| [Servers] Booting from LAN via PXE I have just figured out how to enable the Boot ROM on all my network adaptors and configure the BIOS boot order to boot from LAN.
I would like to set up an server to let me try out booting from the network using PXE instead of booting up with the hard drive.
The system I have setup is an older slower system that has an gigabit NIC card installed.
What are some good server systems that are easy to setup for PXE booting? |
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bdnhsv
join:2012-01-20
Huntsville, AL | I haven't personally set up an environment like this, but I think all you need is a DHCP server and a TFTP server - if that's the case then pretty much any LAMP stack would work. |
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| reply to robman50
I do have a bunch of operating systems around here, such as NT 4.0 Workstation/Server, 2000 Pro/Server and 2003 Server Standard.
I think for the hardware of this old system (Athlon 1000, 384MB RAM, 20GB HDD) I'd probably be best off with NT4 or 2000. 2003 server might be a little sluggish.
I also have a bunch of Unix/Linux systems but I don't have any experience with their command interface. |
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bdnhsv
join:2012-01-20
Huntsville, AL | I'm sure that's plenty of hardware, and you can use pretty much any OS you're comfortable with. Personally I like CentOS (a linux variant) for stuff like this because it's fast, stable, doesn't need much h/w, and you can easily make a headless server with it. I haven't used windows for either of these applications so I don't have any recommendations on apps, but a quick google search will give you plenty of ideas. If you go the linux route both dhcp and tftp servers are standard packages that you can either install or add. Good luck! |
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| reply to robman50
Besides the fact of testing out PXE booting, I wouldn't mind setting up an media server for DLNA clients. 
Back to remote booting, I would like to see if I can boot from LAN for system backups and burning full system backups to DVD. |
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| reply to bdnhsv
Which version of CentOS should I get that will run on my old hardware? |
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bdnhsv
join:2012-01-20
Huntsville, AL | Most new systems have a wake on LAN setting in their BIOS that would help you, and I'd recommend looking into the open source backup app AMANDA. You can do a ton of cool things with it. As for Centos OS - get the newest distro available that your cpu will support (32bit vs 64 bit) at centos.org or get any other linux distro you're comfortable with. |
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