Feature Type
Deep dive expanding existing tutorial
Description
Create a deep-dive companion to the existing boot-order-boot-sources.adoc (1,098 lines, ~3,160 words) that covers PXE boot infrastructure setup, automated OS installation, and advanced boot configuration topics. The current tutorial already covers 7 boot scenarios including PXE, UEFI, and Secure Boot, but the PXE section shows only the VM-side configuration without the infrastructure (DHCP, TFTP, HTTP) needed to make PXE work end-to-end.
Key Topics to Cover
- PXE boot infrastructure on OpenShift: Deploying DHCP (dnsmasq), TFTP, and HTTP servers as pods or VMs within the cluster for PXE booting VMs
- Automated OS installation via PXE + Kickstart: Complete workflow from PXE boot to unattended RHEL/CentOS installation with Kickstart files served over HTTP
- PXE boot with secondary networks: Using NAD-attached networks for PXE traffic isolation (PXE traffic on a dedicated VLAN, separate from production)
- iPXE chain loading: Using iPXE scripts for more flexible boot menus and HTTP-based boot (no TFTP dependency)
- Boot from iSCSI or Fibre Channel: Configuring VMs to boot directly from network storage (enterprise SAN integration)
- EFI variable persistence: How UEFI variable store works in KubeVirt, persisting boot order changes across reboots
- Secure Boot certificate management: Adding custom Secure Boot certificates for signed custom kernels or third-party drivers
- Boot diagnostics and serial console: Using serial console output for boot troubleshooting, capturing boot logs
- Boot performance optimization: Comparing boot times across source types (containerDisk vs PVC vs HTTP), virtio-scsi vs virtio-blk performance at boot
Value Proposition
The current tutorial shows what boot options are available. This deep dive shows how to build the infrastructure behind PXE boot and automated installation, which is essential for large-scale VM provisioning (deploying 100+ VMs via PXE) and enterprise environments that mandate network-based OS deployment.
Suggested Module
modules/vm-lifecycle/
Feature Type
Deep dive expanding existing tutorial
Description
Create a deep-dive companion to the existing
boot-order-boot-sources.adoc(1,098 lines, ~3,160 words) that covers PXE boot infrastructure setup, automated OS installation, and advanced boot configuration topics. The current tutorial already covers 7 boot scenarios including PXE, UEFI, and Secure Boot, but the PXE section shows only the VM-side configuration without the infrastructure (DHCP, TFTP, HTTP) needed to make PXE work end-to-end.Key Topics to Cover
Value Proposition
The current tutorial shows what boot options are available. This deep dive shows how to build the infrastructure behind PXE boot and automated installation, which is essential for large-scale VM provisioning (deploying 100+ VMs via PXE) and enterprise environments that mandate network-based OS deployment.
Suggested Module
modules/vm-lifecycle/