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32 .Nd Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) bootloader
36 bootloader is a modified version of the system third-stage bootstrap
38 configured to run under Intel's Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) system.
39 PXE is a form of smart boot ROM, built into Intel EtherExpress Pro/100 and
40 3Com 3c905c Ethernet cards, and Ethernet-equipped Intel motherboards.
41 PXE supports DHCP configuration and provides low-level NIC access services.
44 bootloader retrieves the kernel, modules,
45 and other files either via NFS over UDP or by TFTP,
46 selectable through compile-time options.
47 In combination with a memory file system image or NFS-mounted root file system,
50 EEPROM-burner free construction of diskless machines.
54 binary is loaded just like any other boot file,
55 by specifying it in the DHCP server's configuration file.
56 Below is a sample configuration for the ISC DHCP v2 server:
57 .Bd -literal -offset indent
58 option domain-name "example.com";
59 option routers 10.0.0.1;
60 option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
61 option broadcast-address 10.0.0.255;
62 option domain-name-servers 10.0.0.1;
63 server-name "DHCPserver";
64 server-identifier 10.0.0.1;
66 default-lease-time 120;
69 subnet 10.0.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
71 range 10.0.0.10 10.0.0.254;
80 directives as the server and path to NFS mount for file requests,
81 respectively, or the server to make TFTP requests to.
86 from the specified server before loading any other files.
89 defaults to a conservative 1024 byte NFS data packet size.
90 This may be changed by setting the
93 .Pa /boot/loader.conf .
94 Valid values range from 1024 to 4096 bytes.
96 In all other respects,
101 As PXE is still in its infancy, some firmware versions may not work
105 bootloader has been extensively tested on version 0.99 of Intel firmware;
106 pre-release versions of the newer 2.0 firmware are known to have
108 Check with the device's manufacturer for their latest stable release.
110 For further information on Intel's PXE specifications and Wired for
111 Management (WfM) systems, see
112 .Li http://www.intel.com/design/archives/wfm/ .
118 bootloader first appeared in
124 bootloader was written by
125 .An John Baldwin Aq jhb@FreeBSD.org
127 .An Paul Saab Aq ps@FreeBSD.org .
128 This manual page was written by
129 .An Doug White Aq dwhite@FreeBSD.org .