6.5.1

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gPXELINUX is a hybrid configuration that includes both PXELINUX and gPXE and supports booting
from a Web server. gPXELINUX is part of the SYSLINUX package. If you use gPXELINUX to boot the
ESXi installer, only the gpxelinux.0 binary file, mboot.c32, and the configuration file are transferred
via TFTP. The remaining files are transferred via HTTP. HTTP is typically faster and more reliable
than TFTP, especially for transferring large amounts of data on a heavily loaded network.
Note VMware currently builds the mboot.c32 plugin to work with SYSLINUX version 3.86 and tests PXE
booting only with that version. Other versions are likely to be incompatible. This is not a statement of
limited support. For support of third-party agents that you use to set up your PXE booting infrastructure,
contact the vendor.
UEFI PXE and iPXE
Most UEFI firmware natively includes PXE support that allows booting from a TFTP server. The firmware
can directly load the ESXi boot loader for UEFI systems, mboot.efi. Additional software such as
PXELINUX is not required.
iPXE can also be useful for UEFI systems that do not include PXE in firmware and for older UEFI systems
with bugs in their PXE support. For such cases you can try installing iPXE on a USB flash drive and
booting from there.
Note Apple Macintosh products do not include PXE boot support. They include support for network
booting via an Apple-specific protocol instead.
Alternative Approaches to PXE Booting
Alternative approaches to PXE booting different software on different hosts are also possible, for
example:
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Configuring the DHCP server to provide different initial boot loader filenames to different hosts
depending on MAC address or other criteria. See your DCHP server's documentation.
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Approaches using iPXE as the initial bootloader with an iPXE configuration file that selects the next
bootloader based on the MAC address or other criteria.
Installing and Booting ESXi with Software FCoE
You can install and boot ESXi from an FCoE LUN using VMware software FCoE adapters and network
adapters with FCoE offload capabilities. Your host does not require a dedicated FCoE HBA.
See the vSphere Storage documentation for information about installing and booting ESXi with software
FCoE.
vSphere Installation and Setup
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