"In my mind, the Holy Grail of this PXE server even would be
able to install Windows machines via the network. After a fair
amount of trial and error, I finally figured out the recipe, and in
a strange twist, I was able to automate a network-based Windows
installation...by bootstrapping Linux first.
"Setting Up an Ubuntu Terminal Server
"I knew one of my goals for this system would be to give the
users of my network an environment they could PXE boot to in a
pinch—something that would appear familiar to them, as well
as allow them the ability to perform basic tasks like check e-mail,
surf the Web, instant message and so on. Luckily, much of our staff
here runs Ubuntu on the desktop, so the decision to implement an
Ubuntu Terminal Server using the Linux Terminal Server Project
(LTSP) was a simple one.
"Like any PXE implementation, the LTSP server requires a TFTP
server, a properly configured DHCP server and the syslinux
software. In a nutshell, the client boots; the PXE code in the
network adapter runs; the machine gets a DHCP address and the
address of a server to grab the syslinux code via TFTP; and then,
it actually runs a TFTP client and downloads that code and executes
it, starting the boot process. Thanks to the hard work of the
Ubuntu LTSP maintainers, setting up the server was fast and
easy."
