Setting up a PXE Boot Server with Docker-Compose and boot Kali Linux (or other OSs)

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Setting up a PXE Boot Server with Docker-Compose and boot Kali Linux

In this guide I try to explain how to set up a PXE Boot Server with Pi-Hole and Docker-Compose.

Host means the machine where docker is running.

I am working in the subdirectory: /home/user/container/pihole

I used https://www.kali.org/docs/installation/network-pxe/ as an example.

1. Mount a TFTP Folder in the Pi-Hole Container.

Go in in the folder where your Pi-Hole configuration is. In my case it is:

cd /home/user/container/pihole

Create a new folder called tftpboot with

mkdir tftpboot

Edit the docker-compose.yml and mount the tftpboot to pihole. Add - './tftpboot:/tftpboot/' in the Volume section.

Example docker-compose.yml file:

version: "3"

# More info at https://github.com/pi-hole/docker-pi-hole/ and https://docs.pi-hole.net/
services:
  pihole:
    container_name: pihole
    image: pihole/pihole:latest
    ports:
      - "53:53/tcp"
      - "53:53/udp"
      - "67:67/udp"
      - "80:80/tcp"
    environment:
      TZ: 'America/Chicago'
      WEBPASSWORD: 'yourpw'
      ServerIP: '192.168.10.1'
      IPv6: 'false'
      DNSMASQ_LISTENING: 'local'
      INTERFACE: 'enp5s0'
      DHCP_ACTIVE: 'true'
      DHCP_START: '192.168.10.3'
      DHCP_END: '192.168.10.251'
      DHCP_ROUTER: '192.168.10.1'
    # Volumes store your data between container upgrades
    volumes:
      - './etc-pihole/:/etc/pihole/'
      - './etc-dnsmasq.d/:/etc/dnsmasq.d/'
      - './tftpboot:/tftpboot/'
    # Recommended but not required (DHCP needs NET_ADMIN)
    #   https://github.com/pi-hole/docker-pi-hole#note-on-capabilities
    network_mode: host
    restart: always
    cap_add:
      - NET_ADMIN

2. Now we need to tell Pi-Hole to start the integrated TFTP Server.

Change in the etc-dnsmasq.d folder.

cd etc-dnsmasq.d

Create a file 99-pxeboot.conf and add the follwing content:

touch 99-pxeboot.conf && nano 99-pxeboot.conf

Add the following content to the file and save it once finished.

dhcp-boot=pxelinux.0
enable-tftp
tftp-root=/tftpboot/
pxe-prompt="Press F8 for menu.", 60
pxe-service=x86PC,"Boot from local disk",0
pxe-service=x86PC,"Boot Kali Linux",kali/pxelinux

From here on you are done with Pi-Hole. The TFTP server should run, but it needs something to deliver to the clients.

3. Download the Netboot Image

Create a subdirectory for kali Linux in the tftp folder to provide the client with the data.

cd /home/user/container/pihole/tftpboot/ mkdir kali cd kali

Download Kali Linux.

64-bit:

wget http://http.kali.org/kali/dists/kali-rolling/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/netboot.tar.gz

32-bit:

wget http://http.kali.org/kali/dists/kali-rolling/main/installer-i386/current/images/netboot/netboot.tar.gz

Unzip and remove the Image:

tar -zxpf netboot.tar.gz rm netboot.tar.gz

4. Start Pi-Hole

You are all done. Start the Pi-Hole Container.

sudo docker-compose up -d
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