Apple Mac OS X Server (Administrator’s Guide) - Manual (Page 485)

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NetBoot
NetBoot lets you start up Macintosh client computers from disk images on a Mac OS X
Server. A disk image is a file that looks and acts like a mountable disk or volume. NetBoot
disk images that contain system software can be used as a startup disk by client computers
on the network.
By creating Mac OS disk images on a server, you can have your Macintosh client computers
start up from a standardized Mac OS configuration. You can ensure that all the clients are
running the same system software, which is properly configured for the tasks users will be
doing on their computers. Because the client computers are all starting up from the same
disk image, you can quickly update the operating system for the entire group by changing
the configuration of the disk image from which they start. You can also use NetBoot to start
up other Mac OS X Servers.
Mac OS X Server allows you to create set up than one disk image. This lets you provide
custom Mac OS environments for different groups of clients. You can also create disk images
containing application software.
You use the following Mac OS X Server applications to set up and administer NetBoot:
m Network Image Utility—to create Mac OS X disk images. The Network Image Utility is
installed with Mac OS X Server software, in the Utilities folder.
m NetBoot Desktop Admin—to modify the Mac OS 9 system disk image and accompanying
disk image for applications.
m Server Settings (DHCP/NetBoot pane of the Network tab)—to enable and configure
NetBoot on the server.
m PropertyListEditor—to edit property list (plist) files (used primarily when creating custom
packages for Network Install images)
m Package Maker—to create package files that can be included on disk images.
You can use Mac OS X client management services to provide a personalized work
environment for any NetBoot client computer user. For information about client
management services, see Chapter 6, “Client Management: Mac OS X,” and Chapter 10,
“Client Management: Mac OS 9 and OS 8.”