Config Manager¹ Install Instructions

Terms

RED interface - Network interface to the wider network/internet GREEN interface - Network interface to the internal, private network.

The easy way

Install ubuntu 22.04LTS and perform base configuration. You should know what interface will be RED and GREEN, the IP address for the GREEN network (the appliance performs DHCP on the GREEN interface network), the GREEN network DHCP information(Start IP, End IP, CIDR netmask, lease length) Then as an administrator run:

wget -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mieweb/GeniSys/main/create_config_manager.sh | bash

Install

Starting from Ubuntu 22.04 LTS install necessary tools:

`sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade`

`sudo apt-get install dnsmasq`

`sudo apt-get install iptables`

`sudo apt-get install iptables-persistent`

`sudo apt-get install vsftpd` 

Configure

Config Files

Modify/copy the dnsmasq.conf and vsftpd.conf to match the files provided here. We also need to copy over the dhclient_enx.service file that will run the dhcclient service for the "external" interface. Be sure to modify these configs with the correct interface names. In the sample configs provided here the interfaces are:

Internal:eno1

External:enx00e04c3613f7

Networking

Modify /etc/sysctl.conf by adding/uncommenting net.ipv4.ip_forward=1. This tells Ubuntu to forward packets not meant for us instead of discarding them. sudo sysctl -p to reload the config. You will also need to modify the netplan configuration for the interface that will be "internal" the name of the interfaces will vary. This will be specific to your install and should be partially generated by the install process. The important thing is to turn off DHCP and set a static IP.

network:
  ethernets:
    eno1:
      dhcp4: false
      addresses: [192.168.2.1/24]
    enx00e04c3613f7:
      dhcp4: true
  version: 2

iptables Rules

Rules:

# Set Up SNAT (Source NAT)

sudo iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o enx00e04c3613f7 -s 192.168.2.0/24 -j MASQUERADE

# Allow Forwarded Traffic and Add Routes

sudo iptables -P FORWARD ACCEPT

sudo iptables -A FORWARD -i eno1 -o enx00e04c3613f7 -j ACCEPT

sudo iptables -A FORWARD -i enx00e04c3613f7 -o eno1 -m state --state RELATED,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

This makes the rules persistent and reloads the saved rules. sudo netfilter-persistent save sudo netfilter-persistent reload

Enable/Disable System Services

sudo systemctl stop systemd-resolved

sudo systemctl disable systemd-resolved

sudo systemctl enable dhclient_enx.service

sudo systemctl start dhclient_enx.service

sudo systemctl start dnsmasq

sudo systemctl enable iptables

sudo systemctl start iptables

PXE files

create directory to hold the necessary files for PXE booting (sudo mkdir /var/ftpd). Copy over the contents of the vsftpd folder to the file you created. Links needs to be created in /var/ftpd:

• sudo ln -s /var/ftpd/debian-installer/amd64/pxelinux.0 /var/ftpd/pxelinux.0

• sudo ln -s /var/ftpd/debian-installer/amd64/pxelinux.0 /var/ftpd/pxelinux.cfg

• sudo ln -s debian-installer/amd64/grubx64.efi .

• sudo ln -s debian-installer/amd64/grub .

The perms need to be set to correctly allow the PXE client to read/execute files: chmod 755 -R /var/ftpd. rebooting the system should start all the correct services you can check necessary services are running with:

sudo systemctl status vsftpd

sudo systemctl status dnsmasq

sudo systemctl status iptables

sudo systemctl status dhclient_enx

To observe the PXE process:

• set client up for Legacy PXE booting(iPXE/UEFI PXE is unreliable)

• attach client to "internal" interface and boot

• on appliance run journalctl -xef | grep dnsmasq to observe the boot process.

Once the client begins the PXE process it will automatically configure itself to install Proxmox ontop of Debian, then join or create a Proxmox cluster on the network.

Footnotes

1. Gozer AKA Gozer The Gozerian AKA Gozer the Destructor AKA Gozer the Traveler AKA Volguus Zildrohar AKA Lord of the Sebouillia ↩