For the past month or so all the machines that I have ordered and gotten have been coming with bootroms.� So for the past few weeks I have been searching for information on how this whole thing works.� I know bootroms have been around for as long as netcards but this is my first real experience with them.� My journey for information has been long and frustrating with little or no meaty information for public consumption.� It seems to me that a few companies want to keep it a secret because it can be very valuable to the mainstream corporate market.� As I work for an educational institution I do not have the funds that are required for most of the mainstream products available.� So my search has been for a GNU solution. � Thanks to David Clerc [ David.Clerc@cui.unige.ch] and this mailing list I have been getting closer and closer to being able to remotely boot my new machines.� Today I have stumbled upon probably the most helpful information to date -- http://developer.intel.com/ial/WfM/tools/pxe/index.htm� This page outlines the Preboot Execution Environment by Intel for their Wired For Management spec ( http://developer.intel.com/ial/WfM/design/pxedt/pxespec.htm).� What these PDF files is about is the future of network based computing.� There are many other vendors besides Intel that are picking up the torch and running with it. * Acer * AST * Compaq's WfM information page * Dell's WfM information page * Fujitsu * Gateway * Hewlett-Packard's WfM information page * Hitachi * IBM * Micron's WfM information page * Mitsubishi * Monorail * NEC * Packard-Bell/NEC * Pionex Techonologies * Quantex's WfM information page * SNI * Toshiba * Unisys * Viglen * Vist * ZDS Computer Associates Intl. Unicenter* TNG 2.2 Unicenter TNG Framework 2.2 Hewlett-Packard OpenView* Desktop Administrator 4.01 OpenView Network Node Manager for NT 5.02 Intel LANDesk� Client Manager LANDesk� Management Suite LANDesk� Server Manager Tivoli Systems Inc. NetView Version 5.0a * Lanworks Technologies Inc. ( http://www.lanworks.com/) * InCom GmbH ( http://www.incom.de/) * Intel Manageability Products and Solutions Page * AMD * SMC * Novell * 3Com These pages have lots of good information. * Some other links to good reference material can be found on this page: http://developer.intel.com/ial/WfM/design/bibliog.htm * This page has some good software for bootroms and the demo will even make bootable images for you under NT.�� http://www.bootware.com/needto.htm * This has alot of speculative information that is a good read http://www.eg3.com/vtc/incom/shead.htm#Heading7 * Outdated and in German but translated with Altavista its still a good read http://www.leu.bw.schule.de/beruf/zpg/kf/zpg18/text7ht.htm * Commercial company that everyone says to go to for support http://www.bootware.com/ * Information about the above http://www.id.dk/comforum/support/files/net/3comboot/readme * Allot of Useful information including RFC's http://www.netsys.com/archives.html * Another company that doesn't update their page http://www.incom.de/index_en.shtml * Good information but a bit outdated http://netsys.syr.edu/micnet/cluster_docs/win95/index.htm * Good info but in Spanish but it has a cool tidbit about changing the registry in 95 to set the computer name from the DNS entry, I believe... http://vitoria.upf.tche.br/~fred/ * How to NFS a root drive on Linux so you can boot from the net http://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/linux/docs/howto/mini/NFS-Root-Client * NE2000 bootstuff http://www.realtime.no/stavanger-datasenter/Drivere/networking/148.htm * RPL info for Novell http://www.realtime.no/stavanger-datasenter/Drivere/networking/CSBRPL.TXT * TCP/IP information about 95...some useful some incorrect http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~llurch/win95netbugs/faq-c.html * Linux DHCP and bootP Information http://www.secretagent.com/networking/dhcp.html * The best NT FAQ and how to install remote boot http://www.ntfaq.com/ntfaq/network.html#network42 * If your on the mailing list you've probably seen this http://www.slug.org.au/etherboot/ and http://www.slug.org.au/etherboot/nilo/ * Remote boot for Linux has info on setting up old bootroms for multi o/s http://cuiwww.unige.ch/info/pc/remote-boot.3/ * Probably the best place to get the most bloated incomplete information http://premium.microsoft.com/msdn/library/?FinishURL=/msdn/library/ * Outdated information but still useful http://www.katedral.se/system/elevsyst/ � THIS IS THE FUTURE: http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/pc98.htm / http://developer.intel.com/design/pc98/ � � Ok now that I have got that all out of the way I just have to say that some of these links you could have found on your own pretty easily but I included them just to make it easy for reference. � >From what I have learned there are several ways of booting a computer remotely.� The term is so loosely used I believe it needs a better definition.� First there is turning on a computer from a remote location which could be considered remotebooting. Second there is having a computer getting information from a remote source while its booting.� Third could be having the computer load the operating system from a remote source to boot.� All which could be considered remote booting.� If you are unclear on which or what remotebooting type operation you are doing I would recommend reading the above links to gain a clearer picture. � My definition of remote booting is a computer that has to have information from a remote computer to be able to boot, no matter if the o/s is on the harddrive or on a remote computer. � Now there are several different types of services that can facilitate remote booting.� RPL, DHCPD, BOOTP, TFTP, PXE, MTFTP, and others. � Each one of these types of services needs a special bootrom. But today bootroms are coming in a multi-flavor package capable of being able to boot from several services or even having code uploaded into the bootrom itself.� Many network computers today are able to even insert the code for remotebooting into the computers bios for remote booting. http://www.intel.com/managedpc/elements/index.htm#svcboot � � That's all I have for now but I plan on putting up a web page soon with other information I have gathered. � John Clark (skyman@iastate.edu)
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