<s>
DRBL	B-Application
(	O
Diskless	B-Application
Remote	I-Application
Boot	I-Application
in	I-Application
Linux	I-Application
)	O
is	O
a	O
NFS-/NIS	O
server	O
providing	O
a	O
diskless	B-Device
or	O
systemless	O
environment	O
for	O
client	O
machines	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
cloning	O
machines	O
with	O
Clonezilla	B-Language
software	O
inbuilt	O
,	O
</s>
<s>
providing	O
for	O
a	O
network	O
installation	O
of	O
Linux	B-Application
distributions	O
like	O
Fedora	O
,	O
Debian	O
,	O
etc.	O
,	O
</s>
<s>
providing	O
machines	O
via	O
PXE	B-Device
boot	O
(	O
or	O
similar	O
means	O
)	O
with	O
a	O
small	O
size	O
operation	O
system	O
(	O
e.g.	O
,	O
DSL	O
,	O
Puppy	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
FreeDOS	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Installation	O
on	O
a	O
machine	O
running	O
a	O
supported	O
Linux	B-Application
distribution	O
via	O
installation	O
script	O
,	O
</s>
<s>
Installation	O
is	O
possible	O
on	O
a	O
machine	O
with	O
Debian	O
,	O
Ubuntu	B-Operating_System
,	O
Mandriva	O
,	O
Red	O
Hat	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
Fedora	O
,	O
CentOS	O
or	O
SuSE	O
already	O
installed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unlike	O
LTSP	B-Application
,	O
it	O
uses	O
distributed	O
hardware	O
resources	O
and	O
makes	O
it	O
possible	O
for	O
clients	O
to	O
fully	O
access	O
local	O
hardware	O
,	O
thus	O
making	O
it	O
feasible	O
to	O
use	O
server	O
machines	O
with	O
less	O
power	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
also	O
includes	O
Clonezilla	B-Language
,	O
a	O
partitioning	O
and	O
disk	O
cloning	O
utility	O
similar	O
to	O
Symantec	O
Ghost	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
DRBL	B-Application
comes	O
under	O
the	O
terms	O
of	O
the	O
GNU	B-License
GPL	I-License
license	I-License
so	O
providing	O
the	O
user	O
with	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
customize	O
it	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
DRBL	B-Application
excels	O
in	O
two	O
main	O
categories	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Clonezilla	B-Language
(	O
packaged	O
with	O
DRBL	B-Application
)	O
uses	O
Partimage	B-Application
to	O
avoid	O
copying	O
free	O
space	O
,	O
and	O
gzip	B-Application
to	O
compress	O
Hard	O
Disk	O
images	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
DRBL	B-Application
Live	O
CD	O
allows	O
you	O
to	O
do	O
all	O
of	O
this	O
without	O
actually	O
installing	O
anything	O
on	O
any	O
of	O
the	O
machines	O
,	O
by	O
simply	O
booting	O
one	O
machine	O
(	O
the	O
server	O
)	O
from	O
the	O
CD	O
,	O
and	O
PXE	B-Device
booting	O
the	O
rest	O
of	O
the	O
machines	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
diskless	B-Device
node	I-Device
is	O
an	O
excellent	O
way	O
to	O
make	O
use	O
of	O
old	O
hardware	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Using	O
old	O
hardware	O
as	O
thin	B-Device
clients	I-Device
is	O
a	O
good	O
solution	O
,	O
but	O
has	O
some	O
disadvantages	O
that	O
a	O
diskless	B-Device
node	I-Device
can	O
make	O
up	O
for	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Streaming	O
audio/video	O
-	O
A	O
terminal	B-Device
server	I-Device
must	O
decompress	O
,	O
recompress	O
,	O
and	O
send	O
video	O
over	O
the	O
network	O
to	O
the	O
client	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
diskless	B-Device
node	I-Device
does	O
all	O
decompression	O
locally	O
,	O
and	O
can	O
make	O
use	O
of	O
any	O
graphics	O
hardware	O
capabilities	O
on	O
the	O
local	O
machine	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Software	O
that	O
requires	O
real-time	O
input	O
-	O
Since	O
all	O
input	O
at	O
a	O
thin	B-Device
client	I-Device
is	O
sent	O
over	O
the	O
network	O
before	O
it	O
is	O
registered	O
by	O
the	O
operating	O
system	O
,	O
there	O
can	O
be	O
substantial	O
delay	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Diskless	B-Device
nodes	I-Device
run	O
the	O
software	O
locally	O
,	O
and	O
as	O
such	O
,	O
do	O
not	O
have	O
this	O
problem	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
DRBL	B-Application
allows	O
one	O
to	O
set	O
up	O
multiple	O
diskless	B-Device
nodes	I-Device
with	O
relative	O
ease	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
client	O
computer	O
is	O
set	O
to	O
boot	O
from	O
the	O
network	O
card	O
using	O
PXE	B-Device
or	O
Etherboot	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
client	O
requests	O
an	O
IP	O
address	O
,	O
and	O
tftp	O
image	O
to	O
boot	O
from	O
,	O
both	O
are	O
provided	O
by	O
the	O
DRBL	B-Application
server	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
client	O
boots	O
the	O
initial	B-Application
RAM	I-Application
disk	I-Application
provided	O
by	O
the	O
DRBL	B-Application
server	O
via	O
tftp	O
,	O
and	O
proceeds	O
to	O
mount	O
an	O
nfs	B-Protocol
share	O
(	O
also	O
provided	O
by	O
the	O
DRBL	B-Application
server	O
)	O
as	O
its	O
root	O
(	O
/	O
)	O
partition	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
From	O
there	O
,	O
the	O
client	O
boots	O
either	O
the	O
linux	B-Application
distribution	O
on	O
which	O
the	O
DRBL	B-Application
server	O
is	O
installed	O
,	O
Clonezilla	B-Language
,	O
or	O
an	O
installer	O
for	O
various	O
Linux	B-Application
distributions	O
,	O
depending	O
on	O
how	O
that	O
particular	O
client	O
was	O
configured	O
on	O
the	O
DRBL	B-Application
server	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
All	O
system	O
resources	O
reside	O
on	O
the	O
local	O
machine	O
except	O
storage	O
,	O
which	O
resides	O
on	O
the	O
DRBL	B-Application
server	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
main	O
bottleneck	O
in	O
a	O
DRBL	B-Application
installation	O
is	O
between	O
the	O
storage	O
on	O
the	O
DRBL	B-Application
server	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
client	O
workstation	O
.	O
</s>
