Mellanox Boot over IB (BoIB) in "Mellanox OFED for Linux" Release Notes
=======================================================================
Rev 1.0, April 2008

Contents:
---------
1. General
2. Supported Platforms
3. Package Contents
4. Known Issues


1. General
-----------
These are the release notes for "Mellanox Boot over IB" (BoIB), the software
for Boot over Mellanox Technologies InfiniBand HCA devices. BoIB enables
booting kernels or operating systems (OS) from remote servers in compliance
with the PXE specification.

This package is based on the open source project Etherboot/gPXE available at
http://www.etherboot.org.

The supported Mellanox HCA devices are:
- ConnectX(TM) IB (Firmware: fw-25408 v2.3.000)
- InfiniHost(TM) III Ex  (Firmware: fw-25218 v5.3.000)
- InfiniHost(TM) III Lx  (Firmware: fw-25204 v1.2.000)


2. Tested Platforms
-------------------
Platform: HP BLADE SERVERS
Model           CPU             BIOS                    BIOS Version
=====           ===             ====                    ============
BL460C          Intel dual      Proliant System Bios    L15
BL460C          Intel quad      Proliant System Bios    L15
BL465C          AMD dual        Proliant System Bios    A13

Platform: HP 1U/2U SERVERS
Model           CPU             BIOS                    BIOS Version
=====           ===             ====                    ============
HP DL 360 (G5)  Intel quad      Proliant System Bios    P58
HP DL 145-G2    AMD single      Proliant System Bios    2.16
HP DL 365       AMD dual        Proliant System Bios    A10
				
Platform: IBM 1U/2U SERVERS				
Model           CPU             BIOS                    BIOS Version
=====           ===             ====                    ============
IBM x3455       AMD dual        IBM BIOS                1.35
IBM-326m        AMD dual        Phoenix Server BIOS 3   6.0.U
				
Platform: DELL 1U/2U SERVERS				
Model           CPU             BIOS                    BIOS Version
=====           ===             ====                    ============
PE 2970         AMD dual        Phoenix Rom Bios        1.2.2
PE 2950         Intel quad      Phoenix Rom Bios        1.2.0
PE 2950         Intel dual      Phoenix Rom Bios        1.1.0
PE 1950         Intel dual      Phoenix Rom Bios        1.3.7
PE 1950         Intel quad      Phoenix Rom Bios        1.3.7
PE 1850         Intel single    Phoenix Rom Bios        A04
PE SC1435       AMD dual        Phoenix Rom Bios        1.0.0
				
Platform: DELL BLADE SERVERS				
Model           CPU             BIOS                    BIOS Version
=====           ===             ====                    ============
M600            Intel dual      Power Edge 600          0.2.1
M600            Intel quad      Power Edge 600          0.2.1
M605            AMD dual        Power Edge 605          0.1.8


3. Package Contents 
-------------------
The Boot over IB package is provided as a tarball (.gz extension). Uncompress
it using the command "tar zxf <package file name>". The tarball contains the
following files:

 1. PXE binary files for Mellanox HCA devices
  -HCA: ConnectX IB SDR (PCI DevID: 25408)
        CONNECTX_SDR_PORT1_ROM-1.0.0.rom (IB Port 1)
        CONNECTX_SDR_PORT2_ROM-1.0.0.rom (IB Port 2)

  -HCA: ConnectX IB DDR (PCI DevID: 25418)
        CONNECTX_DDR_PORT1_ROM-1.0.0.rom (IB Port 1)
        CONNECTX_DDR_PORT2_ROM-1.0.0.rom (IB Port 2)

  -HCA: InfiniHost III Ex in Mem-Free mode (PCI DevID: 25218)
        IHOST3EX_PORT1_ROM-1.0.0.rom (IB Port 1)
        IHOST3EX_PORT2_ROM-1.0.0.rom (IB Port 2)

  -HCA: InfiniHost III Lx (PCI DevID: 25204)
        IHOST3LX_ROM-1.0.0.rom (single IB Port device)

 2. A docs/ directory includes the following files:
  - Boot-over-IB_User_Manual_1_0.pdf - user’s manual
  - boot_over_ib_release_notes.txt - these release notes
  - dhcpd.conf - sample DHCP configuration file
  - dhcp.patch - patch file for DHCP v3.1.1rc1


4. Known Issues
---------------
- Unsupported platforms:
  o PPC
- The IBM servers below have a compatibility issue with gPXE:
  o IBM Server Model IBM x3550 (Intel quad, IBM BIOS v1.05)
  o IBM Blade Server models
        LS21 (AMD dual, IBM BIOS v1.00)
        HS21 (Intel dual, IBM BIOS v1.04)

- Running the device with PXE abilities requires PCI ROM space. Some platforms
  (other than those listed in the "Tested Platforms" section) may not make such
  space available for PXE boot. This may prevent the proper boot via Mellanox
  Boot over IB or even other boot media.

- In order to reduce ROM space, only one port can supply BoIB at a time.

- The Etherboot/gPXE project includes other features that were not tested on
  Mellanox Boot over IB. For example, HTTP boot and AOE boot. If you wish
  to try using those features, perform the following steps:
  1. Download the Etherboot/gPXE project from
     http://www.etherboot.org/wiki/download?DokuWiki=e2bce2819bac0496a177517a8c45ebc5
  2. Compile the expansion ROM by running "make bin/<device>.ROM" from the src/ 
     directory, where <device> is one of the following: mt25204, mt25218, 
     mt25408, or mt25418 -- depending on the card's HCA device.
  3. Burn the expansion ROM as described in the section "Burning the Expansion
     ROM Image" of the Boot over IB (BoIB) User's Manual.

- iSCSI boot can perform a Mellanox Boot over IB only on a machine that boots
  using GRUB.