Method and apparatus for controlling network and workstation access prior to workstation boot

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for preboot file and information transfer between workstations and other workstations or workstations and servers on local area networks.
For convenience, this description will be with reference to DOS-based systems.
However, persons skilled in the art will recognize that the inventive concepts have application in UNIX based systems and other network environments.
Specifically, it is necessary to provide a mechanism by which a network administrator can carry out the functions, as well as other network management tasks.
That mechanism should be imposed prior to workstation boot.
Workstations using MS-DOS, PC-DOS or other operating system variations such as UNIX execute a startup process called a boot sequence.
During the boot sequence the various components of the workstation and network operating system are loaded and executed.
Since all control of the workstation after the boot sequence is passed to the operating system, any management tasks performed after boot must be performed by application programs running on the workstation.
These application programs are often called utilities.
In order for utilities to run at the same time as other applications (such as word processing, database management or E-Mail) the utilities must be loaded resident in the workstation memory.
That causes a reduction in available application memory and, often, cause conflicts which can cause the workstation to "lock-up" or "hang".
In that case, the workstation must be rebooted and all programs reloaded.
There is, likewise, a strong probability of damage or loss of data which was in use during the failure.
The present invention overcomes these problems by providing a hardware component, for example a ROM or PROM containing appropriate programming placed in the usually unused boot ROM socket of a LAN card installed in the individual workstations, or a chip including a PROM or ROM built onto the motherboard or system board of the individual workstations