How do I boot a virtual machine image from my network?

Posted by Haabda on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by Haabda
Published on 2010-05-18T17:29:00Z Indexed on 2010/05/18 17:40 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 259

Filed under:

virtual

|

machines

I have many machines which require the same configurations. My goal is to boot them all from the network and load a virtual machine. It would be wonderful to have one image for all of our customer service machines. That way, I could load the virtual image, perform updates, and know the next time they boot up they will have all the changes. Ideally, the machines would store the image locally and only download a new image if there has been a change.

With all the information out there on "desktop virtualization", "PXE booting", and "virtual machines", I feel lost. I have been reading for hours and feel like I have only just scratched the surface.

I would like to do this using open source or free software. Any suggestions?

© Server Fault or respective owner

Related posts about virtual

Using a GoDaddy SSL certificate with Virtualmin (Webmin)

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
A client of mine decided to go ahead and move from a self-signed certificate to a commercial one ("GoDaddy Standard SSL"). The first service I wanted to move to the commercial SSL cert was Webmin/Usermin... However, upon migrating to the new SSL cert and restarting Webmin, I got the following error: [21/Oct/2012:13:12:47… >>> More
SharePoint 2010 MSDN Labs

as seen on Geeks with Blogs - Search for 'Geeks with Blogs'
Eric Ligman, from Microsoft, posted a great blog post this week listing all of the SharePoint 2010 Virtual Labs that are available from Microsoft. His blog entry is here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mssmallbiz/archive/2012/03/13/sharepoint-server-2010-msdn-virtual-labs-available-to-you-online-plus-more-sharepoint-2010-resources… >>> More
How to make a virtual tree control -- really virtual

as seen on Internet.com - Search for 'Internet.com'
A comprehensive article on how to make a CTreeCtrl really virtual -- good for handling large data trees. >>> More
VSS Post Backup failures for Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 virtual machines

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
We've been seeing strange errors with Volume Shadow Copy services on our Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 host. It appears to be failing on a strange mountpoint in the C:\WINDOWS\Temp\ folders, which I believe is used by VSS to mount a writeable image file. To summarize: The Microsoft Virtual Server… >>> More
Virtualize MAC OS X Using Virtual Box or Microsoft Virtual PC

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
Hi. I know there are a lot of tutorials and stuffs telling how to install MAC OSX on windows, using vmware, like this one But anyone knows a way to install it using Virtual Box or even microsoft virtual pc ? Thanks >>> More

Related posts about machines

Performance of Virtual machines on very low end machines

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I am managing a few cheap servers as my user base isn't large enough to get much more powerful servers. I also don't have the money lying around to invest in a server to prepare for the larger user base. So I'm stuck with the old hardware I have. I am toying with the idea of virtualizing all the… >>> More
How to create a virtual network with Azure Connect

as seen on Geeks with Blogs - Search for 'Geeks with Blogs'
If you are trying to establish a virtual network between machines located in disparate networks, you can either use VPN, Virtual Network or Azure Connect. If you want to establish a connection between machines located in Windows Azure, you should consider using the Virtual Network service. If you… >>> More
Share Folders & Files Between Vista and XP Machines

as seen on How to geek - Search for 'How to geek'
Since Microsoft has three operating systems in use, chances are you’ll find yourself needing to share files between XP, Vista, Windows 7, or some combination of the three. Here we take a look at sharing between a Vista and XP on your home network. Share Without Password Protected Sharing If you’re… >>> More
Why does Unity3D crash in VirtualBox?

as seen on Game Development - Search for 'Game Development'
I'm running Unity3D in a virtual instance of Windows, using the Virtual Box software on Linux. I have guest additions installed with DirectX support. I've tried using Windows XP SP3 32-bit, and Windows 7 64bit. My host is Ubuntu 12.04 64bit. I installed and registered Unity on both. It loads… >>> More
Quick and clean ways to clone virtual machines

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I have 2 hypervisors running. One is an ESXi 4, the other one a Hyper-V 2008 R2. My question is: What is the cleanest and easiest way to clone a machine under each hypervisor without using any centralized management tool. Thanks. >>> More