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Extensible Firmware Interface Specification
Glossary-10 12/01/02 Version 1.10
Network Bootstrap Program (NBP)
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.
Network Interface Card (NIC)
Technically, this is a network device that is inserted into a bus on the
motherboard or in 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 LOM
s and network devices on external buses
(USB, 1394, etc.)).
NIC See Network Interface Card
.
Page Memory A set of contiguous pages. Page memory is allocated by AllocatePages()
and returned by FreePages()
.
Partition Discovery
The process of scanning a block device to determine whether it contains a
Partition
.
Partition See System Partition
.
PC-AT Refers to a PC platform that uses the AT form factor for their motherboards.
PCI Bus Driver Software that creates a handle for every PCI controller
on a PCI Host Bus
Controller and installs both the PCI I/O Protocol and the Device Path Protocol
onto that handle. It may optionally perform PCI Enumeration
if resources have
not already been allocated to all the PCI Controllers on a PCI Host Bus
Controller. It also loads and starts any EFI drivers found in any PCI Option
ROMs discovered during PCI Enumeration. If a driver is found in a PCI Option
ROM, the PCI Bus Driver will also attach the Bus Specific Driver Override
Protocol to the handle for the PCI Controller that is associated with the PCI
Option ROM that the driver was loaded from.
PCI Bus A collection of up to 32 physical PCI Devices
that share the same physical PCI
bus. All devices on a PCI Bus share the same PCI Configuration Space
.