Microsoft NT, Windows 2000, or to “roll their own” management solutions using
the booting support built into other platforms such as NetWare, Linux, HP UX, Sun
Solaris, and OS/2 WARP.
What You Need to Use MBA
To implement the Argon Managed PC Boot Agent you need:
A NIC with preboot agent firmware (MBA). The agent, which acts as an
additional layer of BIOS, can also be installed on an existing NIC as a chip
in the Boot ROM socket or through a system BIOS flash upgrade.
A central boot configuration server
F
F
e
e
a
a
t
t
u
u
r
r
e
e
s
s
MBA includes the following features:
Supports local and network operating systems including DOS, Windows 3.x,
Windows 9x, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Linux, Novell
NetWare, and others
Fully configurable boot options to enable client PCs to use MBA in various
environments, with or without local hard drives
Available as a network interface card (NIC) ROM; also available as a BIOS
update for motherboards which contain network interface hardware. Can be
in BIOS even if the PC has a separate NIC
Supports flash ROM configuration and update changes locally or over the
network, depending on the NIC ROM or BIOS version
Supports multiple boot protocols and network environments such as PXE,
TCP/IP, NetWare, and RPL
B
B
o
o
o
o
t
t
I
I
m
m
a
a
g
g
e
e
E
E
d
d
i
i
t
t
o
o
r
r
Boot Image Editor is a Windows-based utility that enables network administrators
to create and manipulate PXE, TCP/IP, and NetWare boot images. The boot image
files created with the Boot Image Editor allow network client PCs to boot from
servers instead of local drives or to perform Pre-OS tasks before booting from the
client PC’s local drive.
With Boot Image Editor, you can:
Create boot image files (from boot diskettes) that contain standard startup
files and reside on a server
Create boot image files up to 16 MB in size
View and modify the contents of boot image files
Create a menu boot file and designate a list of boot options from which end-
users can choose at boot time
Create Pre-OS boot image files that can execute third-party desktop
management agents on the client PC before it boots from the local drive
Boot Image Editor takes a snapshot of a boot diskette. Without Boot Image Editor,
creating, examining, and modifying boot image files is a tedious exercise.
Although the Boot Image Editor can be installed on any computer, it is usually
19
