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When using netboot, the boot rom will pull the files it needs from the tftp server. It will first look for them in a subdirectory with the Pi’s serial number as its name.

If you’re netbooting without any sdcard installed, I’d suggest disabling sd polling.

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PXE uses the MAC address doesn't it?

It does, but I think what the Pi does is connect to the TFTP server handed out by PXE and then look for a folder named serial-number. If it doesn't exist in the path PXE gave it it just boots whatever is in the tftproot.

Might or might not. It does DHCP request and server-side, you can do decision on what it returns on any tag you want, often client architecture (0x93); you can then point to the right tftp server, or if you have UEFI client, you can also use http.

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