xref: /NextBSD/sys/boot/i386/pxeldr/pxeboot.8 (revision eb1a5f8de9f7ea602c373a710f531abbf81141c4)
1.\" Copyright (c) 1999 Doug White
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25.\" $FreeBSD$
26.\"
27.Dd May 1, 2000
28.Dt PXEBOOT 8
29.Os
30.Sh NAME
31.Nm pxeboot
32.Nd Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) bootloader
33.Sh DESCRIPTION
34The
35.Nm
36bootloader is a modified version of the system third-stage bootstrap
37.Xr loader 8
38configured to run under Intel's Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) system.
39PXE is a form of smart boot ROM, built into Intel EtherExpress Pro/100 and
403Com 3c905c Ethernet cards, and Ethernet-equipped Intel motherboards.
41PXE supports DHCP configuration and provides low-level NIC access services.
42The
43.Nm
44bootloader retrieves the kernel, modules,
45and other files either via NFS over UDP or by TFTP,
46selectable through compile-time options.
47In combination with a memory file system image or NFS-mounted root file system,
48.Nm
49allows for easy,
50EEPROM-burner free construction of diskless machines.
51.Pp
52The
53.Nm
54binary is loaded just like any other boot file,
55by specifying it in the DHCP server's configuration file.
56Below is a sample configuration for the ISC DHCP v2 server:
57.Bd -literal -offset indent
58option domain-name "example.com";
59option routers 10.0.0.1;
60option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
61option broadcast-address 10.0.0.255;
62option domain-name-servers 10.0.0.1;
63server-name "DHCPserver";
64server-identifier 10.0.0.1;
65
66default-lease-time 120;
67max-lease-time 120;
68
69subnet 10.0.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
70       filename "pxeboot";
71       range 10.0.0.10 10.0.0.254;
72}
73
74.Ed
75.Nm
76recognizes
77.Va next-server
78and
79.Va option root-path
80directives as the server and path to NFS mount for file requests,
81respectively, or the server to make TFTP requests to.
82Note that
83.Nm
84expects to fetch
85.Pa /boot/loader.rc
86from the specified server before loading any other files.
87.Pp
88In all other respects,
89.Nm
90acts just like
91.Xr loader 8 .
92.Pp
93As PXE is still in its infancy, some firmware versions may not work
94properly.
95The
96.Nm
97bootloader has been extensively tested on version 0.99 of Intel firmware;
98pre-release versions of the newer 2.0 firmware are known to have
99problems.
100Check with the device's manufacturer for their latest stable release.
101.Pp
102For further information on Intel's PXE specifications and Wired for
103Management (WfM) systems, see
104.Li http://www.intel.com/design/archives/wfm/ .
105.Sh SEE ALSO
106.Xr loader 8
107.Sh HISTORY
108The
109.Nm
110bootloader first appeared in
111.Fx 4.1 .
112.Sh AUTHORS
113.An -nosplit
114The
115.Nm
116bootloader was written by
117.An John Baldwin Aq jhb@FreeBSD.org
118and
119.An Paul Saab Aq ps@FreeBSD.org .
120This manual page was written by
121.An Doug White Aq dwhite@FreeBSD.org .
122