Enabling Pxe On Managed Computers; Installing And Configuring Dhcp; How Many Altiris Pxe Servers Do I Need; Number Of Client Connections - Symantec ALTIRIS DEPLOYMENT SOLUTION 6.9 SP4 - V1.0 Manual

Enabling PXE on Managed Computers

Installing and Configuring DHCP

How Many Altiris PXE Servers Do I Need?

Deployment Solution
Each computer you plan to manage using PXE must have PXE boot enabled (sometimes
called network or NIC) and set to the correct sequence in the BIOS. It is also a good idea
to apply the latest BIOS updates, especially if your network card is integrated on the
motherboard.
Deployment Solution also supports Wake on LAN to power on managed computers
remotely. If this is enabled, a Wake on LAN signal is sent to the managed computer if
the device is disconnected from Deployment Server when a job is scheduled to start.
DHCP is an integral part of the PXE process, and must be installed and configured in
order to use PXE. A DHCP server is not provided with Deployment Solution, you must
obtain, install, and configure this component separately.
After DHCP is set up and your Altiris PXE Servers are installed, you need to configure
how your Altiris PXE Servers interact with the DHCP server. This is done using the PXE
Configuration Utility.

Number of Client Connections

Altiris PXE Servers do not typically require a lot of resources. By using multicast, a single
Altiris PXE Server can deploy a DOS boot image to up to 100 computers at a time, and
not consume any more resources than it would while deploying a single image. If you
are using WinPE or Linux however, multicast boot is not available.
Usually a single Altiris PXE Server in a specific location is enough if you either use
multicast to deploy images or spread out your image capturing jobs to be in line with the
capabilities of your server. Additional Altiris PXE servers can easily be added if
necessary.

Network Speed

Since the majority of the resources on an Altiris PXE Server are used for transferring
files over the wire, the faster the network, the more work a single Altiris PXE Server can
do. A single Altiris PXE Server on a gigabit network can capture and deploy several times
as many images over a period of time than even multiple servers on a slower network.

Physical Layout of your Network

Your PXE configuration might be set up according to the physical layout of your network.
If you have three offices in different locations, it might make sense to install an Altiris
PXE Server at each location to reduce traffic and resolve routing issues (see PXE
Request Routing).
In these configurations, the deployment share can be mirrored to a local server, and
images are usually taken from and restored to local file servers. See
(page 61) for an example of this type of configuration.
Setting Up the Altiris PXE Server
PXE Redirection
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