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Is it possible to use a SCCM 2012 Distribution Point as a fileserver for an iPXE system? I am not too familiar with the concepts of SCCM DPs, I mainly understand their use, not their technical limitations. I understand they're used as mirrors for SCCM packages, but I couldn't find how exactly they serve the packages.

iPXE supports HTTP (my main hope), NFS, iSCSI SAN, FCoE and AoE SAN. Would there be any possibility for the SCCM DP to server files using one of these protocols?

Also, is there a way to use the load balancing capabilities of SCCM when simply accessing the files via one of these protocols? I'm using PHP scripts to create the iPXE configuration files, so maybe there's a way to access load data?

RikuXan
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Hmm, after looking at iPXE's documentation on this, I think I see what you're trying to do.

First, using an SCCM Operating System Deployment (OSD) works like this: A custom WindowsPE image is created that boots up to an SCCM GUI that lets you select from a number of task sequences, or optionally just start running a specific task sequence.

This PE image can be deployed via PXE, using the SCCM PXE Service Point, A separate WDS server, or probably any decent PXE server(unconfirmed). The PE Image can also be turned into an ISO for burning to a CD/DVD, or converting to a USB.

This PE image can sometimes be rather large, and iPXE makes an interesting (though probably exaggerated) claim that on a gig connection a 200MB iPXE image can download in ~2 seconds. I'm skeptical, but even at 10 times that speed, I think it would blow he standard method (TFTP) out of the water, though it needs to be tested.

Anyway, I said that the image can be deployed from other places besides the SCCM PXE Service point, and that's correct. iPXE wants you to copy a modified version of the PE image to a web server, not necessarily a distribution point. DPs only deploy files to sccm clients, with few exceptions. At this stage in the boot process, however, I don't believe it's possible, although DPs in 2012 do in fact require IIS to be installed.

iPXE provides instructions for the process on their website, the only thing I would do different after giving it a brief overview is use the powershell dism cmdlets to modify the boot image. I see no reason why imageX wouldn't work, it's just a matter of personal preference.

Realize an SCCM DP is not a traditional webserver, and I wouldn't set it up as such. You could keep the files on your DP and configure IIS to serve them up, which may or may not be a risk depending on your environment.

MDMoore313
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  • From my tests with iPXE that I undertook up to this point, I would say that on a 100 Mbit connection it loads with about 10 MB/s, so it seems to almost use the whole bandwidth available. Concerning WDS, I'm actually not planning to use it at all, I looked into it a while ago but decided to go with iPXE due to its scriptability, so basically I'm really only looking for a way to serve the image files to my clients. IIS being a requirement for a DP is interesting, that way I can be sure that there is at least the possibility of using simple IIS HTTP serving everywhere. – RikuXan Mar 01 '14 at 12:55
  • Nontheless, with which technologies do SCCM DPs actually serve files to their managed clients? Are there any plugin / addin interfaces in the DP software which could allow me to access the files the DP is supposed to serve in a custom way? As you said, setting up a completely separate IIS can be a risk, so I would love to hear about other possibilities. – RikuXan Mar 01 '14 at 13:00
  • @RikuXan they use http to serve up the files in this release. For serving up boot wims via pxe, they leverage wds. You could setup a generic tftp server on your network and chain boot iPXE, that might let you avoid working specifically with wds, but using sccm wds will be in the mix, just in the background. – MDMoore313 Mar 01 '14 at 13:08
  • The way my system currently runs is that DHCPs are configured to give out a next-server and filename with a TFTP server running on the specified next-server, serving a file named undionly.kpxe (the iPXE NBP binary), which when executed pulls its configuration file from a central Apache HTTP server. In this configuration file specified are image files on a HTTP server, which are supposed to be downloaded and executed. – RikuXan Mar 01 '14 at 13:17
  • Now my initial idea was to use our distributed Apaches to serve my image files (so they don't have to go over too many WANs), but a colleague told me using our SCCM DPs would make more sense because there are way more of them and they also are specifically designed and placed to lower WAN load. And now I'm basically looking for a way to easily replace the Apache HTTPs with SCCM DPs as fileservers. – RikuXan Mar 01 '14 at 13:17
  • I see, yes it's possible, just not 'through' sccm. – MDMoore313 Mar 01 '14 at 13:35
  • let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/13325/discussion-between-rikuxan-and-mdmoore313) – RikuXan Mar 01 '14 at 17:31