System information

Introduction
23
you may have already installed or plan to install distributed AS/400 systems in
some or all of your remote sites for various reasons. These remote AS/400
systems can provide users with local access to applications like Domino and
also act as a boot server.
A remote AS/400 boot server option is one which provides a high degree of
flexibility and function for the current andl future needs of your remote users .
However, as with any installation, time and effort is required to plan for and
implement these remote boot and application servers. The level of effort
varies, depending on the number of remote sites, how autonomous the sites
are, and the applications deployed.
In determining whether a remote boot server is the right solution for your
remote IBM Network Station end users, consider the following items:
• Is there an AS/400 system or other system capable of being a boot server
in the remote site?
If you have a system at a remote site, is it capable of running IBM Network
Station Manager for AS/400 Release 3?
For example, an AS/400 system at V3R7 or later can run Release 3 but
several functions such as DHCP support and print transformation require
V4R2. In addition, OS/400 V3R2 systems can
only run Release 2.5 of IBM
Network Station Manager for AS/400. Therefore, all of the new R3
enhancements, like separation of servers and group support, are not
available. In addition, do you already have TCP/IP installed and configured
in your remote site? As expected, implementing TCP/IP requires planning
and effort. For several good resources to start with, refer to the manuals
TCP/IP Fastpath Setup , SC41-5430 and the IBM Network Station Manager
Installation and Use,
SC41-0664.
• If there is a potential boot server at the remote site, is it already fully
utilized?
Perhaps you already have an AS/400 system at your remote site that will
soon be upgraded to V4R2 and you need to add 20 new IBM Network
Station users who primarily need access to new AS/400 based
applications. You need to determine whether the existing AS/400 system is
already running at capacity (for example, disk and CPU) to see whether it
can handle the 20 new IBM Network Station users. Depending on your
environment, you may be using the Performance Tools/400 product to
gather performance data and then using the BEST/1 capacity planning
tool. In addition to the potential TN5250 load of the new users, you should
also consider that some AS/400 CPU is needed during the initialization of
the IBM Network Stations. However, due to their low power requirements,