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  • 1.  PXE Server Virtual Appliance for Download

    Posted Mar 20, 2006 01:13 AM

    We hope to add this to the official list of community built virtual appliances.

    If you download and have any questions or comments please don't hesitate to reply to this post or send us an e-mail.

    http://www.cygem.com/downloadsSecure/PXE-FC4.zip



  • 2.  RE: PXE Server Virtual Appliance for Download

    Posted Mar 23, 2006 09:15 PM

    Well I really like the idea of a virtual PXE server. Can you give use some more details tho! Like that are the features? What can you do with it? Are you entering this in the contest?

    How big is it? When I go to download it says unkown file size! Im at work, if its like 50MB then fine I can download it, but if its like 600mb I can't! Data charges are very expensive in New Zealand!

    Regards,

    Rhys



  • 3.  RE: PXE Server Virtual Appliance for Download

    Posted Mar 23, 2006 09:48 PM

    Zipped the file is about 1 GB so it is quite large. It will not be entered into the Virtual Appliance Challenge. Here are some notes from the readme file.

    http://www.cygem.com/downloads/PXE-FC4_Readme.pdf We will try to keep the PDF on the website as the most up to date.

    Partial Read Me File Contents

    ================================

    \- All files/applications used for this Virtual Appliance are publicly available. Most, if not

    all, applications in this virtual appliance use the GNU public license. Therefore, if there is

    a specific set of files/image that you would like that are not here, they may not have been

    accessible via a public license. However, I have included instructions on adding further

    images to the virtual appliance that you may have licenses for.

    \- This virtual appliance is for the use of network boot access. This can include

    network installations, using floppy based utilities, diskless thin clients, etc.

    \- The benefits

    o You do not need to carry a set of floppies/CDs with you when you work

    on machines within your organization

    o You always install/work from the same images increasing consistency

    with the tools and installations.

    o Installation or loading of floppy utilities is much faster than from CD or

    Floppy.

    o Data is more reliable. No bad floppies or scratched CDs

    o If you have remote console access, you can do these activities remotely.

    \- What you need

    o The PXE Virtual Appliance Files and a VMWare machine to install them

    on.

    o Existing DHCP server that gives out addresses on the network segment

    you are using.

    o No other PXE servers on the same network segment.

    o The FC4 DVD ISO files in their structure on an FTP server. DVD ISO is

    only available from one of the mirror sites.

    http://fedora.redhat.com/Download/mirrors.html

    o Any other bootable images that you would like to include as options.

    \- What the PXE Virtual Appliance includes

    o Installed OS – Linux Redhat Fedora Core 4

    o PXE Application installed and configured.

    o Files to start the Installation of X86 Fedora Core 4 via PXE (this works

    well)

    o A FreeDos system boot (just like using a floppy. It just boots, no network

    drivers or utilities at this time)

    o Thin Client Boot from PXES (This has mixed results. RDP works good)

    o Template for adding more images

    o VMWare Tools

    \- Security is not strong on this. It is expected that the PXE appliance will be behind

    a strong firewall without exposure to the internet. No security updates have been

    installed. It was installed with SE(Security Enhanced) Linux but not the Firewall.

    There are no accounts other than “root” on this appliance and it is expected that

    the end user change the password of the root account. The default password is

    “password”.



  • 4.  RE: PXE Server Virtual Appliance for Download

    Posted Mar 24, 2006 06:30 PM

    Just curious why you don't want to enter your appliance in the UVAC? Let me know here or privately.



  • 5.  RE: PXE Server Virtual Appliance for Download

    Posted Mar 24, 2006 08:04 PM

    According to the challenge rules corporate entities are not allowed to submit. Otherwise, we would for sure.



  • 6.  RE: PXE Server Virtual Appliance for Download

    Posted Mar 25, 2006 07:15 AM

    You can submit it to the User Solution forum though. That way it will be listed on the VMware community built pages.

    Dave



  • 7.  RE: PXE Server Virtual Appliance for Download

    Posted Mar 27, 2006 06:23 PM

    Thanks Dave. I had posted earlier and someone said to post here, but the other spot makes much more sense.



  • 8.  RE: PXE Server Virtual Appliance for Download

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Jun 27, 2006 11:57 PM

    Did you have to do anything special to the networking piece to get external boxes to PXE boot properly? everytime I tried to set this up in a VM it had trouble getting an address from the PXE server.



  • 9.  RE: PXE Server Virtual Appliance for Download

    Posted Nov 14, 2006 08:46 PM

    I had downloaded the archive and seems to be a text file, can you fix it?

    Thanks