the var directory:
```
cd /nfs/rpi
cp -r rpi <serial-number>
```
Reboot the raspberrypi It should come up now and boot from the server. You should be able to log in via ssh