✎ doc - Etherboot/gPXE Wiki

This page is read only. You can view the source, but not change it. Ask your administrator if you think this is wrong.
====== Documentation for gPXE ======

===== Source Code Documentation =====

Many parts of the gPXE code-base include commenting for use with the Doxygen system.  To build this documentation for browsing, go into gPXE src/ directory and do
  make doc
You will then have the documentation available in your gpxe/src/bin/doc/ directory.

A sample build is available [[http://etherboot.org/api/modules.html|here]].

====== Documentation for Etherboot ======

===== General EtherBoot Information=====
  * [[scenario|Introduction]]: A typical network boot scenario, including explanations for new users
  * [[troubleshooting|Troubleshooting FAQ]]
  * [[eb_imagetypes|EtherBoot image types explanation]]
  * [[filename_specification|How to specify which boot file to load]]
  * [[commandline|gPXE command line reference]]

===== Putting Etherboot into ROM Chips or Motherboard BIOS =====

  * [[burningroms|Burning ROM chips]]
    * [[realtek8139roms|More specific: for Realtek 8139 NICs]]
  * [[biosmodule|Putting EtherBoot into your BIOS]]

===== Various Booting Configurations =====

==== Linux Related ====

    * [[lilowithetherboot|Using LILO with EtherBoot]]
    * [[http://syslinux.zytor.com|PXELINUX]]

==== Etherboot as a PXE Boot ROM ====

    * [[pxe|Using EtherBoot as a PXE boot rom]]
    * [[pxe2ndstage|Using EtherBoot as a PXE 2nd-stage-loader]]

==== Virtual Machine / Emulator Usage ====

    * [[vmware|How to use EtherBoot in a VMware virtual machine]]
    * [[vmwarebios|How to use EtherBoot as ROM in the VMware BIOS / EtherBoot ROM in VMware and Bochs network cards]]
    * [[bochs|How to use EtherBoot with Bochs]]
    * [[qemu|How to use gPXE with QEMU]]

==== MEMDISK ====

    * [[bootingmemdisk|Booting Memdisk]]
      * [[disklessdos|Diskless MS-DOS (and compatibles)]]
      * [[disklesswin98|Diskless Windows 98]]

==== Windows Related ====

    * [[windowsntloader|Loading EtherBoot from a Windows 2000/XP NT loader]]
    * [[msris|Using EtherBoot with Microsofts Remote Installation Services (RIS)]]

==== FreeBSD ====

    * [[freebsd|Booting FreeBSD]]


===== Miscellaneous Topics =====

  * [[aoe|ATA-over-Ethernet (experimental)]]
  * [[twodhcpservers|Having more than one DHCP-server on a network]]
  * [[multicast|Multicast protocol support (slam/tftp-multicast)]]
  * [[safebootmode|Experimental SafeBootMode cryptographic boot image check]]
  * [[romdumping|Dumping PCI expansion ROMs]]

==== Using the "mknbi" Utility with Etherboot ====

Network Bootable Image format (NBI) is a legacy format that wraps operating system images (such as Linux kernels) in a wrapper, which makes it possible for Etherboot to load the images directly. The "mknbi" (make NBI) utility performs the wrapping operation.

=== NBI, Etherboot and Linux 2.6 ===
Unfortunately, mknbi cannot be used to make a NBI of a Linux 2.6 (or newer) kernel image. If you are tied to Etherboot but need to boot a Linux 2.6 or newer kernel, wraplinux must be used to create a working NBI. Follow the link to [[http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/wraplinux|wraplinux]] on kernel.org to download it.

**Note:** This is not needed for PXE and PXELINUX booting, and is not recommended for new users.  For new users, we recommend using [[http://syslinux.zytor.com|PXELINUX]]

For those who need to use the NBI format, please see:
  * [[mknbi|mknbi utility description and manpage]]


===== Developer Information =====
=== Driver APIs ===
  * [[dev:netdriverapi|gPXE Network Driver API]]
  * [[:soc:2008:mdeck:notes:gpxe_driver_api|PCI, network driver, and non-volatile storage APIs]]

=== Debugging ===
  * [[dev:gdbstub|GDB remote debugging]]
  * [[dev:prefixdebugging|Prefix debugging]]
  * [[dev:fnrec|Function recorder for crash/hang debugging]]

=== Old stuff ===
  * [[dev:devmanual|A somewhat dated Etherboot Developers' manual]] (does not cover recent versions of Etherboot, or gPXE)
  * [[dev:todo|A Developer To-Do List]]
Trace: • less1 • romburning • iscsiboot • tg3 • todo • eb_imagetypes
Navigation

Search

Toolbox

QR Code
