How to boot Apple Mac via PXE (custom mini-Linux)

Question

I have a network system, where I serve a mini-linux to a connecting client via PXE (pxelinux.0).

I can't get this to work with Mac OS X. Booting from network is there saved for backup operations. I am using PXE v4 (or sometimes 6, if this is better). DHCP serves information like IP, next-server and bootfile.

How could I get this to work on a Mac? Something like gParted? I never tried it.

Answer 1

MACs do not use "exactly" PXE; they use a similar environment called Boot Server Discovery Protocol (BSDP).

The OS X Server includes a system tool called NetBoot. A NetBoot client uses BSDP to dynamically acquire resources that enable it to boot a suitable operating system. BSDP is crafted on top of DHCP using vendor-specific information to provide the additional NetBoot functionality not present in standard DHCP. The protocol is implemented in client firmware. At boot time, the client obtains an IP address via DHCP then discovers boot servers using BSDP. Each BSDP server responds with boot information consisting of:

1. A list of bootable operating system images
2. The default operating system image
3. The client’s currently selected operating system image (if defined)

The client chooses an operating system from the list and sends a message to the server indicating its selection. The selected boot server responds supplying the boot file and boot image, and any other information needed to download and execute the selected operating system.

source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preboot_Execution_Environment#Sibling_environments

Answer 2

It's possible to PXEboot Intel Macs by first booting a utility like the IPXE replacement PXE firmware:

http://ipxe.org/

If your mac has A CD/DVD drive, this isn't too bad, you just burn the IPXE ISO file to a CD and stick it in the CD/DVD drive whenever you want to PXE boot.

If your mac is new enough that it doesn't have CD/DVD drive then I think you can make a bootable USB drive using the EFI version of IPXE. This is, however, much more involved. A Mac doesn't seem to be willing to boot MBR formatted USB sticks, so you can't just get a Live USB image that supports netboot. I've actually been trying to figure out how to do this myself and have not yet quite figured out what's required.