Patent ID: 8260891

Claim:
A method for remotely booting a computing system, comprising: providing a boot server; providing a boot image stored in memory that is coupled to the boot server; providing a computing system; determining if the computing system includes a bootable drive; configuring the computing system for connection to the boot server if the computing system does not include a bootable drive and if the computing system is not configured for connection to the boot server; coupling the computing system to the boot server through a secure communications link; if the boot image matches hardware and software requirements of the computing system, serving at the boot server the boot image to the computing system, wherein the boot image is provided by the boot server on the basis of a unique client identifier for the computing system that is transmitted on the secure communications link between the computing system and the boot server, wherein the boot image is unique to the computing system; if the boot image does not match the hardware and software requirements of the computing system, constructing at the boot server a new boot image that matches the hardware and software requirements of the computing system, serving the new boot image to the computing system over the secure communications link, and storing the new boot image on the memory that is coupled to the boot server, wherein the new boot image is unique to the computing system; and booting the computing system from the boot image provided by the boot server.