Question

Macintosh boot over LAN using PXE?

Asked by: highwaterhead

Is it possible to boot a Mac over LAN using PXE?

Hoping to run a very thin client type scenario.  Is this type of option available for macs/imacs? I am looking at using a Knoppix Terminal server at school to allow various pupil owned hardware to boot onto our LAN in a semi controlled environment.  On PC based systems this is fine and works a treat, but I have not had any experience with apple macs.  

Thanks in advance,

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Asked On
2005-11-11 at 04:55:30ID21627595
Tags

pxe

,

boot

,

mac

,

lan

Topics

Apple Networking

,

Appletalk

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Answers

 

by: digital_buzzPosted on 2005-11-22 at 06:10:50ID: 15341757

Never heard of Macs booting up using PXE. I manage and depoy labs using Netboot here on campus and works great for us, even over TCP/IP.

Here's a link for more info via BSD:

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man8/bootpd.8.html

HTH
art

 

by: JP_ConsultingPosted on 2005-11-24 at 18:38:38ID: 15358762

What is NetBoot?

NetBoot is a powerful and versatile tool for Macintosh network administrators. It allows you to boot any post-iMac Macintosh from a network volume rather than from the local drive. This makes it particularly easy to administer a large group of machines, since they all use the same "NetBoot HD" disk image as their startup disk.

Apple's NetBoot is based on the Linux Netboot "diskless workstation" idea. It is possible to boot Mac clients from a Linux Netboot server (assuming you know how to set it up properly).

System Requirements

NetBoot Admin Server:

Mac OS X Server 10.x
PowerMac G3 or G4 with a 400 MHz or faster processor.
256 MB RAM recommended.

Two or more 9 GB drives (multiple drives allow NetBoot to more efficiently allocate resources).

Gigabit Ethernet; four-port 100Base-T recommended.

A Server with this configuration could easily support 50 NetBoot clients. The number of clients that a server can support will vary depending on Ethernet speeds, machine speeds, etc.

NetBoot Clients:

Mac OS 9/x
iMac, iBook, PowerMac G3 (Blue), PowerMac G4, G4 Cube, FireWire Powerbook, or PowerBook G4.
minimum of 64 MB RAM.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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