nengle@copper.ucs.indiana.edu (nathan engle) (03/22/91)
Our department has a mid-sized LAN with 3 servers and about 100
workstations. Just recently we had a request from one of our professors
for the ability to boot single disk PCs in his lab from a server.
"No problem", we said. "We'll look into it."
ALL of the workstations in our department use a single type of NIC,
the 3Com 3C503 (Etherlink II), so we ordered a couple of Etherstart II
PROMs and sat back to wait for them to arrive.
Well, the PROMs arrived and we tried plugging them in. No go. The
workstation gives the message "Waiting for response from server. Hold
down [Alt] key to boot from local disk". About 12 hours of grinding
teeth and tearing hair later, I found myself reading through the errata
to the 3Com installation supplement for 2.15C and I came upon a
significant passage (and I quote):
"Note:
The Remote Reset feature allows workstations to boot from a network
(file server) disk. Netware v2.1x does not currently support this
feature for the Etherlink II (series 3C503) board."
So unless, I'm reading this wrong, or unless some clever person can
suggest a hack or upgrade for our 3C503's, it sounds sort of like we are
SOL.
Is there anyone out there who has managed to get around this? (3Com and
Novell, HEY! You guys listening?) Or is there anyone out there who
would be willing to swap a half dozen old 3C501's (which DO work) for
some brand new (but slightly used) 3C503's? We have the tools to modify
PROM code and burn new PROMs if that is required.
All help, advice, and sympathy greatly appreciated.
Nathan Engle Software Evangelist
Indiana University Dept of Psychology
nengle@copper.ucs.indiana.edu
NENGLE@IUBACS