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PXEBOOT_TFTP(8) System Manager's Manual PXEBOOT_TFTP(8)

pxeboot_tftp — Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) bootloader using TFTP

The pxeboot_tftp bootloader is a modified version of the system third-stage bootstrap loader(8) configured to run under Intel's Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) system. PXE is a form of smart boot ROM, built into Intel EtherExpress Pro/100 and 3Com 3c905c Ethernet cards, and Ethernet-equipped Intel motherboards. PXE supports DHCP configuration and provides low-level NIC access services. The pxeboot_tftp bootloader retrieves the kernel, modules, and other files via TFTP. In combination with a NFS-mounted root file system, pxeboot_tftp allows for easy, EEPROM-burner free construction of diskless machines.

The pxeboot_tftp binary is loaded just like any other boot file, by specifying it in the DHCP server's configuration file. Below is a sample configuration for the ISC DHCP v2 server:

option domain-name "example.com";
option routers 10.0.0.1;
option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
option broadcast-address 10.0.0.255;
option domain-name-servers 10.0.0.1;
server-name "DHCPserver";
server-identifier 10.0.0.1;

default-lease-time 120;
max-lease-time 120;

subnet 10.0.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
       filename "boot/pxeboot_tftp";
       range 10.0.0.10 10.0.0.254;
       option root-path "10.0.0.1:/netbootroot";
}
pxeboot_tftp recognizes next-server and option root-path directives as the server and path to NFS mount for file requests, respectively, or the server to make TFTP requests to. Note that pxeboot_tftp expects to fetch /boot/dloader.rc from the specified server before loading any other files.

In all other respects, pxeboot_tftp acts just like loader(8).

As PXE is still in its infancy, some firmware versions may not work properly. The pxeboot_tftp bootloader has been extensively tested on version 0.99 of Intel firmware; pre-release versions of the newer 2.0 firmware are known to have problems. Check with the device's manufacturer for their latest stable release.

For further information on Intel's PXE specifications and Wired for Management (WfM) systems, see http://developer.intel.com/ial/wfm/.

dhcpd(8) (net/isc-dhcp42-server), diskless(8), loader(8), nfsd(8), pxeboot(8), tftpd(8)

The pxeboot_tftp bootloader first appeared in FreeBSD 4.1.

The pxeboot_tftp bootloader was written by John Baldwin <jhb@FreeBSD.org> and Paul Saab <ps@FreeBSD.org>. This manual page was written by Doug White <dwhite@FreeBSD.org>.

October 6, 2010 DragonFly-5.6.1