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Benedikt Schackenberg
Benedikt Schackenberg

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Building Octofleet: A Week of Zero-Touch Server Deployments (Looking for Contributors! 🐙)

#devops #opensource #homelab #windows

Hey dev.to!

This is just a hobby project I've been hacking on because it's mega fun - and I wanted to share what happened this week. Also: I'm looking for contributors! More on that at the end.

What is Octofleet?

Octofleet is an open-source endpoint management platform I've been building. Think of it as an octopus 🐙 with 8 arms handling all your server tasks:

  • 📊 Inventory - Track all your machines
  • 🔧 Patching - Keep systems updated
  • 💼 Job System - Run scripts remotely
  • 📦 Packages - Deploy software
  • 🛡️ Vulnerability Tracking - Stay secure
  • 🖥️ Screen Sharing - See what's happening
  • ⚙️ Service Orchestration - Manage services across fleet
  • 🚀 PXE Deployment - Zero-touch OS installs ← NEW THIS WEEK!

This Week's Adventure: PXE Boot

I wanted to solve a problem: How do I deploy Windows Server to 10 VMs without touching each one?

The answer: PXE Boot + iPXE + WinPE + HTTP

The Goal

  1. Enter MAC address in Web UI
  2. Select OS (Windows Server 2025, Ubuntu, etc.)
  3. Click "Create Job"
  4. Power on server
  5. ☕ Grab coffee
  6. Come back to a fully installed, domain-joined server

What I Built

Backend (FastAPI + PostgreSQL):

  • Provisioning API with CRUD for tasks, images, templates
  • Dynamic iPXE script generation per MAC address
  • Status callbacks so machines report their progress

Frontend (Next.js + Tailwind):

  • Provisioning dashboard with live task queue
  • "New Job" dialog with MAC/OS selection
  • Auto-refresh every 10 seconds

PXE Infrastructure:

  • dnsmasq for DHCP + TFTP
  • nginx serving boot files over HTTP
  • Custom WinPE image with curl.exe injected

The Fun Bugs 🐛

Oh boy, where do I start...

Bug 1: "Bad CPIO magic" on Hyper-V

  • Turns out wimboot has issues with Hyper-V Gen1 (BIOS mode)
  • Fix: Use Gen2 (UEFI) - works perfectly!

Bug 2: SMB is too slow in WinPE

  • WinPE's SMB client waits forever for DNS
  • Fix: HTTP everything! Injected curl.exe into WinPE

Bug 3: DISM Error 87

  • Scripts weren't running...
  • Cause: Unix line endings (LF) instead of Windows (CRLF)
  • Fix: unix2dos startnet.cmd 🤦

Bug 4: VirtIO disk not found

  • KVM VMs couldn't see their disks
  • Wrong driver: viostor.inf vs vioscsi.inf
  • SCSI needs vioscsi!

Current Status

✅ Working:

  • Hyper-V Gen2 deployment
  • Windows Server 2025 (all editions)
  • Full unattend.xml automation
  • German locale & timezone
  • RDP enabled out of the box
  • Web UI connected to real API

🚧 In Progress:

  • Ubuntu/Linux support (Autoinstall)
  • Windows 11 client deployment
  • KVM/libvirt testing
  • Live status callbacks in UI

The Tech Stack 

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              Octofleet UI                   │
│         (Next.js + Tailwind CSS)            │
└─────────────────┬───────────────────────────┘
                  │ HTTP/REST
┌─────────────────▼───────────────────────────┐
│           Octofleet Backend                 │
│      (FastAPI + PostgreSQL + asyncpg)       │
└─────────────────┬───────────────────────────┘
                  │
┌─────────────────▼───────────────────────────┐
│             PXE Server                      │
│   (dnsmasq + nginx + iPXE + WinPE)          │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘
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Why I Love This Project

It's the perfect intersection of:

  • Networking (PXE, DHCP, TFTP, HTTP)
  • Windows internals (WinPE, DISM, BCD)
  • Linux (dnsmasq, Samba, nginx)
  • Modern web (React, FastAPI, WebSockets)
  • DevOps (automation, CI/CD, infrastructure as code)

Every day I learn something new. This week alone I learned:

  • How iPXE works internally
  • WinPE customization
  • The difference between BIOS and UEFI boot
  • Why SMB in WinPE is painful
  • How to inject files into a boot image

Looking for Contributors! 🙋‍♂️

This is where you come in! I'm looking for people who want to:

  • Use it - Test it in your homelab, report bugs
  • Hack on it - Pick an issue, send a PR
  • Document - Help make the docs better
  • Design - The UI could always be prettier
  • Ideas - What features would YOU want?

No experience required! If you're learning and want a real project to contribute to, this is it. I'll help you get started.

Good First Issues

  • 🐧 Add Ubuntu 24.04 support
  • 📝 Improve API documentation
  • 🧪 Write more tests
  • 🎨 Dark mode improvements
  • 📊 Dashboard widgets

How to Get Started

  1. Star the repo: github.com/BenediktSchackenberg/octofleet
  2. Check the issues: Look for good first issue labels
  3. Join the Discord: Link in the repo README
  4. Say hi! Drop a comment here or open a discussion

What's Next?

Next week I'm planning to:

  • Get Ubuntu autoinstall working
  • Add Windows 11 support
  • Build a "Systems Registry" to track provisioned machines
  • Maybe record a demo video?

Conclusion

Building Octofleet has been incredibly fun. There's something magical about:

  1. Clicking a button
  2. Watching a VM boot from the network
  3. Seeing Windows install itself
  4. Getting a notification "Server ready!"

All without touching a single USB stick or clicking through an installer.

If this sounds interesting to you - come join the fun! 🐙

Links:

Happy deploying!

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