Appendix C LAN Boot Option

The LAN Boot feature is optional for the LittleBoard 550 and you must contact Ampro or your sales representative for more information before you can make use of this option. The LAN Boot option requires a BIOS update to make use of the LAN Boot features.

Introduction

LAN Boot is supported by both Ethernet ports on the LittleBoard 550, 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 LittleBoard 550 Ethernet ports into boot devices when connected over a network (LAN).

PXE boots the LittleBoard 550 from the network (LAN) by transferring a "boot image file" from a server. This image file is typically the operating system for the LittleBoard 550, 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 ReadyBoard 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 ReadyBoard software from the server. Booting from the network also guarantees 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 LittleBoard 550 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 a third party PXE boot agent integrated into the LittleBoard 550 BIOS when you get the BIOS upgrade, but does not provide the PXE server components. You will also need to provide your own PXE server components on a compatible PXE server, before making full use of the LAN Boot feature. The BIOS upgrade for the LittleBoard 550 has the LAN Boot options avaiable for selection. When you change the BIOS settings to enable LAN Boot, you will need to exit BIOS Setup, saving your settings, and reboot the system to enter and set the PXE boot agent settings. Refer to the topic BIOS Setup and Appendix C, PXE Boot Agent BIOS Setup for more information and configuration information.

LittleBoard 550

Reference Manual