>it was decided to use network booting and running Windows from a RAM disk.
What tech did that use? I imagine a "modern" system doing this would use a small RAM disk for the base Windows installation to boot from with any critical apps inside, and a second disk image mounted via HTTP for any "bulk" data, all via a custom iPXE build.
But NT4 predates the PXE standard by a number of years, and also the concept of mounting disk images via HTTP (or other SAN protocol). Was this some Netware stuff perhaps?
While it used NT4 this was around y2k, I recall we also had to test all the 486 and BIOS combinations they had if they survived y2k transition (one failed!). Which also means my memory is hazy.
Anyway, what comes to mind is Etherboot[1]. I'm pretty sure he used BOOTP[2] with a TFTP server for the distribution part.
bootp / tftpboot were used to provision diskless systems (diskless workstations / X-terminals) even in the very early 1990s (and likely before, but I didn't interact with them until college computer labs).
On scanning my brain-based archives I can't recall how IP addresses were assigned and a brief asking of google "bootp vs dhcp" leads me to believe that with bootp there was just a static list of IP / MAC mappings for already-known diskless devices.
A bootp server app generally listens for a MAC broadcast which appears when another physically connected device sends a "bootp request" into the network, so the bootp server can compare the MAC against its whitelist and assign its corresponding designated fixed IP address on the local network. Which IP address will then be remembered by the requesting device and is used from that point forward, not much differently than an address assigned by DHCP.
Some hardware like early HP ethernet printers did not retain their assigned IP address through a power failure. So there had to be a functional bootp server app up and running before you powered up the printer or the printer's initial bootp request would go unanswered and it was no good to anybody.
What tech did that use? I imagine a "modern" system doing this would use a small RAM disk for the base Windows installation to boot from with any critical apps inside, and a second disk image mounted via HTTP for any "bulk" data, all via a custom iPXE build.
But NT4 predates the PXE standard by a number of years, and also the concept of mounting disk images via HTTP (or other SAN protocol). Was this some Netware stuff perhaps?