[3197] in SIPB_Linux_Development
RE: What is PXE?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Danilo Almeida)
Thu Nov 9 11:50:27 2000
From: "Danilo Almeida" <dalmeida@MIT.EDU>
To: "Bill Cattey" <wdc@MIT.EDU>
Cc: <linux-dev@MIT.EDU>
Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2000 11:49:59 -0500
Message-Id: <DIEILAKKMPNAOBPOMHLBKEMACBAA.dalmeida@mit.edu>
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In-Reply-To: <Yu2Xqb9z0001IvXMt3@mit.edu>
PXE is the pre-boot execultion environment. It basically allows you to
access the network and such in a h/w independent way before you even have an
OS running.
> > The OptiPlex systems (and so do most 'other' PCs designed for
> > institutions or corporate) includes a PXE option ROM which will boot to
> > a PXE/DHCP or Bootp server. By making some changes on your server and
> > using this feature would eliminate the need to create and maintain boot
> > floppies for re-imaging.
>
> Does this mean we could do a media-free install on Dell's like we did
> with DECStations, and like we do with SGI's and Ultra's?
Yes, this is indeed what this means. You can also get PXE emulation w/o a
PXE BIOS using a boot floppy (for certain popular ethernet cards). Even
though using a PXE floppy would not be media-less, it would mean using media
that never changes (wrt to OS releases).
> Or is this another one of those, "as long as nobody on your network ever
> puts a second one online, you can use this server to install your
> systems" kind of designs?
Well, everything is ok as long as noboy else imposes their own DHCP/bootp
infrastructure into the campus. But that's true of any bootp/dhcp
environment.
Also, this would have to be coordinated with Pismere as we're already using
PXE for Pismere installs. (This might be done via menus options offered via
PXE or whatever.) But that'd be way cool. It may be worth investigating.
For more information on PXE, see:
http://www.intel.com.sv/ial/wfm/wfm20/design/pxedt/pxestep.htm
- Danilo
