Basics: What H/W do I need?

[RobtCody]

Hi,

I'm new to this LAN boot thing. I see this running at H&R Block (HRB) tax offices (as a tax preparer). I'm wondering what hardware is needed?

What I do know is the HRB server has many WIM files stored on it. And I presume that is our workstation images that come down our 1000MB Ethernet. I don't know if iPXE is used or not.

I noticed that if the Ethernet connection is not in place, the workstation will boot off its (still existing hard drive). If the Ethernet is working, then the existing hard drive becomes the D-Drive (and of course not booted).

I find when the client is LAN booted, its virtual C-Drive is much larger than the machines RAM. Maybe 30GB or so.

I also notice that some things are saved back at the server (such as Favorites). But we are not using Windows Roaming User Profiles or Folder Redirection.

SO MY QUESTIONS ARE:
1) Where is this 30GB virtual C-Drive?

2) Does the machine have a specialized network card that has 30GB RAM on it?

3) How does the workstation know where to find its WIM file on the server? Is this location somehow stored in the ROM of the network card?

4) I suppose the WIM file registry has been tattooed to point Favorites and My Documents back to the server's hard drive. Sound reasonable or is there a more accepted way of doing this?

5) I notice Windows is always out of date. I presume that is the problem with LAN boot images in that the systems administrator would have to update the images daily/weekly in order to keep Windows patches up to date. Same goes for the AntiVirus software. I find it months behind. Is this a typical problem with using LAN boot images or is there a way to keep to save these updates back on the server and they are automatically pulled in with each reboot of the workstation?

Thanks much for anyone that can explain these basics to me.