Express HOWTO: Ubuntu + Software RAID5 network install from BootP/TFTP

Given:
A server with 3 SATA HDD to setup a RAID5 storage.


Setup TFTP server.

sudo apt-get install bootp tftpd-hpa

sudo vim /etc/xinet.d/bootp

service bootps
{
disable = no
socket_type = dgram
protocol = udp
wait = yes
user = root
server = /usr/sbin/bootpd
server_args = -i /etc/bootptab
}

sudo vim /etc/xinet.d/tftpd

oleksiy@odin:/etc/xinetd.d$ cat tftp
service tftp
{
protocol = udp
port = 69
socket_type = dgram
wait = yes
user = nobody
server = /usr/sbin/in.tftpd
server_args = /tftpboot
disable = no
}

sudo vim /etc/bootptab

client:\
hd=/tftpboot:\
bf=pxelinux.0:\
ip=host_ip_addr:\
sm=255.255.255.0:\
sa=tftpsrv_ip_addr:\
ha=host_hw_addr:

sudo /etc/init.d/xinetd restart

sudo mkdir /tftproot

sudo chmod +rx /tftproot

cd /tftproot

wget http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/karmic/main/installer-i386/current/images/netboot/netboot.tar.gz

tar xfz netboot.tar.gz

boot up the server:

check what PXE boot is enables
the server suppose to start booting.
go through configuration process
when comes partitioning do it manually:

for each drive create 2 partitions: i.e. 100Mb for /boot and the rest. Mark a /dev/sda1 as /root and the rest as 'do not use', go on. Hit Alt+F2, run:

mdadm --create --verbose /dev/md0 --level=1 --raid-devices=3 /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1 /dev/sdc1
mdadm --create --verbose /dev/md0 --level=5 --raid-devices=3 /dev/sda5 /dev/sdb5 /dev/sdc5

back to the installation process Alt+F1, go couple of steps back to Drive Detection. remove /root mounting point form /dev/sda1. Set the mounting point of /dev/md0 as /boot (at least /boot should be there). Create LVM from /dev/md1 and partition it as you want (at least root, /home, swap).

Proceed with installation.