Remote Booting to non-volatile storage

[JamesP]

I'm working on a project in which we need to deploy boot images to a
number of appliance-like systems. The systems all have local HD
storage.

I had been working with XPe's remote booting functionality, but that
won't meet some of the requirements criteria. In particular, the image
size may be larger than the installed RAM and the systems need to be
able to subsequently reboot successfully with no connection to the
network.

This leads me to my question. Is it possible to remote-boot to hard
disk, rather than RAM?
My perfect solution would be as follows:
If a network boot is succesful, the downloaded SDI file is used to
repave the active HD partition and XPe (or whatever) boots from the
local HD drive.
If no network is present, the system boots from drive C: as normal.

Any suggestions?

J.

 

[KM]

JamesP,

Many BIOSes have a setting to continue with a boot from a local hard disk if
network boot failed. Does it satisfy your requirement "If no network is
present, the system boots from drive C: as normal."?
In regards to the SDI download and limited RAM on the client, have you
considered creating a "small" SDI image that will definitely fit in your
client RAM but also include necessary network components. That "small
network image" may be remotely booted (in SDI form), network connected to a
server and download a "big" SDI file or even xcopy the "big" image to the
local hard drive. Then you just need to reboot the client to boot from the
local disk (the client may need to change Remote Boot Manager settings on
the server to abort next remote boot - use abort.com a boot program).

KM

J> I'm working on a project in which we need to deploy boot images to a
J> number of appliance-like systems. The systems all have local HD
J> storage.

J> I had been working with XPe's remote booting functionality, but that
J> won't meet some of the requirements criteria. In particular, the
J> image size may be larger than the installed RAM and the systems need
J> to be able to subsequently reboot successfully with no connection to
J> the network.

J> This leads me to my question. Is it possible to remote-boot to hard
J> disk, rather than RAM?
J> My perfect solution would be as follows:
J> If a network boot is succesful, the downloaded SDI file is used to
J> repave the active HD partition and XPe (or whatever) boots from the
J> local HD drive.
J> If no network is present, the system boots from drive C: as normal.

J> Any suggestions?

J> J.

 

[KM]

Just checked, gave you the wrong boot program name - should be abortpxe.com.
Or you may change boot action to ignore particular client (by client MAC
address). All RBM settings are stored in "\Program Files\Windows
Embedded\Remote Boot Service\rbsprov.ini" file.

K> JamesP,

K> Many BIOSes have a setting to continue with a boot from a local hard
K> disk if network boot failed. Does it satisfy your requirement "If no
K> network is present, the system boots from drive C: as normal."?
K> In regards to the SDI download and limited RAM on the client, have
K> you considered creating a "small" SDI image that will definitely fit
K> in your client RAM but also include necessary network components.
K> That "small network image" may be remotely booted (in SDI form),
K> network connected to a server and download a "big" SDI file or even
K> xcopy the "big" image to the local hard drive. Then you just need to
K> reboot the client to boot from the local disk (the client may need to
K> change Remote Boot Manager settings on the server to abort next
K> remote boot - use abort.com a boot program).

K> KM

J>> I'm working on a project in which we need to deploy boot images to a
J>> number of appliance-like systems. The systems all have local HD
J>> storage.

J>> I had been working with XPe's remote booting functionality, but that
J>> won't meet some of the requirements criteria. In particular, the
J>> image size may be larger than the installed RAM and the systems need
J>> to be able to subsequently reboot successfully with no connection to
J>> the network.

J>> This leads me to my question. Is it possible to remote-boot to hard
J>> disk, rather than RAM?
J>> My perfect solution would be as follows:
J>> If a network boot is succesful, the downloaded SDI file is used to
J>> repave the active HD partition and XPe (or whatever) boots from the
J>> local HD drive.
J>> If no network is present, the system boots from drive C: as normal.

J>> Any suggestions?

J>> J.


With best regards, KM. E-mail: (e-mail address removed)