Boot from SAN device

  sanboot [--drive <drive>] [--filename <filename>] [--extra <filename>]
          [--label <label>] [--uuid <uuid>]
          [--no-describe] [--keep] [<uri>] [<uri>...]

  sanboot iscsi:10.0.4.1:::1:iqn.2010-04.org.ipxe.dolphin:storage

  sanboot iscsi:192.168.0.101::::iqn.2010-04.org.ipxe.squirrel:storage \
          iscsi:192.168.0.102::::iqn.2010-04.org.ipxe.squirrel:storage

  sanboot --filename \EFI\redhat\grub.efi \
          iscsi:192.168.0.2::::iqn.2010-04.org.ipxe.chipmunk:rhel6

  sanboot http://boot.ipxe.org/freedos/fdfullcd.iso

  sanboot --no-describe --drive 0x80

  sanhook --drive 0x81 ${root-path}
  sanboot --no-describe iscsi:10.0.4.1:::1:iqn.2010-04.org.ipxe.dolphin:liveinstall

Boot from the specified SAN drive. If no SAN drive is explicitly specified then the default SAN drive (0x80) will be used. If one or more SAN target URIs are specified then they will be automatically attached as the specified SAN drive.

The SAN drive will be described via an appropriate mechanism (such as an iBFT for an iSCSI drive) unless the --no-describe option is specified.

On some platforms (e.g. UEFI), additional options may be used to control the SAN boot:

• If the --filename option is specified, then only a partition containing the specified filename will be selected as the boot partition, and the specified filename will be used as the bootloader within the SAN drive.
• If the --extra option is specified, then only a partition containing the specified additional filename will be selected as the boot partition.
• If the --label option is specified, then only a partition with the specified (case-insensitive) volume label will be selected as the boot partition.
• If the --uuuid option is specified, then only a partition with the specified GPT partition GUID will be selected as the boot partition.

It is generally impossible for this command to return successfully, since if the boot is successful then control will not return to iPXE.

• autoboot
• sanhook
• sanunhook
• List of all iPXE commands

The BIOS Master Boot Record (MBR) code present on most SAN targets will be unable to boot unless the target is attached as the default SAN drive (0x80).

You can optionally specify a SAN target URI that will be automatically attached as the specified SAN drive before booting is attempted. This drive will be automatically detached if booting then fails, unless the --keep option is specified.

You can create a multipath SAN device by specifying multiple SAN target URIs. iPXE will use whichever SAN target responds first, and will retry all URIs if the original SAN target fails for any reason. You must ensure that all SAN URIs in a multipath SAN device point to the same underlying SAN drive.

If you wish to attach to multiple independent SAN drives, then you must use the sanhook command to attach each non-boot drive individually.

On a UEFI platform, some older operating systems (e.g. RHEL6) will install the bootloader with a non-default filename. You can use the --filename option (or the san-filename setting) to specify the correct bootloader filename. For example:

  # For RHEL6
  sanboot --filename \EFI\redhat\grub.efi \
          iscsi:192.168.0.2::::iqn.2010-04.org.ipxe.chipmunk:rhel6
  
  # For Debian
  sanboot --filename \EFI\debian\grubx64.efi \
          iscsi:192.168.0.2::::iqn.2010-04.org.ipxe.chipmunk:debian10

For the sake of backwards compatibility, you can use the keep-san setting to prevent iPXE from detaching a SAN drive, and you can use the skip-san-boot setting to prevent iPXE from booting from a SAN drive. The combination of both of these settings provides functionality which is approximately equivalent to the sanhook command.

You can use the sanboot command to boot from a local disk drive without exiting iPXE. This can be useful if BIOS or UEFI bugs prevent you from being able to cleanly exit iPXE. For example:

  # Boot from local hard disk
  sanboot --no-describe --drive 0x80

On a UEFI platform you can specify drive number zero in order to boot from any matching disk (whether a SAN drive or local disk). You can use this in conjunction with the filtering options --extra, --label, etc to boot from the correct disk without knowing its drive number. For example:

  # Boot from any disk (SAN or local) containing a Fedora installation
  sanboot --drive 0 --extra \EFI\fedora