Network Installations

Our goal is to make installing an operating system over the network as straight-forward as possible. Most people obtain a unique hostname and IP address from the Network Systems Group; some use a DHCP service set up on their subnet. Network installations are limited to on-campus

Systems Support offers BU versions of three operating systems. All take advantage of a centralized store of programs that the Office of Information Technology maintains. We call this resource the Application Server.

To install BU Linux over the network, download a boot image to burn to CD. Once your machine boots from this CD, it connects to the host that has the rest of the operating system and optional products.

To install Solaris create a Solaris bootserver on your local subnet. We can either show you how or you can arrange to have us install one. Booted, the machine automatically communicates with a server that transfers the operating system and runs "finish" scripts.

To install IRIX, contact us to borrow a boot CD. Again, your machine connects to a host that has IRIX packages. Once installed, you can upgrade and restore your preferred program configurations. Scripts on the network installation server move your previous customizations back into place.