Usingsystemmanagement
Thissectionisintendedprimarilyfornetworkadministrators.
Yourcomputerisdesignedformanageability,sothatyoucanredirectmoreofyourresourcestobetter
meetyourbusinessobjectives.
Thismanageability,or“TotalCostofOwnership”(TCO),enablesyoutoremotelypoweronyourcomputer,
formattheharddiskdrive,installthesoftwareofyourchoice,andhavethecomputerstartupandfunctionin
thesamewayasanordinarydesktopPC.
Oncethecomputerisconguredandoperational,youcanmanageitbyuseofsoftwareandmanageability
featuresalreadyintegratedintotheclientsystemandthenetwork.
Systemmanagement
Readthistopictolearnmoreaboutfeaturesofsystemmanagement.
DesktopManagementInterface
ThesystemUEFIBIOSofyourcomputersupportsaninterfacecalledSystemManagementBIOSReference
Specication(SMBIOS)V2.6.1.SMBIOSprovidesinformationaboutthehardwarecomponentsofyour
system.ItistheresponsibilityoftheBIOStosupplythisdatabasewithinformationaboutitselfandthe
devicesonthesystemboard.ThisspecicationdocumentsthestandardsforgettingaccesstothisBIOS
information.
PrebooteXecutionEnvironment
ThePrebooteXecutionEnvironment(PXE)technologymakesyourcomputermoremanageable(itisPXE
2.1-compliant)byenablingittoboot(loadanoperatingsystemoranotherexecutableimage)froma
server.YourcomputersupportsthepersonalcomputerfunctionsthatPXErequires.Forexample,withthe
appropriateLANcard,yourcomputercanbebootedfromthePXEserver.
Note:TheRemoteInitialProgramLoad(RPL)functioncannotbeusedwithyourcomputer.
WakeonLAN
AnetworkadministratorcanuseWakeonLANtoturnonacomputerfromamanagementconsole.
WhenWakeonLANisusedwithnetworkmanagementsoftware,manyfunctions,suchasdatatransfer,
softwareupdates,andFlashupdatesofUEFIBIOS,canbeperformedremotelywithoutremoteattendance.
Thisupdatingprocesscanbedoneafternormalworkinghoursandonweekends,tosavetimeandincrease
productivity.Usersarenotinterruptedduringnormalworkinghours,andLANtrafciskepttoaminimum.
IfacomputeristurnedonbytheWakeonLANfunction,theNetworkBootsequenceisused.
AssetIDEEPROM
TheAssetIDEEPROMcontainsinformationaboutthesystem,includingitscongurationandtheserial
numbersofkeycomponents.Italsoincludesanumberofblankeldsinwhichyoucanrecordinformation
abouttheendusersinyournetwork.
Settingmanagementfeatures
Toenablethenetworkadministratortocontrolyourcomputerremotely,youmustcongurethenetwork
interfacebysettingthesystem-managementfeaturesintheThinkPadSetupprogram.Youcancongure
thefollowingfunctionsintheprogram:
Chapter8.Advancedconguration129