Qlogic 8400 Series, User Manual

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3
Multi-boot Agent (MBA)
Driver Software

Overview

Setting Up MBA in a Client Environment

Setting Up MBA in a Server Environment
Overview
QLogic 8400/3400 Series adapters support Preboot Execution Environment
(PXE), Remote Program Load (RPL), iSCSI, and Bootstrap Protocol (BootP).
Multi-Boot Agent (MBA) is a software module that allows your network computer
to boot with the images provided by remote servers across the network. The
QLogic MBA driver complies with the PXE 2.1 specification and is released with
split binary images. This provides flexibility to users in different environments
where the motherboard may or may not have built-in base code.
The MBA module 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. The QLogic implementation of the MBA module has been tested
successfully in the following environments:

Linux Red Hat
®
PXE Server . QLogic PXE clients are able to remotely boot
and use network resources (NFS mount, and so forth) and to perform Linux
installations. In the case of a remote boot, the Linux universal driver binds
seamlessly with the QLogic Universal Network Driver Interface (UNDI) and
provides a network interface in the Linux remotely-booted client
environment.

Intel
®
APITEST . The QLogic PXE driver passes all API compliance test
suites.

MS-DOS UNDI . The MS-DOS UNDI seamlessly binds with the QLogic UNDI
to provide a network adapter driver interface specification (NDIS2) interface
to the upper layer protocol stack. This allows computers to connect to
network resources in an MS-DOS environment.