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Title
pfSense dhcpd configuration for UEFI and BIOS PXE Boot -
Description
Since the 4.0 release of the SDA, it is possible to PXE boot both BIOS and UEFI systems simultaneously if your DHCP server allows it.
pfSense has the ability to configure DHCPD to allow this via the web interface
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Resolution
Note: Instructions are based on pfSense 2.3.2-RELEASE
In the pfSense web interface, navigate to Services | DHCP Server.
Scroll down to Network Booting and click Display Advanced.
- Check the check-box labeled Enables network booting
- Enter the SDA or RSA IP address in the Next Server field
- For the Default BIOS file name field, enter undionly.kpxe
- For both UEFI 32 and 64 bit file name fields, enter ipxe.efi
Please note that the SDA does not support PXE booting 32-bit UEFI firmware, but all three fields must be filled out for UEFI PXE booting to work.
Scroll down to Additional BOOTP/DHCP Options and click Display Advanced
- Click +Add if there is not a blank Option entry
- Enter 244 in the Option's Number field
- Change the Type drop-down menu to IP address or host
- Enter the SDA or RSA IP address in the Option's Value field
- Click Save
This will update the configuration but the service will need to restart for the changes to take effect. From our testing, it works best to stop the service, wait until it is completely stopped, then start it back up.
This can be done by clicking on the 'stop' button (a square in a circle) icon in the upper right corner of the DHCP Server page. Once the gear is done spinning and the service is stopped, a 'play' button (a triangle in a circle) will show up. Click that button and the service should start up with your new PXE configuration.
Looking at the dhcpd.conf file pfSense generates, the relevant portion of the file looks like this:
option arch code 93 = unsigned integer 16; # RFC4578
option custom-lan-0 code 244 = ip-address;
[...]
subnet 172.16.2.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
pool {
range 172.16.2.50 172.16.2.99;
}
option routers 172.16.2.5;
option domain-name-servers 172.16.2.5;
option custom-lan-0 172.16.2.174;
next-server 172.16.2.174;
if option arch = 00:06 { # This entry is for PXE booting systems with
filename "ipxe.efi"; # 32-bit UEFI firmware, which isn't supported
} else if option arch = 00:07 {
filename "ipxe.efi";
} else if option arch = 00:09 {
filename "ipxe.efi";
} else {
filename "undionly.kpxe";
}
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Additional Information
If you see an error after attempting to UEFI PXE that looks like the below, make sure all 3 file name fields are configured, even though 32-bit UEFI PXE booting is not supported _unsuccessful.hell (Unsupported option)0) Succeed to download NBP file.