Patent ID: 8266263

Claim:
A computer program product for distributed Preboot eXecution Environment (PXE) server booting, the computer program product comprising: a computer readable storage device to store a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program, when executed by a processor within a computer, causes the computer to perform operations of a plurality of modules, the modules comprising: an image request module configured to send a PXE boot image request to a master boot server; an assignment receiving module configured to receive a temporary PXE server RAM image and a subset of target machines from the master boot server, the temporary PXE server RAM image configured to assign a recipient target machine as a temporary PXE server, the temporary PXE server configured to agent boot the subset of target machines; a subset boot module configured to send each target machine in the subset of target machines an agent boot image; a subset confirmation module configured to receive a boot confirmation from each target machine, the boot confirmation configured to indicate that the target machine booted successfully; a master confirmation module configured to send a subset boot confirmation to the master boot server, the subset boot confirmation configured to indicate that the subset of target machines booted successfully; and an image receiving module configured to receive an agent boot image.