UDPCast

UDPcast is a file transfer tool that can send data simultaneously to many destinations on a LAN. This can for instance be used to install entire classrooms of PCs at once. The advantage of UDPcast over using other methods (nfs, ftp, whatever) is that UDPcast uses Ethernet's multicast abilities: it won't take longer to install 15 machines than it would to install just 2.

In order to use UDPcast for installing a number of PCs at once all the PCs must have the same hardware configuration. This implies: same processor, same peripherals, same hard disk layout (sectors, clusters). In some instances if the operating system to install is Linux the hard disks of the clone PCs can have a bigger size than the template PC.

By default this protocol operates on the UDP port 9000. This default behaviour can be changed during the boot stage.

References

http://udpcast.linux.lu/