How to netboot to kernel?

[kakaboeie]

My dedicated hosting provider has a "Netboot" option so people can boot to their own compiled Kernels. How do I do this? I am running Debian-Squeeze (6.0.1), if that's relevant at all.

Please don't hesitate to ask me for extra information, I'm not lazy or anything, I just wouldn't know where to begin. Not even sure if I need Netboot at all, maybe it's possible with just altering Grub?

I want to refrain from re-installing the OS, because that would mean moving 500GB here and back again.

[Irithori]

If you just want to try your own kernels, be it different versions and/or features, then configuring/compiling/installing it and then modifying the grub config is enough.
This page explains the main steps
FAQ/KernelCompilation - Linux Kernel Newbies


For completeness sake, as this is probably not neccessary in your case:
For a network boot you need at least these on the server side:
- a configured dhcp server
- a tftp server
- pxelinux
- kernel(s) and initial ramdisk(s)
- e.g. nfs for a diskless setup

The client aka the machine you want to netboot, needs a network card with PXE.
This should get you started
Setting up a server for PXE network booting
PXELINUX - Syslinux Wiki


Another point:
If you partition your harddiscs, so that system and data are on different partitions, then a OS reinstall is relatively painless.

[Rubberman]

See the documentation for PXE boot. This may help you to understand the issue: Preboot Execution Environment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[kakaboeie]

If you just want to try your own kernels, be it different versions and/or features, then configuring/compiling/installing it and then modifying the grub config is enough.
This page explains the main steps

So essentially, all I do is "make config" the kernel, then make + make modules_install + make install and then point GRUB to the directory? Is it possible to just get a pre-configured version somewhere? One that has the default Debian-Sqeeze settings maybe?

Because answering all the "make config" questions will take me hours, and half the time I don't even know what I'm doing. And all I want is the default debian 6 kernel anyway (my dedi host uses a custom one by default).

[Irithori]

Using a standard kernel does not involve compiling at all.
I am not a debian user, but I believe these two lines should do it:

apt-cache search linux-image
apt-get install linux-image-<version>

The first will list all available kernels.
Choose one and use its name in the second line.
After an succesfull installation, reboot.

[kakaboeie]

Seems to be working just fine, thanks! Although I do wonder why apt-cache search linux-image only showed 2.6.32-* kernels when the dedi-hoster's custom one was at 2.6.38 . Oh well