brian@apt.UUCP (Brian Litzinger) (09/19/89)
I'd like to boot some diskless DOS pc's from my UNIX(tm) server. The
server is a 386 machine running ISC's port of UNIX. The Server supports
TCP/IF, NFS, pcnfs, and bwnfs. Right now I have a floppy with
the appropriate files to boot up and connect the pc. I'd rather not
use have the floppy though.
Anyone have any products or ideas? I'm familiar with the PC and
its booting proceedure. I'm also willing to burn code into an
expansion BIOS and use a little plug in card with EPROMs to solve
the problem. I'm not willing to use some other network though.
<> Brian Litzinger @ APT Technology Inc., San Jose, CA
<> UUCP: {apple,sun,pyramid}!daver!apt!brian brian@apt.UUCP
<> VOICE: 408 370 9077 FAX: 408 370 9291kelly@uts.amdahl.com (Kelly Goen) (09/20/89)
Along the same lines....hm I have 3 binary licenses for 386IX and
wd ethernet cards with the boot prom.... any reasons I could
load all 3 kernels from 1 machines files system??? as long as a server
was up and running??? the machines are all 386 MB(dataexpert 20mhz 8mb)
Its seems to me that the kernels to be downloaded would have to be loaded
by a more extensive boot prom than the WD boot prom??? has any one tried this
??
cheers
kelly
p.s. I am diving into the cool waters of ethernet and NFS for the first time
so please be gentle with the flames ... thanx in advance!!!lance@belltec.UUCP (Lance Norskog) (09/22/89)
In article <522N02oj58zi01@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com>, kelly@uts.amdahl.com (Kelly Goen) writes: > Along the same lines....hm I have 3 binary licenses for 386IX and > wd ethernet cards with the boot prom.... There are three reasons for diskless UNIX: cost, security, and physical safety (industrial vibrations). We looked into doing a remotely booted 386 UNIX, but it's not worth it. Hard disks are so cheap, and faster than Ethernet. You may want to put cheap 20meg disks on your satellites and use those for swap and /. Then, mount /usr and /tmp on the file server via NFS or RFS (better). This will work much better than diskless UNIX. Computer Surplus is dumping 20mg disks for $160. You will have to rewrite the install floppy script for 386/ix to pull this off, and probably it will take a lot of experimentation. Bon chance. Lance C Norskog Sales Engineer, Streamlined Networks thinman@cup.portal.com: 415-659-1450 -- Lance C Norskog Sales Engineer, Streamlined Networks thinman@cup.portal.com: 415-659-1450