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warewulf/userdocs/contents/boot-management.rst
Jonathon Anderson 3123329ba1 Correct grub package name for el9
Signed-off-by: Jonathon Anderson <janderson@ciq.com>
2024-01-17 18:02:04 -07:00

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===============
Boot Management
===============
Warewulf uses iPXE to for network boot by default. As a tech preview, support
for GRUB is also available, which adds support for secure boot.
Booting with iPXE
=================
.. graphviz::
digraph G{
node [shape=box];
compound=true;
edge [label2node=true]
bios [shape=record label="{BIOS | boots from DHCP/next-server via TFTP}"]
subgraph cluster0 {
label="iPXE boot"
iPXE;
ipxe_cfg [shape=record label="{ipxe.cfg|generated for each node}"];
iPXE -> ipxe_cfg [label="http"];
}
bios->iPXE [lhead=cluster0,label="iPXE.efi"];
kernel [shape=record label="{kernel|ramdisk (root fs)|wwinit overlay}|extracted from node container"];
ipxe_cfg->kernel[ltail=cluster0,label="http"];
}
Booting with GRUB
=================
Support for GRUB as a network bootloader (replacing iPXE) is available in
Warewulf as a technology preview.
.. graphviz::
digraph G{
node [shape=box];
compound=true;
edge [label2node=true]
bios [shape=record label="{BIOS | boots from DHCP/next-server via TFTP}"]
bios->shim [lhead=cluster1,label="shim.efi"];
subgraph cluster1{
label="Grub boot"
shim[shape=record label="{shim.efi|from ww4 host}"];
grub[shape=record label="{grubx64.efi | name hardcoded in shim.efi|from ww4 host}"]
shim->grub[label="TFTP"];
grubcfg[shape=record label="{grub.cfg|static under TFTP root}"];
grub->grubcfg[label="TFTP"];
}
kernel [shape=record label="{kernel|ramdisk (root fs)|wwinit overlay}|extracted from node container"];
grubcfg->kernel[ltail=cluster1,label="http"];
}
Instead of the iPXE starter a combination of `shim and GRUB
<https://www.suse.com/c/uefi-secure-boot-details/>`_ can be used with the
advantage that secure boot can be used. That means that only the signed kernel
of a distribution can be booted. This can be a huge security benefit for some
scenarios.
In order to enable the grub boot method it has to be enabled in `warewulf.conf`.
.. code-block: yaml
warewulf:
grubboot: true
Nodes which are not known to Warewulf are booted with the shim/grub from the
Warewulf server host.
Secure boot
-----------
.. graphviz::
digraph foo {
node [shape=box];
subgraph boot {
"EFI" [label="EFI",row=boot];
"Shim" [label="Shim",row=boot];
"Grub" [label="Grub",row=boot];
"Kernel" [label="kernel",row=boot];
EFI -> Shim[label="Check for Microsoft signature"];
Shim -> Grub[label="Check for Distribution signature"];
Grub->Kernel[label="Check for Distribution or MOK signature"];
}
}
If secure boot is enabled at every step a signature is checked and the boot
process fails if this check fails. The shim typically only includes the key for
a single operating system, which means that each distribution needs separate
`shim` and `grub` executables. Warewulf extracts these binaries from the
containers. If the node is unknown to Warewulf or can't be identified during
the TFTP boot phase, the shim/grub binaries of the host in which Warewulf is
running are used.
Install shim and efi
--------------------
`shim.efi` and `grub.efi` must be installed in the container for it to be
booted by GRUB.
.. code-block:: console
# wwctl container shell leap15.5
[leap15.5] Warewulf> zypper install grub2 shim
# wwctl container shell rocky9
[rocky9] Warewulf> dnf install shim-x64.x86_64 grub2-efi-x64.x86_64
These packages must also be installed on the Warewulf server host to enable
node discovery using GRUB.
http boot
---------
Modern EFI systems have the possibility to directly boot per http. The flow diagram
is the following:
.. graphviz::
digraph G{
node [shape=box];
efi [shape=record label="{EFI|boots from URI defined in filename}"];
shim [shape=record label="{shim.efi|replaces shim.efi with grubx64.efi in URI|extracted from node container}"];
grub [shape=record label="{grub.efi|checks for grub.cfg|extracted from node container}"]
kernel [shape=record label="{kernel|ramdisk (root fs)|wwinit overlay}|extracted from node container"];
efi->shim [label="http"];
shim->grub [label="http"];
grub->kernel [label="http"];
}
Warewulf delivers the initial `shim.efi` and `grub.efi` via http as taken
directly from the node's assigned container.