Setting up the PXE server for high availability

To set a PXE server to be continuously available to manage requests, set up redundant PXE servers on the same subnetwork.

To set up redundant PXE servers

1. Install and configure the PXE server and its corresponding TFTP server for your provisioning environment, if you have not already done so. This PXE server is the primary PXE server. For information about installing on:

   • Windows — See Installing-the-PXE-server-on-Windows.
   • Linux or UNIX — See Installing-only-the-PXE-server-on-Linux-or-UNIX.

   To configure the PXE server and TFTP server, see Configuring-the-PXE-and-TFTP-servers. 

2. Install a second PXE server and TFTP server on a different host in the same subnetwork.
3. Configure the secondary PXE server using the same settings as for the primary PXE server.

4. Configure the secondary TFTP server by editing the pxe.conf file on the secondary PXE server.
    By default, pxe.conf resides in the following location:

   1. Add the following line to the pxe.conf file:
      use_config_file=true
   2. Specify the same settings as for the primary TFTP server, except for the tftp_server_address and tftp_base_directory. For these settings, specify the IP address and base directory of the secondary TFTP server.
5. Restart the secondary PXE server.

6. If your network environment is complex (for example, an IP-Helper environment or a PXE boot environment across subnetworks), register both the primary and secondary PXE servers' IP addresses with IP-Helper.
   If the primary PXE server fails, the secondary PXE server manages the PXE requests.

   Note

   The Infrastructure Management window does not provide information on the PXE server if the PXE server is set up for high availability.