OverviewThis section describes the Boot Agent driver for the Broadcom NetXtreme™ Ethernet Adapter and contains the following information:
The Broadcom NetXtreme™ Ethernet Adapter has PXE (Preboot Execution Environment) and RPL (Remote Program Load) support. Multi-Boot Agent (MBA) is a software module that allows your networked computer to boot with the images provided by remote servers across the network. The Broadcom MBA driver complies with the PXE-2.1 specification and is released with both monolithic and split binary images. This provides flexibility to users on different environments where the motherboard may or may not have built-in base code.
MBA operates in a client/server environment. A network consists of one or more boot servers that provide boot images to multiple computers through the network. Broadcom MBA implementation has been tested successfully in the following environments:
Linux® Red Hat® PXE server. Broadcom PXE clients are able to remote-boot and utilize network resources (NFS mount, etc…) and to do Linux installation. In the case of a remote boot, the Linux universal driver binds seamlessly with the Broadcom UNDI (Universal Network Driver Interface) and provides a network interface in the Linux remote-booted client environment.
Microsoft Windows 2000. Remote Installation Services (RIS). Broadcom PXE clients are able to install Windows 2000 Professional from the network.
Intel APITEST. The Broadcom PXE driver passes all API compliance test suites.
DOS UNDI. Universal NDIS seamlessly binds with Broadcom UNDI to provide NDIS2 interface to the upper-layer protocol stack. This allows computers to connect to network resources in a DOS environment.
3Com® boot server.
Microsoft Windows NT® 4.0 Remote Boot Sever.
Setting up MBA client for Broadcom NetXtreme™ Ethernet Adapter involves the following steps:
Enabling/disabling the MBA driver with the provided Broadcom DOS utility. To obtain the screen below for setting the MBA configuration, enter Ctrl + s when the computer prompts you to do so.
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NOTE: Depending on the speed of your microprocessor, you will have 2 to 6 seconds to do this or the boot process automatically continues. |
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NOTE: This feature is supported in PXE version 3.1.16 or higher only |
To enable MBA, boot up in DOS.
d:\DOS\utility
b57udiag -mba [ 0-disable | 1-enable ] -c <devnum>
where:
devnum= specific device(s) number (0,1,2,...) to be programmed
MBA Protocol
To specify the MBA protocol, boot up in DOS.
d:\DOS\utility
b57udiag -mbap [ 0-pxe | 1-rpl | 2-bootp ] -c <devnum>
where:
devnum= specific device(s) number (0,1,2,...) to be programmed
MBA can be forced to a specific speed. To do this, place the Broadcom software CD in the CD drive (i.e., drive D) and boot up into DOS.
d:\DOS\utility
b57udiag -mbas [ 0-Auto | 1-10HD | 2-10FD | 3-100H | 4-100F ]
where:
devnum= specific device(s) number (0,1,2,...) to be programmed
To boot from the network with MBA, make MBA the first bootable
device under BIOS. This procedure depends on server BIOS implementation. Please
refer to the server's user manual.
The current version of Windows 2000 does not include a network driver for the Broadcom NetXtreme™ Ethernet Adapter. To do remote installation with PXE, include a network driver for the Broadcom NetXtreme™ Ethernet Adapter as a part of the client's installation image on the server. Please refer to Microsoft Article ID Q246184, How to Add Third-Party OEM Network Adapters to RIS Installations.
To boot in DOS and connect to a network for the DOS environment, download the Intel® PXE PDK from the Intel Web site. This PXE PDK comes with a TFTP/ProxyDHCP/Boot server. The PXE PDK can be downloaded from Intel at:
http://www.intel.com/support/network/adapter/pro100/bootagent/30619.htm
For instructions on setting up the Windows NT 4.0 Remoteboot Server, refer to Remoteboot (Chapter 15) from the Microsoft TechNet website.