Mellanox WinOF VPI Documentation v5.50.53000
v6.5

Booting Windows from an iSCSI Target or PXE

Configuring the WDS Server

To configure the WDS server:

  1. Install the WDS server.

  2. Extract the Mellanox drivers to a local directory using the '-a' parameter.
    For boot over Ethernet, when using adapter cards with older firmware version than 2.30.8000, you need to extract the PXE package, otherwise use Mellanox WinOF VPI package.
    Example:

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    Mellanox.msi.exe -a

  3. Add the Mellanox driver to boot.wim.

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    dism /Mount-Wim /WimFile:boot.wim /index:2 /MountDir:mnt dism /Image:mnt /Add-Driver /Driver:drivers /recurse dism /Unmount-Wim /MountDir:mnt /commit

    Note: Use ‘index:2’ for Windows setup and ‘index:1’ for WinPE.

  4. Add the Mellanox driver to install.wim.

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    dism /Mount-Wim /WimFile:install.wim /index:4 /MountDir:mnt dism /Image:mnt /Add-Driver /Driver:drivers /recurse dism /Unmount-Wim /MountDir:mnt /commit

    Note: When adding the Mellanox driver to install.wim, verify you are using the appropriate index for your OS flavor. To check the OS run ‘imagex /info install.win’.

  5. Add the new boot and install images to WDS.
    For additional details on WDS, please refer to: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj648426.aspx

Configuring iSCSI Target

To configure iSCSI Target:

  1. Install iSCSI Target (e.g StartWind).

  2. Add to the iSCSI target initiators the IP addresses of the iSCSI clients.

Configuring the DHCP Server

To configure the DHCP server:

  1. Install a DHCP server.

  2. Add to IPv4 a new scope.

  3. Add boot client identifier (MAC/GUID) to the DHCP reservation.

  4. Add to the reserved IP address the following options if DHCP and WDS are deployed on the same server:

Reserved IP Address Options

Option

Name

Value

017

Root Path

iscsi:11.4.12.65::::iqn:2011-01:iscsiboot
Assuming the iSCSI target IP is: 11.4.12.65 and the Target Name: iqn:2011-01:iscsiboot

060

PXEClient

PXEClient

066

Boot Server Host Name

WDS server IP address

067

Boot File Name

boot\x86\wdsnbp.com

Warning

When DHCP and WDS are NOT deployed on the same server, DHCP options (60, 66, 67) should be empty, and the WDS option 60 must be configured.

To configuring your client:

  1. Verify the Mellanox adapter card is burned with the correct Mellanox FlexBoot version.
    For boot over Ethernet, when using adapter cards with older firmware version than 2.30.8000, you need to burn the adapter card with Ethernet FlexBoot, otherwise use the VPI FlexBoot.

  2. Verify the Mellanox adapter card is burned with the correct firmware version.

  3. Set the “Mellanox Adapter Card” as the first boot device in the BIOS settings boot order.

© Copyright 2023, NVIDIA. Last updated on May 23, 2023.