Booting via Network....???

Kernel linux terbaru menawarkan kemungkinan untuk boot kernel linux sepenuhnya dari jaringan, dengan memuat kernel dan root filesystem dari server.Dengan booting lewat network berarti kita bisa menghemat space disk atau dengan kata lain booting tanpa disk (diskless computer) , artinya disk hanya terpusat pada server .

Keuntungan lainnya dari diskless computer adalah :


All the backups are centralized at one single main server.

No need of UPS battery, air−conditioning, dust proof environment for diskless clients, only server
needs UPS battery, A/C and dust proof environment.

A better protection from virus attack − Some computer virus cannot attack diskless computers as
they do not have any hard disk. This kind of virus cannot do any damage to diskless computers. Only
one single server box needs to be protected against virus attack. This saves millions of dollars for the
company by avoiding installation of vaccines and cleaning the hard disks.

Servers can have large powerful/high performance hard disks, can optimize the usage of disk space
via sharing by many diskless computer users. Fault tolerance of hard disk failure is possible by using
RAID on main server.

On some installations: sharing of central server RAM memory by many diskless computer users. For
example, if many users are running a web browser remotely on a server, then there will be only one
copy of this web browser in its RAM.

Very few system administrators required to maintain central server

Zero administration at diskless client side. Diskless computers are absolutely maintenance free and
troublefree.

Long life of diskless clients

Eliminates install/upgrade of hardware, software on diskless client side

Eliminates cost of cdrom, floppy, tape drive, modem, UPS battery, printer parallel ports, serial ports

Can operate in places like factory floor where a hard disk might be too fragile

Dibawah ini beberapa hal yang perlu dipenuhi baik hardware maupun software :

Hardware Requirement :

Hal yang paling penting untuk boot dari jaringan adalah untuk memiliki suatu alat yang memungkinkan stasiun untuk mengeksekusi bootloader yang akan mendapatkan kernel pada server dan meluncurkannya .Solusi lainnya dengan menggunakan perangkat yang dapat meload kernel lokal yang akan me-mount root filesystem pada server.

Software requirement :

Kernel Linux 2.0 keatas
daemon BOOTP
daemon NFS
daemon TFTP


Refference : Network Boot and Exotic Root HOWTO
by Brieuc Jeunhomme