Hi again

I coud do with a little help in setting up network boot (pxe). I am working at a school here in Sweden where we have set up a server for handling the students' computers.

We receive the computers with Vista and redo them to XP. At the moment, we use the ghost boot cd when ghosting from the server. Because there are so many computers it makes the process a little long. What we like to do is PXE boot which means the client takes the image directly from the server.

Is there anyone that knows the inns and outs of PXE boot - and can give as a little help with this project. If you need more info - then please let me know.


bookie32

you dont need much more to net/PXE-boot then basic DNS, DHCP and TFTP setup. All of which should come with W2k3. Is there a specific reason you use the 3com software?

Just a little update

I have nothing against using RIS with PXE - but the same applies with that. I am not so sure of the setup, so if anyone would like to give me the heads up on that I would be greatful

bookie32

Hi bj-kaiser sorry you were quicker than my little update. I have amost no experience of PXE at all and was surfing the NET and thought that one had to have a third party program to make it work.

I have since seen that you can have PXE with RIS.

I have seen lots of info on the different ways of using a server to send images to client but nothing that makes it clear about PXE.

I would appreciate your giving me a typical scenario regarding making the boot image that you use for PXE. So in answer to your question I have absolutely no need of 3com. It is just my lack of knowledge on the subject that lead me to believe that you needed 3com to make it work.

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly

bookie32

I was just thinking that you might wanted to boot something other than RIS over PXE. (for which you would need to use another bootloader than the MS one.) But since this isn't the case, you should be fine with a knowledge base article or walkthrough from Microsoft.

I honestly never used RIS/WDS. but it should be fairly simple to set up. The images you want to deploy are another topic.

--edit--
that link should give you a bit of overview:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc671163.aspx

Hi bj-kaiser, thanks for the info

The guys at IT already use ghost to boot the computers and connect to the server but as I said before that requires a boot cd or disk in every computer. When you are reghosting computers every term and there are about 500 at a time it makes the process a bit tedious.

They don't have the time to study PXE and I offered to get it up and running for them. I love a challenge and I really appreciate the help I get from forums like msfn when working on such projects!

I don't mind reading either that is part of learning - its just that some times you can google your pants off and not be any the wiser

Thanks again for your help on this. The guys at the school are going to be really glad to save time and energy. You will, of course, be given the credit for pointing me in the right direction. They already know that I have posted this thread at msfn.


If I have any more queeries about this, then I wil let you know.


bookie32

you might want to look at the "wdsutil.exe" utility (if I remembered the name right) and pxelinux or etherboot.

wdsutil has an option to change the bootloader from the default one to anything else. so, you can use pxelinux and there is almost nothing that it cant boot. you can even chainload the original MS bootloader to be able to boot windows PE. (thats the way i do it actually for flexibility.) although my setup usually is a linux box with dnsmasq + tftp. (and with recent versions, dnsmasq comes with integrated tftp.)

--
http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/PXELINUX
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc742071.aspx

Hi again bj-kaiser, after some more research into using RIS I hit a brick wall of sorts. If I have understood rightly, then if service pack 2 is installed on windows 2003 r2 then it isn't RIS one uses but WDS. Ok I know you mentioned that as well just getting going with RIS to find it not there


OK so now I am looking at your new info and WDS.

Thanks again for stopping bye


I will keep you updated as my research and tests progress.


bookie32

Hi again, well getting a little swamped with info here and not sure what to do for the best.

I was looking at RIS as a PXE boot - but RIS doesn't go together with windows 2003r2 so then I started looking at wds as a solution - but! But being the operative word! If I understand the info I have been reading, wds doesn't do multicast and sure enough after installing and configuring wds there was no sign of multicast as an option

We need to deploy to many clients at once, so multicast has been the solution for that. So on my test computers at home I am not sure what to do? I could reinstall windows 2003 without the r2 upgrade and then I could run with the RIS solution? Or am I back to the 3com solution which is where I started?

I really am in deep water with the whole setup of creating PXE boot so that we don''t have to have the boot cd's. Please understand that I appreciate all your input - but at the present time am uncertain how to proceed.

I haven't even any real understanding of the advantages of having the R2 upgrade? Can anyone help with this so that I can get a test scenario up and running at home before implementing at the school.

Sorry if I am asking to be spoon fed on this - its just that I tend to understand it better that way.


bookie32

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc743170.aspx
after reading that I guess you want to continue using Ghost Multicast or upgrade server 2008. Because as I understand it, WDS supports multicast only on server 2008.

However, WDS still provides you with the basics for PXE boot (DHCP, DNS and TFTP service). and with the wdsutil.exe you can set the network boot program (NBP or bootloader) to be anything you like. You should take a look at pxelinux. its fairly easy to set up. all you have to do is copy it to the TFTP folder and make a config for it.

Hi bj-kaiser, thanks for dropping bye again

I have read the article to your link and at the moment the thought of upgrading to windows 2008 isn't an option. Thanks for pointing out that for me! Because I am limited to the 2003 version then I will look at pxelinux as an option.

I have, however. reprogrammed the computer with just 2003 and not upgraded to R2 and will look at RIS first. At the school they have just 2003 and not the upgrade R2, but I hadn't noticed that before adding the upgrade...LOL


Once again, thanks for the info....I will keep you informed of my progress...if there is any progress...LOL


bookie32

actually my idea was that you just set up your server to allow booting of Ghost, since you already paid good money on it and I suppose its working well for you. You could probably do without pxelinux, it is just that you have to figure out the bootloader file for Ghost anyway. But pxelinux adds flexibility.

Hi bj-kaiser, sorry for the misunderstanding! I am not getting anywhere with this anyway I reinstalled as I said but what I hadn't counted on was the windows 2003 version they have has sp2 already included and that means no RIS but WDS!!!

I am running out of interest fast here. I have been going round in circles for days now! I will go back to the idea I had in the beginning and run ghost with 3com boot services for PXE.

Thanks for your help anyway

bookie32

I hope I can help. I am using RIS with Ghost on Win 2003. If you have SP2 on 2003 RIS becomes WDS. So my WIN 2003 server is SP1. Here is a link for a step by step setup with RIS and Ghost. It worked great for me. No more Cd's or floppy's. http://www.alanphipps.com/WindowsAdmin-Server-RIS.html#Step3

Hi AO3, thanks for dropping bye

Thanks very much for the link it was very expanitory

I have been busy the last couple of days - but will look at the link in more detail tomorrow and give you a shout when I have had time to work with the info!


Thanks again much appreciated! Much appreciated to both of you

bookie32

Hi again, sorry for the delay in replying with an update!

I have been a bit busy of late! Well, in this instance I have gone back to my original idea and used 3com boot services with ghost corporate 8.

I had so many variables which didn't seem to get me anywhere, so I thought what the hell and sat at school with 3com boot services and had it working in about five minutes.... I know you are laughing but I did enjoy the learning experience and understand the process a little better now.

WHAT I DID

I had windows server 2003 with service pack 2 already installed. I had a copy of 3com boot services and installed that. I created a boot image with ghost boot wizard choosing the TCP/IP Network Boot Image (uses 3com DynamicAccess Boot Services software to create and image allowing booting from the network without a disk). I chose the PXE Packet Driver from the list and proceeded to next window. There is a choice to use PC-DOS already marked which I chose (you need to add the files from a windows´'95 or ´98 boot disk to use PC-DOS). If you haven't one at home, there are many sites that offer self-extracting windows boot images. The next window gives you the oportunity to add extra parameters - in this instance I chose to continue without adding anything. I chose DHCP in the next but one window and then gave my image a name in the next.

Sorry, hope I am not asking you to suck eggs....LOL The boot image is saved to the folder of your choice and that image is used in conjunction with setting up 3com boot services.

We have as a general rule - the bios protected on the students computers and automatic boot to PXE or network boot as it is also called. After setting up 3com and using ghostcast server to take an image from the students computers - it was a piece of cake. My friend at the school has a very easy time now when creating /restoring images from the server. He basically boots the client computer and F12 and it automatically looks for the boot image from the server.

He doesn't need to have boot cd's now or disable/enable cdrom boot in bios when installing the images. When you have a number of clients it saves quite a lot of time.

If anyone wants a more in deapth description including the setting up of 3com boot services, then don't hesitate to ask.


bookie32


PS Thankyou very much for all your help on this matter!