Ampro Corporation XTX 820 manual Appendix B LAN Boot Feature

Appendix B LAN Boot Feature

The XTX 820 COM (Computer-On-Module) provides the LAN Boot feature, which can be enabled or disabled in the XTX 820 BIOS Setup Utility. The balance of this appendix describes the LAN Boot feature and briefly describes how to use the LAN Boot feature.

Introduction

LAN Boot is supported by the single Ethernet port on the XTX 820 baseboard, and is based on the Preboot eXecution Environment (PXE), an open industry standard. PXE (pronounced “pixie”) was designed by Intel, along with other hardware and software vendors, as part of the Wired for Management (WfM) specification to improve management of desktop systems. This technology can also be applied to the embedded system market place. PXE turns the XTX 820 Ethernet port into boot device when connected over a network (LAN).

PXE boots the XTX 820 from the network (LAN) by transferring a "boot image file" from a server. This image file is typically the operating system for the XTX 820, or a pre-OS agent that can perform management tasks prior to loading the image file (OS). A management task could include scanning the hard drive for viruses before loading the image file.

PXE is not operating system-specific, so the image file can load any OS. The most common application of PXE (LAN Boot) is installing an OS on a brand new device (hard disk drive) that has no operating system, (or reinstalling it when the operating system has failed or critical files have been corrupted).

Using PXE prevents the user from having to manually install all of the required software on the storage media device, (typically a hard disk drive) including the OS, which might include a stack of installation CD-ROMs. Installing from the network is as simple as connecting the XTX 820 and its baseboard to the network and powering it on. The server can be set up to detect new devices and install software automatically, thereby greatly simplifying the management of small to large numbers of systems attached to a network.

If the hard disk drive should crash, the network can be set up to do a hardware diagnostic check, and once a software-related problem is detected, the server can re-install the defective software, or all the XTX 820 software from the server. Booting from the network also helps insure a "clean" boot, with no boot-time viruses or user-modified files. The boot files are stored on the PXE server, protected from infection and user-modification.

To effectively make use of the Ampro supplied feature (LAN Boot), the XTX 820 requires a PXE boot agent for set up and PXE components on the server side as well. These include a PXE server and TFTP (Trivial File Transfer Protocol) server. The PXE server is designed to work in conjunction with a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server. The PXE server can be shared with DHCP server or installed on a different server. This makes it possible to add PXE to an existing network without affecting the existing DHCP server or configuration. Refer to the web sites listed here for sources of PXE boot agents and server components. For a more detailed technical description of how PXE works go to, http://www.pxe.ca. For more detailed information concerning pre-OS agents, go to: http://www.pre-OS.com.

Ampro provides an Intel→ PXE boot agent integrated into the XTX 820 BIOS, but does not provide the PXE server or its components. You will need to provide your own PXE server components on a compatible PXE server, before making full use of the LAN Boot feature. After you change the BIOS settings to enable the LAN Boot feature and move it to the top of the boot order, you will need to exit BIOS Setup, saving your settings, and reboot the system before your changes take effect. Refer to the next topic, Accessing the LAN (PXE) Boot Feature, for setup information.

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