Dynamic mapped shares using PXE tokens

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• Deployment Solution

Issue/Introduction

 

Resolution

Question
How do I create a universal PXE boot image with drive mappings that dynamically point to the local PXE server as an image repository?

Answer

Use either of the following tokens in step 6 of Boot Disk Creator:

%ALTIRIS_PXE_SERVER%

%ALTIRIS_PXE_IP%

Each remote PXE server will need to have a share created using a universal name, e.g. Images.  This allows the mapping to work across all remote servers.

Please note that you cannot use the name eXpress for remote PXE server shares.

An example entry would look like this:

 

Once this token has been added you should have two drive mappings: a mapping to \\DS_name\eXpress and another to \\%ALTIRIS_PXE_SERVER%\Share_name

In the case of the above screenshot, the tokenized mapping to the local PXE server is using the drive letter G.  Within capture and distribute image jobs I would simply need to reference G:\image_name (or any subdirectory of that share) to use this new mapping.

Additional Information:-

- If you are using DOS automation, you may want to update the LMHosts file to resolve the name. See (download) DOS-Lmhosts.JPG on the right hand pane for more information. In short, you run a command during the preboot to append the lmhosts file.