Network Boot Pi (Raspberry Pi)

Continuing my current Raspberry Pi themed posts (making a BASH script executable, installing web server in a BASH script) today I will be looking at network booting a Raspberry Pi.

For this exercise I’m using Debian Stretch with Raspberry Pi Desktop, available from https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspberry-pi-desktop/ , running in a virtual machine. Debian Stretch with Raspberry Pi Desktop is an operating system (OS) for use on PCs/Macs that would normally run Microsoft Windows/Apple Mac OS or Linux.

I’ll also be using a Raspberry Pi 3 model B connected to my home network via ethernet cable. Please note the network boot requires the Pi to be connected via ethernet cable and be on the same network. The Pi must also be network bootable, which the Pi 3 model B is.

The virtual machine will be acting as the server and the Pi will be the client.

Within Raspberry Desktop, click the Raspberry in the top left and navigate to Preferences > Pi Server, this will open the Pi Server software and give an introduction outlining the requirements of using Pi Server.

The next screen will show the MAC address of the Raspberry Pi(s) that are detectable on your network.

The authentication method is then chosen. The Pi Server can act as the authentication method and that is what I am using today, however there are also options for Active Directory (normally used in a Windows network environment) and other LDAP services.

The Pi Server gives the option to download a Raspbian OS, install from a local file or install from a URL. I am currently going with Raspbian Full.

The OS then goes through the installation process. Please note this can take some time depending on which OS you are installing, for Raspbian Full it took around 20 minutes.