QLogic OFED+ Host Software User Guide, Rev. B

8 gPXE
gPXE Setup
gPXE is an open source (GPL) network bootloader. It provides a direct
replacement for proprietary PXE ROMs. See http://etherboot.org/wiki/index.php
for documentation and general information.
At least two machines and a switch are needed (or connect the two machines
back-to-back and run QLogic Fabric Manager on the server).
• A DHCP server
• A boot server or http server (can be the same as the DHCP server)
• A node to be booted
Use a QLE7340 or QLE7342 adapter for the node.
The following software is included with the QLogic OFED+ installation software
package:
• gPXE boot image
• patch for DHCP server
• tool to install gPXE boot image in EPROM of card
• sample gPXE script
Everything that can be done with the proprietary PXE loader over Ethernet, can be
done with the gPXE loader over IB. The gPXE boot code is only a mechanism to
load an initial boot image onto the system. It is up to the downloaded boot image
to do the rest.
For example, the boot image could be:
• A stand-alone memory test program
• A diskless kernel image that mounts its file systems via NFS
Refer to http://www.faqs.org/docs/Linux-HOWTO/Diskless-HOWTO.html
• A Linux install image like kickstart, which then installs software to the local
hard drive(s). Refer to
http://www.faqs.org/docs/Linux-HOWTO/KickStart-HOWTO.html
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