PXE Documentation Version 1.0

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

1.1. What is the purpose of this document ?

1.2. What is PXE ?

2. Different kinds of PXE

2.1. Hard Pxe

2.1.1. Real PXE

2.1.2. TCP/IP PXE

2.2. Soft Pxe

2.2.1. Etherboot

3. PXE server

3.1. Installing a PXEserver

3.2. Options in pxe.conf

3.2.1. Interface

3.2.2. Default_address

3.2.3. Multicast_address

3.2.4. Mtftp_address

3.2.5. Mtftp_client_port

3.2.6. Mtftp_server_port

3.2.7. Listen_port

3.2.8. Use_multicast

3.2.9. Use_broadcast

3.2.10. Prompt

3.2.11. Prompt_timeout

3.2.12. Service Min layer, Max layer

3.2.13. Domain

3.2.14. Sample pxe.conf

3.3. Running the server

4. DHCP server

4.1. Why use a DHCP server

4.2. Dhcpd.conf Options

4.2.1. Classical options

4.2.1.1. Allow booting

4.2.1.2. Not authoritative

4.2.1.3. DHCPD_INTERFACE

4.2.1.4. Pool

4.2.2. Specific options

4.2.2.1. Class

4.2.2.2. Option vendor-class-identifier

4.2.2.3. Vendor-encapsulated-options

4.2.2.4. Vendor-option-space

4.2.2.5. Filename

4.2.2.6. Next-server

4.2.2.7. Match if substring(option vendor-class-identifier, 0, 9)="PXEClient"

4.2.2.8. Set vendor_class_identifier

4.3. Sample dhcpd.conf file

5. TFTP Server

5.1. Why using a TFTP server

5.2. How to install a TFTP server ?

5.3. Xinetd Options

5.3.1. Disable

5.3.2. User

5.3.3. Server

5.3.4. Server_args

5.3.4.1. Block Size option

5.3.4.2. Size ahead of time option

5.3.4.3. Timeout option

5.3.4.4. Chrooting option

5.4. Sample tftpd file

6. Available PXE Bootstraps

6.1. What is a PXE Bootstrap

6.1.1. Definition

6.1.2. Differences between Real PXE and TCP/IP PXE

6.2. PXELinux

6.2.1. What is PXELinux ?

6.2.2. Architecture

6.2.2.1. Root directory

6.2.2.2. Configuration directory

6.2.2.3. Images directory

6.2.3. Options of pxelinux.cfg

6.2.3.1. PROMPT flag_val

6.2.3.2. DEFAULT kernel options

6.2.3.3. DISPLAY filename

6.2.3.4. TIMEOUT timeout

6.2.3.5. LABEL label

6.2.3.6. F[1-9] filename

6.2.3.7. SERIAL port [baudrate]

6.2.4. Booting a kernel directly

6.2.4.1. How does it works ?

6.2.4.2. Advantages and drawbacks

6.2.5. Booting a disk image directly

6.2.5.1. How does it work ?

6.2.5.2. How to build a disk boot image ?

6.2.5.3. Advantages and drawbacks

6.2.6. Sample config file

6.3. PxeGrub

6.3.1. What is PxeGrub ?

6.3.2. How does it work ?

6.3.3. Options of menu.lst

6.3.3.1. TIMEOUT time

6.3.3.2. TITLE label

6.3.3.3. DHCP

6.3.3.4. TFTPSERVER ip_address

6.3.3.5. KERNEL vmlinuz_path

6.3.3.6. INITRD initrd_path

6.3.4. Booting a kernel directly

6.3.5. How can i obtain a pxegrub for my ethernet card ?

6.3.6. Sample config file

6.3.7. Advantages and drawbacks

6.4. NbGrub

6.4.1. What is NbGrub ?

6.4.2. How does it works ?

6.4.3. How can i obtain an etherboot disk for my ethernet card ?

6.4.4. menu.lst options

6.4.5. Advantages and drawbacks

6.5. NBP

6.5.1. How does it work ?

6.5.2. Where can I find it ?

7. Tips:

7.1. How to upgrade 3Com's and Intel's network cards firmware

7.1.1. Why upgrade firmwares ?

7.1.2. Where can I download updates for Intel cards ?

7.1.3. Where can i download updates for 3com cards ?

7.2. How to debug PXE client requests ?

8. Greetings

8.1. Thanks to