Q-Logic 8100 SERIES manual Boot Order in Bios, PXE Protocol Operation

6–Configuring NIC Functionality in the Converged Network Adapter Configuring the NIC in a Windows Environment

3.Set up client servers BIOS boot order. Select 8100 Series NIC as the first boot device in the Boot order/Boot Device priority (Figure 6-21). The two QLogic UNDI v1.11 PXE-2entries are dual-port QLogic 8100 Series Adapters.

Figure 6-21. Boot Order in BIOS

4.Reboot the client system to boot over the network from the PXE boot server.

PXE Protocol Operation

The PXE protocol, illustrated in Figure 6-22, operates as follows:

1.The client initiates the protocol by broadcasting a DHCPDISCOVER containing an extension that identifies the request as one coming from a client that implements the PXE protocol.

2.Assuming that a DHCP server or a proxy DHCP server is available that is capable of implementing this extended protocol, after several intermediate steps, the server sends a list of appropriate boot servers to the client.

3.The client then discovers a boot server of the selected type and receives the name of an executable file on the chosen boot server.

4.The client uses TFTP to download the executable from the boot server.

5.Finally, the client executes the downloaded image. At this point, the client's state must meet certain requirements to provide a predictable environment for the image. These requirements include the availability of certain areas of the client's main memory and the availability of basic network I/O services.

FE0254601-00 A 6-27