PXEBoot Linux with Docker Compose + MikroTik

Description

Service for distributing Linux ISO images over the network using PXE and HTTP.

• TFTP (pxelinux for BIOS, GRUB EFI for UEFI)
• HTTP (serves /iso and NoCloud for autoinstall)
• Menu is generated based on the contents of ./iso/ (each ISO is a separate menu item)

Installation

1. Set HOST and DEFAULT_ISO in .env

nano .env

HOST_ADDR=192.168.88.254
HTTP_PORT=8067
ISO_DIRECTORY=iso
ISO_DEFAULT=ubuntu-24.04.3-live-server-amd64.iso

2. Generate a password hash for NoCloud

openssl passwd -6 'YouPasswordHere'

3. Update username and password for autoinstall in ./etc/http/nocloud/user-data

    username: ubuntu
    password: "YourHashHere"

4. Generate kernels/initrd and menu

bash bin/run.sh

5. Start the services

docker compose up -d

6. MikroTik DHCP + PXE setup

UEFI

/ip dhcp-server network set [find where address~"192.168.88.0/24"] next-server=192.168.88.254 boot-file-name=grubx64.efi

BIOS

/ip dhcp-server network set [find where address~"192.168.88.0/24"] next-server=192.168.88.254 boot-file-name=pxelinux.0