Dell Emulex Family of Adapters - Manual (Page 1534)

Boot Version 10.2 for NIC, iSCSI, FCoE, and RoCE Protocols User Manual P010097-01B Rev. A
3. Configuring PXE Boot for NIC on OCe14000-series Adapters
Pre-OS
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3. Configuring PXE Boot for NIC on
OCe14000-series Adapters
Note: This section applies only to OCe14000-series adapters. See chapter 2.,
“Configuring PXE Boot for NIC on LPe16202, OCe10100, and OCe11100-series
Adapters,” on page 1516 for information specific to those adapters.
This section describes using and configuring PXE to boot computers using a network
interface independent of available data storage devices (such as hard disks) or installed
operating systems.
The PXE protocol is a combination of DHCP and TFTP with subtle modifications to
both. DHCP locates the appropriate boot server or servers, and TFTP downloads the
initial bootstrap program and additional files.
Network booting enables you to perform the following tasks:

Boot diskless systems such as thin clients and dedicated systems.

Deploy software and operating systems for your systems.

Automate system maintenance, such as backups.

Automate system checking, such as virus scanning.

Ensure a system is secure.
Pre-OS
PXE can be used in a “pre-OS” environment. Pre-OS is the process of loading a small
operating environment to perform a client management task before loading the final
operating system from the local hard drive. For example, with a pre-OS you can scan
the hard drive for viruses. This guarantees that the client is not infected before it starts.
The WDS uses this to install operating systems on local disks or BFS disks.
PXE Boot Process
Once PXE Boot is enabled in the system UEFI/BIOS, the PXE client can boot up and
start up the PXE boot ROM. This is the boot code physically located on the NIC
adapter.
Note: To enable or disable PXE Boot, it must be enabled or disabled in the system
UEFI/BIOS; see the documentation that accompanied the server for more
information.