Installation guide

Figure 6-1. Overview of PXE Boot Installation Process

DHCP server

Web server

ESXi target host

ESXi host

Give me an IP

for the virtual

network adapter

UDP

IP & TFTP server

kernel

TCP for gPXELINUX

UDP for PXELINUX

UDP

Give me

the kernel

Give me an IP

for the kernel

TFTP server

gpxelinux.0 or pxelinux.0

UDP

Give me the

network boot loader

scripts depot

Installer

starts

ks.cfg

TCP

Give me an

installation script

Sample DHCP Configuration

To PXE boot the ESXi installer, the DHCP server must send the address of the TFTP server and a pointer to

the pxelinux.0 or gpxelinux.0 directory.

The DHCP server is used by the target machine to obtain an IP address. The DHCP server must be able to

determine whether the target machine is allowed to boot and the location of the PXELINUX binary (which

usually resides on a TFTP server). When the target machine first boots, it broadcasts a packet across the network

requesting this information to boot itself. The DHCP server responds.

CAUTION Do not set up a new DHCP server if your network already has one. If multiple DHCP servers respond

to DHCP requests, machines can obtain incorrect or conflicting IP addresses, or can fail to receive the proper

boot information. Talk to a network administrator before setting up a DHCP server. For support on configuring

DHCP, contact your DHCP server vendor.

Many DHCP servers can PXE boot hosts. If you are using a version of DHCP for Microsoft Windows, see the

DHCP server documentation to determine how to pass the next-server and filename arguments to the

target machine.

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