This Glossary defines terms, abbreviations, and acronyms that apply directly to the Intel® Boot Agent.
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Advanced Configuration and Power Interface |
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Alert on LAN* |
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| API | Application Program Interface. The specific method prescribed by an OS or an application program by which a programmer writing an application program can make requests of the operating system or the application. |
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BIOS Aware IPL Device. The BIOS contains all code required to IPL from the device. |
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Base Address Register |
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| BBS | BIOS Boot Specification |
| BC | Basecode. The PXE BaseCode, included as a core protocol in EFI, is comprised of a simple network stack (UDP/IP) and a few common network protocols (DHCP, Bootserver Discovery, TFTP) that are useful for remote booting machines. |
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Boot Connection Vector. A field in the Plug and Play (PnP) header for a device with an associated option ROM. |
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Boot Entry Vector. A field in the Plug and Play (PnP) Header of a device with an associated option ROM. PXE is implemented as a BEV option ROM. |
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| BINL | Binary Image Negotiation Layer |
| BIOS | Basic Input/Output System. The program a personal computer's microprocessor uses to get the computer system started after you turn it on. It also manages data flow between the computer's OS and attached devices. |
| BIS | Boot Integrity Services |
| BOOTP | Bootstrap Protocol. A legacy remote booting protocol developed originally for use with UNIX*. Used as Red Hat Linux*'s server side PXE host software. Runs a Daemon once installed. |
| DDIM | Device Driver Initialization Model |
| Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. An industry standard Internet protocol defined by the IETF. DHCP was defined to dynamically provide communications-related configuration values such as network addresses to network client computers at boot time. DHCP is specified by IETF RFCs 1534, 2131, and 2132. | |
| EEPROM | Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory |
| An embedded, minimal operating system. Intel's initiative to provide base hardware interfaces with a user-accessible layer. EFI provides a built-in hardware abstraction layer (HAL), making the porting of operating system code easier and more reliable regardless of hardware variations. Sits on top of the system BIOS and is listed on FreeBSD. It is used to flatten out the top edge of a BIOS. Can be considered a DOS replacement, but without all the limits that DOS has. | |
| Electro-Static Discharge | |
| Flash | A high-density, truly nonvolatile, high-performance, read-write memory solution, also characterized by low power consumption, extreme ruggedness, and high reliability. |
| Flb | Flash Library |
| IA32 | Shorthand for computer platforms based on Intel 32-bit architecture CPUs |
| IA64 | Shorthand for computer platforms based on Intel 64-bit architecture CPUs |
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Intel Architecture Lab |
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| IBA | Intel Boot Agent |
| IETF | Internet Engineering Task Force. The IETF is a large open international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with the evolution of the Internet architecture and the smooth operation of the Internet. It is open to any interested individual. For more details, refer to http://www.ietf.org. |
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Initial Program Load. Also known as the bootstrap or boot process. |
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| LCM | LANDesk* Configuration Manager |
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LAN On Motherboard. This is a network device that is built onto the motherboard (or baseboard) of the machine. |
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| MTFTP |
Adds multicast support to a TFTP server. |
| NBP | Network Bootstrap Program. This is the first program that is downloaded into a machine that has selected a PXE capable device for remote boot services. A typical NBP examines the machine it is running on to try to determine if the machine is capable of running the next layer (OS or application). If the machine is not capable of running the next layer, control is returned to the EFI boot manager and the next boot device is selected. If the machine is capable, the next layer is downloaded and control can then be passed to the downloaded program. Though most NBPs are OS loaders, NBPs can be written to be standalone applications such as diagnostics, backup/restore, remote management agents, browsers, etc. |
| NIC | Network Interface Card. Also referred to as adapter. Technically, this is a network device that is inserted into a bus on the motherboard or into an expansion board. For the purposes of this document, the term NIC will be used in a generic sense, meaning any device that enables a network connection (including LOMs and network devices on external busses, such as USB, 1394, etc). |
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Operating System |
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| PMM | POST Memory Manager. A mechanism used by option ROMs to allocate RAM memory for use during system startup. |
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Plug and Play |
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Power On Self-Test |
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| proxyDHCP | Used to ease the transition of PXE clients and servers into an existing network infrastructure. proxyDHCP provides additional DHCP information that is needed by PXE clients and boot servers without making changes to existing DHCP servers. |
| PXE | Preboot Execution Environment. PXE provides a way for a system to initiate a network connection to various servers prior to loading an OS. This network connection supports a number of standard IP protocols such as DHCP and TFTP, and can be used for purposes such as software installation and system inventory maintenance. |
| PXE 16 | PXE Specification v2.1 or earlier. Also known as 16-bit PXE. |
| Request For Comments. Used to denote that a new standard or modification to standard is be introduced by IETF or other standards bodies. | |
| RIS | Remote Installation Services. A Microsoft service that uses PXE to deliver the Network Bootstrap Program (NBP) to start the boot process. Ships with Windows* 2000 Advanced Server. |
| Read-Only Memory. When used in this guide, ROM refers to a non-volatile memory storage device on a NIC. | |
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Remote Program Load. Another bootable network device protocol, developed and used mostly by IBM. |
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| TCO | Total Cost of Ownership. Studies indicate that the most expensive part of a PC for businesses is not the cost of the PC itself, but its on-going maintenance and management. This after-purchase cost is tracked as Total Cost of Ownership. Remote management tools like PXE help lower the overall cost of the ownership. |
| TFTP | Trivial File Transfer Protocol. An industry standard Internet protocol defined by the IETF to enable the transmission of files across the Internet. Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP, Revision 2) to support NBP download is specified by IETF RFC 1350. |
| UNDI | Universal Network Driver Interface. UNDI is an architectural interface to NICs. Traditionally NICs have had custom interfaces and custom drivers (each NIC had a driver for each OS on each platform architecture). UNDI provides a hardware-dependent mechanism for the PXE base code to use a NIC for network access without controlling the NIC hardware directly. H/W UNDI is an architectural hardware interface to a NIC; S/W UNDI is a software implementation of the H/W UNDI. |
| Uniform Resource Locator. The address of a file (resource) accessible on the Internet. | |
| USB | Universal Serial Bus. A Plug and Play (PnP) interface between a computer and add-on devices. |
| WfM | Wired for Management |
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Wake on LAN* |
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