Automatic operating system installation:
Netboot images do their work
Document Actions
Things can be as easy as this:
- Setting up a new PC takes 5 minutes of your time. You assign a network configuration to the new ethernet (mac) address, decide which OS is to be installed, and set the start flag for the installation process.
- For upgrading or changing the installed OS on a work station you have just to modify the configuration entry on the server, set the start flag for the installation process, and let the system work.
- Reinstalling a misconfigured or damaged PC installation requires one click on the server configuration (since it is such easy you have to pay extra attention that all non-system data on the work station are saved or lying on a different partition ...).
An essential feature is that the opsi operating system installation is not disk image based. Therefore it can be used in any grown PC landscape enclosing many hardware generations.
Instead, the following mechanism works:
The opsi server catches a pxe request of a booting pc. If it is configured that there shall be done something a specifically selected or prepared Linux boot image is transferred to the client. There it does its specific work - e.g. preparing a Windows setup. The following subsection explains the technical items.
