xref: /titanic_52/usr/src/man/man5/pxeboot.5 (revision 1e4402570d15c3872e718309ee59382b2e5fa5ec)
1.\" Copyright (c) 1999 Doug White
2.\" All rights reserved.
3.\"
4.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
5.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
6.\" are met:
7.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
8.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
9.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
10.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
11.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
12.\"
13.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
14.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
15.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
16.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
17.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
18.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
19.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
20.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
21.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
22.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
23.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
24.\"
25.Dd May 25, 2017
26.Dt PXEBOOT 5
27.Os
28.Sh NAME
29.Nm pxeboot
30.Nd Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) bootloader
31.Sh DESCRIPTION
32The
33.Nm
34bootloader is a modified version of the system third-stage bootstrap
35.Xr loader 5
36configured to run under Intel's Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) system.
37PXE is a form of smart boot ROM, built into Ethernet cards, and
38Ethernet-equipped motherboards.
39PXE supports DHCP configuration and provides low-level NIC access services.
40The
41.Nm
42bootloader retrieves the kernel, modules,
43and other files either via NFS over UDP or by TFTP,
44selectable through DHCP options.
45.Pp
46The
47.Nm
48binary is loaded just like any other boot file,
49by specifying it in the DHCP server's configuration file.
50Below is a sample configuration for the ISC DHCP v2 server:
51.Bd -literal -offset indent
52option domain-name "example.com";
53option routers 10.0.0.1;
54option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
55option broadcast-address 10.0.0.255;
56option domain-name-servers 10.0.0.1;
57server-name "DHCPserver";
58server-identifier 10.0.0.1;
59
60default-lease-time 120;
61max-lease-time 120;
62
63subnet 10.0.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
64       filename "pxeboot";
65       range 10.0.0.10 10.0.0.254;
66}
67
68.Ed
69.Pp
70.Nm
71recognizes
72.Va next-server
73and
74.Va option root-path
75directives as the server and path to NFS mount for file requests,
76respectively, or the server to make TFTP requests to.
77Note that
78.Nm
79expects to fetch
80.Pa /boot/loader.rc
81from the specified server before loading any other files.
82.Pp
83.Nm
84defaults to a conservative 1024 byte NFS data packet size.
85This may be changed by setting the
86.Va nfs.read_size
87variable in
88.Pa /boot/loader.conf .
89Valid values range from 1024 to 16384 bytes.
90.Pp
91.Nm
92chooses NFS or TFTP based on the value of
93.Va root-path
94variable provided by the DHCP server.
95.Nm
96defaults to use NFS if the
97.Va root-path
98variable is in the
99.Qq Pa ip-address Ns :/ Ns Pa path
100form, otherwise TFTP is used.
101.Pp
102TFTP block size can be controlled by setting the
103.Va tftp.blksize
104variable in
105.Pa /boot/loader.conf .
106Valid values range from 8 to 9008 bytes.
107.Pp
108In all other respects,
109.Nm
110acts just like
111.Xr loader 5 .
112.Pp
113For further information on Intel's PXE specifications and Wired for
114Management (WfM) systems, see
115.Li http://www.intel.com/design/archives/wfm/ .
116.Sh SEE ALSO
117.Xr loader 5
118