Configure PXE Boot

When PXE boot order is set on a node in Omnia, the node automatically retrieves and boots into the diskless image provided by the Omnia Infrastructure Manager (OIM). To configure PXE boot for nodes after they are discovered with the discovery.yml playbook, do the following:

Warning

This playbook will restart your servers and power them on if they are off. Any unsaved data will be lost.

Prerequisites

  1. Dell iDRAC BMCs must be reachable from the Omnia Infrastructure Manager (OIM).

  2. PXE boot order must be set/enabled in the BIOS/UEFI settings of the target nodes.

  3. PXE support must be enabled in the NIC firmware.

  4. The dellemc.openmanage Ansible collection must be installed.

  5. iDRAC firmware must support the Boot Source Override API (iDRAC9 and later).

  6. The OIM server providing the PXE boot image must be reachable by the target nodes.

Inventory Setup

Generate the inventory file based on the mapping file.

Note

The inventory must contain a bmc group with at least one BMC IP address.

For the sample map and inventory files, see Sample Files.

Example inventory:

[bmc]
172.17.107.43
172.17.107.44
172.17.107.43

Running the Playbook

Run the following command to configure PXE boot and restart the nodes:

ssh omnia_core
cd /omnia/utils
ansible-playbook set_pxe_boot.yml -i inventory

If you have any feedback about Omnia documentation, please reach out at omnia.readme@dell.com.