Hey everyone! I'm trying to figure out a way to PXE boot a PC while keeping a local copy of the image to speed up the boot times. Ideally, I want a setup where the PXE server checks the image version on the PC and updates it if necessary. If the image is current, it'll just boot from the local copy to save time. I'm also aiming for a non-persistent image, so any changes would be erased upon reboot. Any ideas or suggestions would be really helpful! Thanks!
2 Answers
PXE booting does take a while if you're downloading everything fresh every time. I switched up my process to avoid PXE on WOL for the morning rush. My techs like to get all the labs powered up and updating before classes. Using SCCM for image task sequences works well for us, as they check in and automatically reboot to grab updates.
I think the issue with slow PXE booting might stem from your network. Typically, PXE booting should only take a few seconds to get going. What I do is set the BIOS on the machines to boot from the disk first, but if a Wake-on-LAN (WOL) packet is received, it boots from the network adapter. For deploying images, I use FOG to send deploy tasks directly, which helps us image 32+ devices at once super quickly.
That's great advice! I used to work with PXE and every boot would take ages because I'd download the entire image from scratch each time. I know now that having a local image can help so much with boot times, especially for managing multiple PCs in a lab setup.
I can relate! Booting multiple machines in the mornings can be tricky. The approach you're using with SCCM sounds effective for managing updates without cutting into class time.