[WBEL-users] Remote Control of Dual Boot Options

[TASIS IT Office]

Hello,

I am looking for a way to switch machines between Windows and Linux -- I
would like to control which it boots.  I would like to ssh (or go to a
local machine) and tell it which OS to boot next.  I would like to be
able to do this from both the Linux & windows side.  

I have looked at grub, but it doesn't seem to run under windows and the
windows write access to ext2 filesystems seems a bit flaky, as does
linux's write access to ntfs.   I was hoping I could do something
simple.

I am starting to think that the only option might be pxe or network
enabled grub, but I am not too keen on that because, we don't always
bring a laptop to connect to a server when we visit someone (if their
computer is having a problem) and I don't want to go back to the office
to do this.  Also, both of these methods require tftp (this makes me
nervous with students -- they seem to enjoy pushing the security of our
systems on occasion).

Does whitebox have any tools that accommodate this?  (or does anyone
have any other ideas?)

Thanks,

Bill Tihen

PS -- The big picture is:  I work for a small school.   My assistant and
I run a network with about 180 computers (mostly windows, but Macs too
and a few linux boxes).  Most of our servers are linux based.   We need
an imaging system that works with our existing servers and both windows
and macs.  Part image does this.  I am happy to use a Linux boot CD, but
we can't always get to machines when they are in a faculty apartment, so
I am building a remote imaging system.  (We already use SSH and TightVNC
to manage and help people remotely -- although we rarely use this --
here people prefer human contact. 

In any case, the dual booting between windows and Linux is my only big
stumbling block (and how to automate ssh when imaged systems might be
confusing as they could all look the same -- although I don't care much
about that issue). 

Is anyone else working on something similar?  I don't know if this is
considered a part of an enterprise distribution that RHEL is doing, but
it is helpful to us.  I look forward to ideas.


-- 
TASIS IT Office <tech@tasis.ch>
TASIS