Sites no longer need either MAC in site-vars.
pxe_nic_mac empty: before anything changes, the playbook runs
pxe-pick-nic --auto. It takes the one wired port with a link, accepts it
only if pxe-nic-check calls it isolated (no LLDP/CDP/802.1X, no other
DHCP server, at most 10 hosts heard in 65 s), and pins it. The choice is
saved in /etc/pxe-server/nic-pick.conf and never re-guessed at boot.
When it cannot tell (no link, two links, not isolated) nothing changes,
and the console banner says why and to run sudo pxe-pick-nic: pull the
imaging cable and plug it back in, and the port that blinked is the
imaging one. Both helpers are installed before the pick, so that works
after a refused first boot. The site's corp domains and allowed
switches are passed to the check.
corp_nic_mac empty: every other wired port (en*, eth*) is a catch-all
DHCP client, so GE can be plugged in at install or later.
- dnsmasq stays pinned with interface=pxe0. A new check refuses any
dhcp-range outside the imaging subnet, and proxy ranges.
- The catch-all ports ignore offers from 172.16.9.1.
- UFW allows SSH and 9009 by source on any interface, and keeps those
rules when the old any-interface rules are removed.
- pxe_nic_name must not look like en*/eth* in this mode.
pxe-netplan-apply.sh takes 3 or 5 args. Without a pinned GE NIC it:
- renames stray names (the old pxe0 after a re-pick, a leftover corp0)
to enx<mac>, so the catch-all takes them, and restores them on revert;
- checks that every NIC that had a DHCP address before has one after,
tracked by MAC.
With both MACs set (the WJ server), netplan, the dnsmasq pin and UFW
render byte-for-byte as before.
Tested in the pxetest VMs:
- Fresh install with no MACs and the GE link down: the imaging port was
picked and pinned as pxe0 with 172.16.9.1, and dnsmasq bound DHCP to
pxe0 only. GE plugged in afterwards got a lease, SSH worked, and the
guard reported pxe0 isolated.
- --auto refuses with two links.
- The interactive pick works by pulling and replugging the link.
- A 3-arg re-apply is UNCHANGED.
Unit tests (fake sysfs) cover the re-pick and pinned-to-catch-all renames.
H1 corp_admin_cidrs (UFW 22/9009 on the corp NIC from these only; refuses
when it would lock out the current SSH client) and corp_ssh_password_auth
(sshd drop-in, passwords only from the imaging subnet). Defaults keep the
current behaviour and print a loud warning.
H2 pxe-netplan-apply.sh: pre-flight refusal (pxe-MAC NIC holds the default
route, a DHCP lease or the route to an SSH client), run from the USB
before anything changes; post-apply checks (names, imaging IPv4, corp
IPv4 back within 30 s, SSH route) and a 120 s systemd-run auto-revert.
H3 restore() puts the previous NIC names back (two-phase rename via
temporary names, so swaps work) before generate + apply.
H4 a failed rename is fatal (restore + exit 1); the play drops the old
any-interface UFW rules only after verifying both NICs and their
per-interface SSH rules.
H5 first-boot checks the playbook exit code, retries at next boot (max 5),
writes /var/lib/pxe-firstboot.failed and /etc/issue + /etc/motd banners.
M1 build-usb.sh verifies iPXE files against the playbook pins, every wheel
against its own package's hashes, drops the unpinned pip fallback,
requires --site-vars or --no-site-vars.
M2 webapp restarts when the code, wheels or unit changed.
M3 ignore-carrier on the imaging NIC; ip_nonlocal_bind kept for the
apache/networkd boot race.
M4 menu suffix must match blancco_kver; missing kernel with no earlier
build is fatal; a live menu with the staged Blancco test entry is not
overwritten.
M5 build-proxmox-iso.sh is unsupported (hard exit); use build-usb --image.
M6 deploy-unattend.sh: password via SSHPASS env and sudo stdin only,
%q-quoted remote args, sha256 check of the live file; lint-unattend.py
reads PXE_SERVER/PXE_USER/PXE_PASS and uses sshpass -e.
M7 the playbook lints the unattend files before the force: yes copies
(lint-unattend.py ships on CIDATA as scripts/); pre-commit ACMR.
M8 Blancco initramfs build: no ignore_errors, pipefail, trap cleanup.
Also: Send-ImagingStage.ps1 deploy, carrier hook install tasks
(pxe-nic-carrier, networkd-dispatcher), L1 imaging-active hold
(allow_disruptive) and no iPXE downgrade below an Updates-page install,
L2 iso-volid, L3 kver pin read from the playbook, L4 cp -rL, L5 refuse
>= 4 GiB WinPE files, L6 PIP_DIR wipe guard, L7 per-package wheel hashes,
no online fallback, L8 check-updates.py (apt_pkg/cached compare, all
components, exit 2 on no debs / bad answers).
- autoinstall: dead mirror + fallback offline-install, so the installed
base is exactly the ISO's; late-commands run offline-apt-install.sh on
CIDATA packages/ (local apt repo, one transaction, errors fail the
install, log /var/log/offline-apt-install.log); first boot no longer
runs dpkg -i; real archive sources written back at the end.
- download-packages.sh --iso: unpacks the ISO's default install source
into a docker image (pxe-iso-base:<version>) and downloads there: all
updates of the base, the explicit list (zip included) and the newest
pool packages with their closure; writes Packages + explicit.list and
checks the set offline in a fresh base container (--network none).
- offline-apt-install.sh: new; also used by that check (--simulate).
- build-usb.sh: ships Packages, explicit.list and the script; refuses a
set without them.
- tests/vm: pxetest-client-nosb (Secure Boot off, e1000e, SATA), one
client at a time.
Every server has an imaging NIC (static, the only one that serves
DHCP/TFTP/HTTP boot/SMB) and a GE corporate NIC (DHCP client, SSH and the
webapp on 9009). The playbook guessed the PXE NIC and the installer put
172.16.9.1/24 on every en* NIC, so a two-NIC box could answer on the GE
network.
- New per-site vars pxe_nic_mac / corp_nic_mac (required, from
playbook/site-vars.yml or -e; template site-vars.example.yml), stable
names pxe_nic_name / corp_nic_name (default pxe0 / corp0, overridable),
pxe_server_ip, pxe_subnet, DHCP range. pxe_imaging_mac / pxe_ge_mac are
derived from them. The play stops before touching anything if a MAC is
unset, malformed, duplicated or not on the box (lists the box's NICs).
- Heuristic NIC detection and the single-NIC netplan task replaced by a
two-NIC netplan template (match macaddress + set-name), installed by
pxe-netplan-apply.sh: validate in a scratch root, back up, generate,
rename, apply, restore the previous config on any failure. cloud-init
network config disabled so it cannot rewrite it.
- dnsmasq: /etc/dnsmasq.d/pxe-nic-only.conf from the vars (interface=,
except-interface=, no-dhcp-interface=); dnsmasq.conf IP/range from vars.
- UFW per interface: imaging NIC 22, 67/udp, 69/udp, 80, 4433, 445, 139,
137/udp, 138/udp, 9009; GE NIC 22 and 9009 only. Old any-interface rules
and the stale 9011 rule removed after the new ones are in.
- sysctl drop-in: IPv4/IPv6 forwarding off; ip_nonlocal_bind so Apache
can bind the imaging IP before the address is up.
- Samba [global]: interfaces = 127.0.0.0/8 <imaging NIC>, bind interfaces
only. Apache 80 and 4433 on the imaging IP only; 9009 stays on all (TODO:
the webapp has no auth).
- autoinstall: DHCP only on en*, no static 172.16.9.1; apt geoip off and
offline-install fallback now that the corp NIC may have a lease.
- Blancco UEFI/Secure Boot: blancco_kver (7.0.0-34-generic) drives the
kernel, initramfs and modules builds instead of the running kernel;
outputs vmlinuz-ubuntu-70, kexec-initrd-70.img, kmod-<kver>.tar.gz as the
menu and blancco-init.sh expect; creates: guards keyed on the full kver.
Ubuntu's shimx64.efi.signed published as blancco/shimx64.efi.
download-packages.sh adds shim-signed, linux-generic-hwe-24.04 and the
pinned linux-image/modules/modules-extra for BLANCCO_KVER.
Rendered with the live MACs and names, netplan generate output is
identical to the live config; pxe-nic-only.conf and the Samba binding
match live directive for directive.
Single-site bay-stuck issue at WJ: GE Intune Report IP script filters
Get-NetIPAddress on StartsWith("10.") and posts everything matching
to the GE Tines webhook. Bays at WJ get the PXE LAN 10.9.100.x IP
captured and reported -> GE backend tags bays as on a non-corp 10.x
subnet -> dynamic group eligibility for SFLD policy never matches.
Other GE sites work because their PXE LANs aren't on 10.x at all.
Renumber PXE LAN to RFC1918 172.16.9.0/24 so the GE filter naturally
skips wired PXE addresses without any disable-NIC dance.
Server-side already in flight (netplan dual-bound, dnsmasq scope +
boot URL repointed, blancco preferences + grub.cfg + iPXE GetPxeScript
all sed'd to 172.16.9.1). This commit is the playbook / scripts /
docs side: 109 hits across 35 files sed'd in one shot.
After this lands + boot.wim is rebuilt + bays renumber off DHCP,
the 10.9.100.1 binding will be dropped from netplan as the final
cleanup step.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
- autoinstall/user-data: move lvextend/growpart/pvresize BEFORE playbook
so 130GB of drivers+PPKGs fits during first-boot copy. Use
tr -d "[:space:]" to avoid breaking outer bash -c single-quote wrap.
- playbook: add executable: /bin/bash to Dell driver deploy (process
substitution) and Blancco initramfs builder (brace expansion).
- playbook: make "Ensure Samba user for Blancco reports" idempotent via
pdbedit check so re-runs don't abort the play.
- download-packages.sh: also download dist-upgrade package set. Explicit
--simulate misses transitive version bumps (e.g. gnupg 17.4 needs
matching gpgv 17.4) causing offline dpkg "dependency problems" when
ISO baseline is older than noble-updates.
- Monitor-IntuneProgress: Display PCs skip DSC phases entirely (no SAS
token, no DSCInstall.log), complete after Phase 1 identity. Renderer
hides Phase 2-5 for Display type.
- Playbook: deploy PPKG files and run-enrollment.ps1 from USB to
enrollment share. Bump dnsmasq restart cron from 15s to 30s.
- build-usb.sh: copy enrollment/ directory (PPKGs) onto USB if present.
- user-data: add dpkg --configure -a after offline .deb install to fix
packages left in unconfigured state (cron, systemd-timesyncd).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Add /user:pxe-upload pxe credentials to all net use commands (share requires auth)
- Replace timeout with ping delays (timeout.exe not available in WinPE)
- Restore size: largest disk match in autoinstall (root cause was BIOS RST mode)
- Simplify autoinstall late-commands structure
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Autoinstall user-data now disables cloud-init in multiple stages
(late-commands + runcmd + systemd masks) to prevent post-install
hangs. Also disables networkd-wait-online for air-gapped networks.
build-usb.sh switched from in-place ISO patching to full extract
and rebuild with xorriso mkisofs for reliable UEFI boot.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- build-usb.sh now patches the ISO's grub.cfg with xorriso to add
'autoinstall' kernel param (skips confirmation prompt) and reduces
GRUB timeout from 30s to 5s
- Disable and remove cloud-init on the installed system to prevent
boot delays on air-gapped network
- Fix ISO size calculation to use patched ISO for CIDATA partition offset
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Adds interactive-sections: [] to avoid the "Continue with autoinstall?" prompt,
and disables cloud-init on the installed system to prevent boot delays.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Fix pip/distutils incompatibility: install Python wheels directly via
zipfile extraction instead of broken pip3 from Ubuntu 22.04 .debs
(pip3 crashes on Python 3.12 with ModuleNotFoundError: distutils)
- Fix UFW port types: quote loop items so string comparison works
correctly, giving ports 67/69 UDP rules instead of TCP
- Fix autoinstall crash: set refresh-installer to no (can't reach
internet on air-gapped network, was crashing subiquity)
- Remove python3-pip and python3-venv from download-packages.sh
(no longer needed with direct wheel extraction)
- Add ignore_errors to WinPE/iPXE copy tasks (files only present
on real USB media, not test VM)
- Use system python3 instead of venv for webapp service
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Add comprehensive README.md with full project documentation
- Update SETUP.md to reflect current state (7 image types, webapp, boot tools, Samba shares)
- Enable SSH in autoinstall user-data for remote access
- Fix ansible_default_ipv4.interface error when no default gateway exists
- Fix Windows CRLF line endings on all shell scripts and YAML files
- Fix test-vm.sh: use --install kernel extraction instead of --location, don't delete source ISO on --destroy
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Reorganized from OneDrive export into a clean project structure:
- autoinstall/: cloud-init user-data and meta-data for Ubuntu 24.04 autoinstall
- playbook/: Ansible playbook for PXE server config (dnsmasq, Apache, Samba, iPXE)
- unattend/: Windows unattend.xml sample for image deployment
- build-usb.sh: builds a bootable USB with Ubuntu installer + CIDATA partition
- download-packages.sh: downloads all offline .deb dependencies via Docker
Key improvements over original:
- Fully air-gapped: all packages bundled offline, no WiFi needed
- Hardware-agnostic network config (wildcard NIC matching)
- Removed plaintext WiFi credentials
- Single USB build process (was 15+ manual steps)
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
