A. Network Booting Client Nodes
There are two methods available for network booting your client nodes.
The first is to use the Preboot eXecution Environment (PXE) network
boot option in the client's BIOS, if available. If the option is not
available, you will need to create a network boot floppy disk using
the SystemImager boot package. Each method is described below.
- Network booting using PXE. To use this method, the BIOS
and network adapter on each of the client nodes will need to support
PXE version 2.0 or later. The PXE specification is available at
http://developer.intel.com/ial/wfm/tools/pxepdk20/. Earlier
versions may work, but experience has shown that versions earlier
than 2.0 are unreliable. As BIOS designs vary, there is not a
standard procedure for network booting client nodes using PXE. More
often than not, the option is presented in one of two ways.
- The first is that the option can be specified in the BIOS boot
order list. If presented in the boot order list, you will need to
set the client to have network boot as the first boot device. In
addition, when you have completed the client installation,
remember to reset the BIOS and remove network boot from the boot
list so that the client will boot from its local hard drive and
will not attempt to do the installation again.
- The second is that the user must watch the output of the
client node while booting and press a specified key such as ``N''
at the appropriate time. In this case, you will need to do so for
each client as it boots.
- Network booting using a SystemImager boot floppy. The
SystemImager boot package is provided with OSCAR just in case your
machines do not have a BIOS network boot option. You can create a
boot floppy through the OSCAR GUI installation wizard on the
Setup Networking
panel or by using the
mkautoinstalldiskette command.
Once you have created the SystemImager boot floppy, set your
client's BIOS to boot from the floppy drive. Insert the floppy and
boot the machine to start the network boot. Check the output for
errors to make sure your network boot floppy is working properly.
Remember to remove the floppy when you reboot the clients after
installation.
root
2002-11-08