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nixos/docs/pxe-boot.md
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beatzaplentyandClaude Sonnet 5 ff021ca6f7
Check NixOS configurations / eval-hosts (push) Failing after 53m34s
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Consolidate CI on codex-maintenance.sh; clean up dead scripts and docs 
Both check-nixos.yml workflows (GitHub + Gitea) now call
scripts/codex-maintenance.sh instead of a hand-rolled eval-only loop,
closing a real gap: CI previously enforced none of the secret grep,
nixpkgs-fmt, or statix checks that codex-maintenance.sh already runs
locally — nothing was stopping that from regressing. One script now
backs both, instead of two copies that can drift from each other.

codex-maintenance.sh itself is extended to cover buildable surface
that wasn't validated anywhere before: packages.x86_64-linux.*, plus
config.system.build.tarball (lxc-* hosts) and
config.system.build.diskoImagesScript (proxmox-*, excluding the
installer's own proxmox-lxc target, which has no disko config).

Also:
- scripts/prepare-host-key.sh: dropped the redundant
  [path-to-nixos-repo] parameter — it always defaults to the repo the
  script itself lives in now, so a second argument never made sense
  after the nix-auto-installer migration.
- Removed prepare.sh (dead pre-disko manual parted/mkfs/mkswap
  partitioning, fully superseded) and
  scripts/create-linode-installer-disk.sh (incomplete draft for an
  abandoned dd-via-rescue-mode approach; Linode hosts already deploy
  fine through the normal auto-installer flow).
- docs/pxe-boot.md: fixed a stale `nixosConfigurations.pxe-boot` eval
  command (pre-refactor flat name, not a real flake attribute
  anymore) and added a cross-reference to docs/auto-installer.md.
- CLAUDE.md/README.md: full documentation pass reconciling this
  session's changes — modules/installer/, modules/pxe-boot/, the
  LXC/Proxmox image-building deployment paths, corrected the
  password-hash/SSH-key locations in the safety-rules section (both
  had drifted to reference files/paths that no longer exist), and
  added session-workflow guidance to prefer targeted host evals over
  full-repo sweeps for incremental changes (explicitly scoped to
  interactive sessions, not CI).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01La55Nsss8jZ7ZuzUV9mfot
2026-07-20 07:02:23 +10:00

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pxe-boot

The pxe-boot host serves HTTP boot assets for iPXE clients — including a self-staged copy of this flake's own auto-installer netboot image, see docs/auto-installer.md for what that image actually is and does once booted.

Host Role

  • Hostname: pxe-boot
  • Web service: nginx on TCP port 80
  • PXE root: /srv/pxe
  • HTTP root for scripts and images: /srv/pxe/http
  • TFTP root for first-stage bootloaders: /srv/pxe/tftp
  • iPXE entry script: /srv/pxe/http/boot.ipxe
  • Generated iPXE menu: /srv/pxe/http/menu.ipxe
  • SystemRescue iPXE script: /srv/pxe/http/systemrescue.ipxe
  • TFTP fallback script: /srv/pxe/tftp/autoexec.ipxe
  • Boot binaries copied from the Nix ipxe package:
    • /srv/pxe/tftp/ipxe.efi
    • /srv/pxe/tftp/undionly.kpxe

Directory Layout

The host creates these directories with systemd tmpfiles:

/srv/pxe
/srv/pxe/http
/srv/pxe/http/images
/srv/pxe/http/nixos
/srv/pxe/http/systemrescue
/srv/pxe/http/ubuntu
/srv/pxe/http/rescue
/srv/pxe/tftp

Mount shared image storage under /srv/pxe/http, preferably /srv/pxe/http/images unless a menu entry expects files in a specific directory such as /srv/pxe/http/nixos.

The HTTP iPXE chain is:

undionly.kpxe or ipxe.efi
  -> autoexec.ipxe from the TFTP root, when iPXE requests it
  -> http://192.168.2.247/boot.ipxe
  -> http://192.168.2.247/menu.ipxe

The generated menu currently exposes entries for:

  • NixOS installer
  • SystemRescue environment
  • iPXE shell
  • Reboot

The NixOS installer entry chain-loads /srv/pxe/http/nixos/netboot.ipxe, which is nixpkgs' own generated netboot iPXE script (correct init=/initrd= kernel parameters included) rather than a hand-rolled boot line — that script in turn expects its kernel/initrd siblings in the same directory. All three files (bzImage, initrd, netboot.ipxe) are built from this flake's own modules/installer/iso.nix netboot image (the same one nix build .#pxe produces) and staged automatically by modules/pxe-boot/stage-installer-artifacts.nix via systemd.tmpfiles.rules — no manual operator step required.

The SystemRescue entry expects the source ISO at:

/srv/pxe/http/images/systemrescue.iso

The stage-systemrescue.service oneshot extracts that ISO into:

/srv/pxe/http/systemrescue

The rescue menu entry then chains http://192.168.2.247/systemrescue.ipxe, which loads the SystemRescue kernel and initramfs from the extracted tree and uses archiso_http_srv to fetch the squashfs payload over HTTP.

Validation

Safe evaluation check:

nix eval .#nixosConfigurations.proxmox-pxe-boot.config.system.build.toplevel.drvPath --raw

After deployment by an operator, basic service checks are:

curl http://pxe-boot/boot.ipxe
curl http://pxe-boot/menu.ipxe
curl http://pxe-boot/systemrescue.ipxe
curl -I http://pxe-boot/systemrescue/sysresccd/boot/x86_64/vmlinuz
curl -I http://pxe-boot/systemrescue/sysresccd/boot/x86_64/sysresccd.img

During a successful BIOS chainload, TFTP should deliver undionly.kpxe once, then nginx should log requests for /boot.ipxe and /menu.ipxe. Repeated TFTP downloads of undionly.kpxe indicate the iPXE stage is still not reaching the HTTP chain.

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