NetBoot server principle

Overview of a NetBoot sequence

1. Client broadcasts a DHCPDISCOVER message.

2. The DHCP server responds with:

• • the computer IP address,
  • TFTP server address (called "next-server"),
  • PXE boot filename to load,
  • NetBoot root-path values.

3. The client sends a TFTP request to "next-server", asking to retrieve the PXE filename.

4. The TFTP server responds and sends filename to client.

5. Many things here:

• • The client executes filename, which is in PXE format.
  • The PXE menu will be display so the user can choose which kernel to load
  • Then PXE loads the kernel.
  • When the kernel executes, the root file system specified by root-path is mounted.

  If it's a diskless workstation then the client distribution will be mounted in NFS mode.

Requirements

As you can see on the previous picture, a DHCP server + TFTP server are mandatory.

It's also good to have a DNS server to use names instead of IP @.

References

The overview picture comes from the FreeBSD forum: http://www.nl.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/network-diskless.html