[Beowulf] 1000baseT NIC and PXE?

[David Mathog]

Michael Di Domenico wrote:
> 
> surprisingly enough there are still cards that don't come with PXE
> built into the embedded rom.  you'll have to check the specs on the
> card you're interested in from the mfg website.

Here are the docs for a typical inexpensive 1000baseT card:

ftp://ftp10.dlink.com/pdfs/products/DGE-530T/DGE-530T_ds.pdf

There is no empty socket on it for a boot rom, yet the specs say nothing
about whether or not it will PXE boot.

Let's turn this question around a bit.  Can anyone suggest a specific
inexpensive 1000baseT card which provides PXE and is otherwise reliable
and fast?  That is, one that you have personally used to boot a machine
into your cluster.  Similarly, the names of any models that should be
avoided would also be useful information.

Thanks,

David Mathog
mathog at caltech.edu
Manager, Sequence Analysis Facility, Biology Division, Caltech