Re: ComOs 3.7 - Netboot image for Portmaster 2? (fwd)

MegaZone (megazone@livingston.com)
Fri, 22 Aug 1997 02:14:09 -0700 (PDT)

Once upon a time Jake Messinger shaped the electrons to say...
>What about other ISP product brands that net boot? Are they doing it for
>backup or emergency purposes, or ..... Nevermind,,, its off topic.

Bay/Xylo Annexen default to net booting. But they are designed to do so
and have a daemon that you must install on the boot host (ERPCD) that sends
the boot image and config info to the unit at boot.

I don't know what the current pricing is, but you can get a self-boot option
which is basically a daughter card with FLASH ROMS that allows the unit to
store the boot image locally. But this was a $495 option two years back.
By default Annexen netboot.

It is just differing design philosophies. PortMasters were designed to
be self-sufficient, or at least to have that option for some users (like
being able to store users locally, which many other products cannot do).
Some products were designed to rely on a host.

I don't think either philosophy is somehow universally 'right'.

-MZ

--
Livingston Enterprises - Chair, Department of Interstitial Affairs
Phone: 800-458-9966 510-737-2100 FAX: 510-737-2110 megazone@livingston.com
For support requests: support@livingston.com  <http://www.livingston.com/> 
Snail mail: 4464 Willow Road, Pleasanton, CA 94588