pxe install KALI linux with a broadcom non free driver

Today I needed to install a KALI linux through the PXE on a server with a broadcom nic.

The kali is a powerful penetration suite Debian based (for info kali.org) and uses by default only free repositories.

The installer complains about non-free firmware when trying to load the proper nic firmware during the boot (and from there take note of the name of the firmware)

Find online the proper .deb (in my case:  firmware-bnx2x_20160110-1_all.deb) containing the firmware that you noted before (bnx2x-e2-7.12.30.0.fw), 

download it and check that it correctly contains what you need with:

#dpkg -c firmware-bnx2x_20160110-1_all.deb 

[...]

-rw-r--r-- root/root    321320 2016-01-10 22:35 ./lib/firmware/bnx2x/bnx2x-e2-7.12.30.0.fw

[...]

then:

#mkdir /tmp/firmware ; cd .. 

#pax -x sv4cpio -w firmware | gzip -c >firmware.cpio.gz

now copy the firmware.cpio.gz in your tftp_root_dir/kali_install/amd64 where you have the initrd.gz file and brutally attach it to your initrd:

#cp  initrd.gz initrd.gz.orig; cat initrd.gz.orig firmware.cpio.gz > initrd.gz

works like a charm.

now boot and enjoy your pxe installed Kali farm

alex barchiesi