Applies to
iPXE Anywhere 2.5
Content
For a typical EFI boot, without the optional boot fonts, a total of 314KB of data is transferred per booting device. A 99,9% reduction from the standard TFTP protocol. All data sizes in Kilobytes.
Note The file version sizes are averages as some builds might include debug information and/or troubleshooting tools like nslookup and ping etc.
File Name |
Size |
Hash size |
Purpose |
snponly.efi |
150 |
N/A |
EFI iPXE bootloader, using UNDI, can’t be use BranchCache as its the start of the process |
undionly.kpxe |
75 |
N/A |
BIOS iPXE bootloader, using UNDI, can’t be use BranchCache as its the start of the process |
WimBoot |
35KB |
1KB |
WinPE boot loader |
Boot.bcd |
12KB |
N/A |
Typically about +8KB per added |
Boot Scripts |
1-2KB |
N/A |
Auto generated |
Variable.dat |
22KB |
N/A |
Transferred using TFTP from ConfigMgr binaries in WinPE |
Windows PE |
300-500MB |
150-300KB |
Size depends on drivers, optional components etc. |
Typically the order is the iPXE boot loader, wimboot (hashed or not) and the boot.bcd file + some iPXE scripts to hold it all together. The hash of the WinPE image is then transferred and the TFTP download.
Transfer |
Kilo Bytes |
Comment |
Total BIOS WAN transfer with BranchCache |
~275KB |
|
Total EFI WAN transfer with BranchCache |
~350KB |
|
Reduction in percentage of WAN traffic |
-99.9% |
Yeah, it’s that awesome! |
The test compares a download conducted over a poor link with BranchCache support and 5 clients serving the WinPE image with a GigaBit network without BranchCache. The test speeds are with EFI capable devices and for downloading a 300MB WinPE image only.
Bandwidth Up/Down/%Packet Loss |
Speed (mm:ss) |
Reduction from TFTP |
56/33.6 Kb 2% (Modem) |
02:00 |
Are you kidding me? |
128/512 Kb 2% (ISDN/DSL Type) |
00:30 |
Keep dreamin baby! |
1.544Mb/s (Typical T1) |
00:10 |
Still aint happening! |
10Mb/s 1% Loss |
00:07 |
On a sunny day? Right! |
100Mb/s 0,5% Loss |
00:07 |
About 10 mins |
1Gb/s 0% Loss with BranchCache |
00:06 |
Down 1-5 mins |
1Gb/s 0% Loss without BranchCache |
00:02 |
Down 1-5 mins |