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README.md

Netboot2container

A quick and dirty solution to run your favourite containers on your local machines through the magic of netbooting, and boot2container!

Requirements

Network topology

graph TD
    I[Internet] <-->|eth0| G(Gateway)
    G <--> |eth1| S(Switch)
    S <--> U1[Raspberry<br>Pi 4]
    S <--> U2[Raspberry<br>Pi 3]
    S <--> U4[AMD64<br>Computer]

Host / Gateway

Here are the list of packages you need to install before you may:

  • dnsmasq
  • ip
  • iptables
  • jq
  • sudo
  • wget

When this is done, just run the following command:

$ ./start.sh [interface] 
Exposing the netboot service on enp5s0f1u3, NATed to enp4s0
Using Boot2container v0.9.9

# Downloading/re-using the iPXE artifacts

Re-using the existing tftp/boot/x86_64/ipxe.efi artifact
Re-using the existing tftp/boot/x86_64/undionly.kpxe artifact
Re-using the existing tftp/boot/arm64/ipxe.efi artifact

# Downloading/re-using the boot2container artifacts

Re-using the existing tftp/boot/arm64/b2c_v0.9.9_linux artifact
Re-using the existing tftp/boot/arm64/b2c_v0.9.9_initramfs.cpio.xz artifact
Re-using the existing tftp/boot/x86_64/b2c_v0.9.9_linux artifact
Re-using the existing tftp/boot/x86_64/b2c_v0.9.9_initramfs.cpio.xz artifact

# Setting up the network interface enp5s0f1u3

+ sudo ip addr flush dev enp5s0f1u3
+ sudo ip addr add dev enp5s0f1u3 10.0.0.1/24
+ log 'Routing traffic from the netbooted machines through INTERFACE_LISTEN enp4s0'

# Routing traffic from the netbooted machines through INTERFACE_LISTEN enp4s0

+ sudo sysctl -w net.ipv4.ip_forward=1
net.ipv4.ip_forward = 1
+ sudo iptables -A FORWARD -i enp5s0f1u3 -o enp4s0 -j ACCEPT
+ sudo iptables -A FORWARD -i enp5s0f1u3 -o enp4s0 -m state --state ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
+ sudo iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o enp4s0 -j MASQUERADE
+ log 'Starting DNSMASQ'

# Starting DNSMASQ

+ sudo dnsmasq --port 0 --dhcp-leasefile=/home/mupuf/src/pxe_boot/dnsmasq.leases --dhcp-match=set:ipxe,175 --dhcp-match=set:efi-arm64,option:client-arch,11 --dhcp-match=set:efi-x86_64,option:client-arch,9 --dhcp-match=set:efi-x86_64,option:client-arch,7 --dhcp-match=set:efi-x86,option:client-arch,6 --dhcp-match=set:pcbios,option:client-arch,0 '--tag-if=set:efi-arm64-boot,tag:efi-arm64,tag:!ipxe' '--tag-if=set:efi-x86_64-boot,tag:efi-x86_64,tag:!ipxe' '--tag-if=set:efi-x86-boot,tag:efi-x86,tag:!ipxe' '--tag-if=set:pcbios-boot,tag:pcbios,tag:!ipxe' --dhcp-boot=tag:efi-arm64-boot,/boot/arm64/ipxe.efi --dhcp-boot=tag:efi-x86_64-boot,/boot/x86_64/ipxe.efi --dhcp-boot=tag:pcbios-boot,/boot/x86_64/undionly.kpxe --dhcp-boot=tag:ipxe,/boot/main.ipxe --dhcp-range=10.0.0.10,10.0.0.100 --dhcp-option=option:dns-server,9.9.9.9 --dhcp-script=/bin/echo --enable-tftp=enp5s0f1u3 --tftp-root=/home/mupuf/src/pxe_boot/tftp --log-facility=- --log-queries=extra --conf-file=/dev/null --interface=enp5s0f1u3 --no-daemon
Jan 24 19:05:59 dnsmasq[375779]: started, version 2.88 DNS disabled
Jan 24 19:05:59 dnsmasq[375779]: compile time options: IPv6 GNU-getopt DBus no-UBus i18n IDN2 DHCP DHCPv6 no-Lua TFTP conntrack ipset nftset auth cryptohash DNSSEC loop-detect inotify dumpfile
Jan 24 19:05:59 dnsmasq-dhcp[375779]: DHCP, IP range 10.0.0.10 -- 10.0.0.100, lease time 1h
Jan 24 19:05:59 dnsmasq-tftp[375779]: TFTP root is /home/mupuf/src/pxe_boot/tftp

Netbooted machines

Test machines require:

  • An ethernet port, connected to the gateway's interface
  • Bootloader:
    • EFI-capable: Not a problem for x86_64, harder for aarch64 (see arm64 bootloaders)
    • PXE-capable

Turn on the machine, and it should netboot!