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Learning About the NICs
6
Remote Wake-Up
Remote Wake-Up is the ability to remotely power-on a PC for after-hours administration.
To use Remote Wake-Up, your NIC must support this feature. (See the tables in the
previous section if you are unsure whether your NIC supports Remote Wake-Up.)
Additionally, your PC or server must have a:
■
Management application that supports Remote Wake-Up.
■
BIOS that supports Remote Wake-Up.
■
PCI 2.2-compliant bus (3C905CX-TX-M and 3C905C-TX-M NICS only) or a 3-pin
Remote Wake-Up connector on the PC motherboard and a 5-volt standby power
supply unit rated at a minimum of 375 milliamperes.
If you are unsure whether your PC meets the requirements listed above, refer to your PC
documentation or contact your PC manufacturer.
For more information on Remote Wake-Up, including a list of PCs that currently support
this feature, go to:
http://www.3com.com
Remote Wake-Up Cable
A Remote Wake-Up cable is shipped with each NIC that supports this feature.
To order additional Remote Wake-Up cables, contact 3Com:
1-800-527-8677
Multiple NIC Installations and Remote Wake-Up
To use multiple NICs as Remote Wake-Up NICs in the same PC, the PC must have a power
supply that can support multiple Remote Wake-Up devices.
Refer to your PC documentation if you are unsure whether your PC power supply can
accommodate more than one Remote Wake-Up device.
Managed PC Boot Agent (MBA) Software
The MBA software allows the PC to boot from the server rather than from its local hard drive.
This preboot support allows you a simple and universal way to use currently available
management applications to remotely:
■
Install and configure a PC that has never been connected to the network.
■
Upgrade software.
■
Configure or reconfigure multiple systems simultaneously.
■
Scan for viruses.
■
Back up hard drives and perform disaster recovery tasks.
MBA includes the Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) protocol, the industry standard for
network booting and a component of the Wired for Management 2.0 specification.
Previously available only on a boot ROM on the NIC, the MBA software is now available on
the
EtherCD
, where it can be used as a bootable CD. When you boot the PC with the
EtherCD
, MBA uses the NIC to do a network boot, allowing the PC to be managed in the
preboot stage.
The bootable
EtherCD
feature supports most 3Com PCI NICs, LAN CardBus PC cards,
Mini PCI cards, and USB/Ethernet adapters.