Is it possible that PXE without a DHCP/BOOTP sever?

[Jie_H_Intel]

Dear All,

Is it possible to assign fixedIP addresseswithout DHCP/BOOTP for PXE. Could you please help me with this promblem? Thank you!

Best Regards,

Grace

[adrianfreemantle]

The short answer is no.

The problem is that PXE is embedded into the firmware of the nework adapter. So unless Intel has a tool available that allows you to reflash your network adapter's ROM then you will have to use DHCP. Is there a specific reason you want to avoid using DHCP? If you want i can tell you how to configure DHCP to correctly configure your PXE settings, its really not that hard.

Adrian.

[Jie_H_Intel]

Hi Adrian,

First, Thank you for your reply.

The situation is listed below:

We got some feedback that in some complex LAN, it always causes failure of assigning IP using DHCP. Furthermore, when assign IPacross different network segment, it also seems to be hardly successful. So could you help us on these problems? Is it the configuration as the key point? Please give some advices on it.

Thank you && Best Regards,

Grace

[adrianfreemantle]

Hi Grace,

Your scenario is more complex than just setting up for a smaller network and is beyond what i could explain in a small forum like this. However, I can point you to two specific documents from microsoft that may be very helpfull:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/259670

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/257579

In this situation I'm assuming that you are using some sort of mangement tool like RIS etc. so if the above information does not helpi would advise you contact the vendor as they should be have the best support for you regarding their product and how to configure it in a large network.

[Jie_H_Intel]

Hi Adrian,

Thank you for your prompt reply.

Here is more information for your reference. The whole system want to realize an efficient Thin-client system with diskless tech.

And thank you for the two reference docs. After westudy both of them, I will give you some feedback on it as soon as possible. Thanks again.

Best Regards,

Grace

[Jie_H_Intel]

As you mentioned above,"So unless Intel has a tool available that allows you to reflash your network adapter's ROM then you will have to use DHCP."

If we want to re-write the PXE ROM, is there any method or code can realize this function ? Could you please give some advices on it?

Thank you && Best Regards,

Grace

[johanvandberg]

My note is quite late, but for completion of the question I will add a few things as I was involved with PXE development projects at a time.

Like Adrian said, PXE exists on the ROM of the network adapter or it is part of your system BIOS. So "if" it is possible to change anything in there, it means you need a tool to access that flash or ROM module on the motherboard.
Next up is the question of "Did PXE support static IP addresses, and where in the ROM was this config saved". The answer: PXE was
not configured to load IP addresses from anywhere, and it does not even scan the ROM for such information.

So what I am saying is simply this. Theoretically you can updated the ROM yes - but you would be playing with quite some proprietry/dangerous things. And finally, even taking the risk of hacking your BIOS will give you no solution - because the PXE implementation did not take your problem into account when it was designed.

You will have to start using DHCP if you want PXE to work in your company.