3.0 PXE Booting

Instructions for automating dual-boot operating system switching assume that you are using a PXE boot setup, including a DHCP server and TFTP server on the Linux head node. It is easiest to set up dual-booting via PXE if the cluster has its own network segment and subnet (to avoid potential DHCP conflicts).

You should set up dual booting only for compute nodes.

To automate dual-boot operating system switching during the Linux installation, do the following:

• Install the operating systems on each compute node in this order:
1. Windows
2. Linux
• 3.1 Configuring a DHCP Server
• 3.2 TFTP Server and PXE Booting
• 3.2.1 Switching Operating Systems with xCAT