's boot request, the server sends a response to the client, which contains allocated network parameters for it; 5) the client sends a download request to the server for the OS-selecting script; 6) the server sends its OS-selecting script to the client, which contains varied OS options for which it can provide the corresponding mirrors; 7) the client executes the received OS-selecting script, and the users make their selection; 8) the client sends the download request to the server for the mirror of the selected OS kernel; 9) the server sends the mirror of the selected OS kernel to the client; 10) the client receives and loads the mirror of the selected OS kernel; 11) hereafter, the client fulfills any user's computing requirement like a normal PC, the computing work is implemented on the client locally, and according to the application requirements the client acquires corresponding resources such as application programs, data, and documents from the server during running. Optionally, using existing techniques, within the said OS kernel mirror, a client daemon service can be preset for creating virtual disks on the server across the network, and a corresponding server daemon service is run on the server, therefore providing the client with private storage space. Additionally, within the said OS kernel mirror, a daemon service can be preset for creating virtual disks in the client's memory, and data generated during or after the computing process on the client can be temporarily stored into its memory.
The MMNC system adopts the Transparence Computing paradigm, alleviating the traditional NC system's over-dependence on servers, the limited support of multi-media application, and difficulties of software upgrading and management.
The invention also provides the cooperative booting method of the MMNC clients and the self-organizing method of the server clusters, which make the MMNC system gain better performance, higher availability, and linear-like scalability
For a more complete understanding of the present invention and the advantages thereof, reference should be made to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:
Referring to the drawings, the present invention is described as follows.
The invention provides a novel Network Computer system named MMNC, its computing devices and methods used. The main part of its client-side device's hardware structure is a main board with some outer interfaces illustrated in
On the other side, the invention uses normal PCs or workstations as its servers.
In the first preferred embodiment of the invention, the codes of PXE (the Preboot Execution Environment) are stored in the BIOS chip on the mainboard to form the remote booting chip before the client can be used. For example, a Linux system is installed on one server as the operating system. A DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server, a TFTP server and a PXE server are pre-installed and preset on the server. Besides the OS kernel (which can be Linux, Windows, etc.), mirror and root file system mirror used by the client are also pre-stored in the server, which includes the initial applications and corresponding data. After being powered on, which is controlled by the remote booting chip, the client uses the DHCP service to get its own IP address from the server, and then downloads the OS kernel mirror and root file system mirror by TFTP protocol. They are then stored into a local RamDisk created by the remote booting chip of the client in advance. After shifting the control to the OS, users can operate the client and use more complex functions like operating a traditional PC by accessing resources (programs, documents, data) from remote servers (their OS may be Linux Windows etc.) through existing network protocols such as FTP, NFS, and HTTP. The computing task is performed by the client. The detailed implementation of the single step of the said solution is within the existing art's area, so a lengthy description may not be necessary.
As for the second embodiment of the inventio