@dbruno74 - I suspect there may be an opportunity to simplify some of this, if not solve the outcome of (at least) #2 (UEFI)
You mention that with UEFI, and even with #1, you wound up landing on “Unable to locate configuration file.”
We actually ran into that, too. It was due to using lpxelinux0.cfg with UEFI - for which you’d need pxelinux0.cfg. Then we ran into it with the inverse: our nodes were reverted back to non-UEFI boot mode (“Legacy - non-UEFI BIOS”) while PXE traffic was pinned to pxelinux0.cfg. Both resulted in the “Cannot load configuration file” error.
Once everything lined up (UEFI BIOS + pxelinux0.cfg + appropriate arch,# tagged for PXE traffic), everything worked.
Furthermore, we found it much simpler to work with MAAS when we own the DHCP/DNS process (instead of using MAAS-DHCP/DNS) as MAAS would compete with our fairly hands-off DHCP implementation.
I wonder: if you defined the appropriate arch type (perhaps arch,11) in your dnsmasq.conf (or however you’re forwarding PXE traffic to MAAS) and tagged that to make use of pxelinux0.cfg (when UEFI-booting the rpi4), would you find success where previously there were hurdles?
Follow-up Question
@dbruno74 - In terms of PXE-booting/MAAS-deploying an rpi4, what would you recommend doing if we actually do want / prefer an SD card in the rpi4?
We’d essentially prefer to treat the rpi4 as if it’s a “real” machine - CPU/GPU/RAM/storage, all on-board. A tiny PC. A mini-node.
It sounds like #1 is what would fit for us - but what do you think? I just want to PXE boot our rpi4 kits with MAAS, Enlist / Commission / Deploy them - and we don’t mind if “Power Control” has to be “manual”.