Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) is an industry-standard protocol that allows a workstation to boot up and execute a program from the network before the workstation operating system starts. PXE uses DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) and TFTP (Trivial File Transfer Protocol). The PXE environment is loaded from either the NIC in flash memory or read-only memory, or in the same memory as the system BIOS.
Desktop Management Preboot Services uses PXE to find out if there is imaging work specified for a workstation and to provide the workstation with the files necessary to boot to the Desktop Management imaging environment.
Before you can use Preboot Services, you need to do the following:
For information about the requirements and installation of Preboot Services, see the Novell ZENworks 6.5 Desktop Management Installation Guide. For information about deployment and administration of Preboot Services, see Using ZENworks Desktop Management Preboot Services.
An existing partition is not updated when a ZENworks support pack is applied.
If you decide to use Preboot Services but have previously installed a Desktop Management imaging partition on the workstation, you can disable or delete the partition.
You can disable (and enable) the Desktop Management imaging partition when you boot to Linux using any imaging boot device or method.
You can delete the Desktop Management imaging partition only when you boot the workstation from an imaging boot method other than the Desktop Management imaging partition.
For more information on disabling or deleting a partition, see Step 9 in Creating a Workstation Image Object.
IMPORTANT: After you have deleted the Desktop Management imaging partition, you need to make sure that the image you put on the workstation was made on a workstation without a Desktop Management imaging partition. Otherwise, the wrong MBR (Master Boot Record) is restored, and the workstation will fail to boot. In addition, if you remove the Desktop Management imaging partition from a Windows NT, Windows 2000, or Windows XP machine, Windows will no longer be able to boot. You should only remove the Desktop Management imaging partition if you are going to restore an image to the workstation.