ThinkPad E470 - Using System Management

Usingsystemmanagement
Thistopicisprimarilyintendedforthenetworkadministrators.
Yourcomputerisdesignedformanageability,sothatyoucanredirectmoreresourcestobettermeet
yourbusinessobjectives.
Thismanageability,knownastotalcostofownership(TCO),enablesyoutoremotelyoperateclient
computersinthesamewayasyouoperateyourowncomputer,suchasturningonaclientcomputer,
formattingastoragedrive,andinstallingaprogram.
Oncethecomputerisconfiguredandoperational,youcanmanageitbyusingthesoftwareandthe
manageabilityfeaturesthatarealreadyintegratedintotheclientcomputerandthenetwork.
DesktopManagementInterface
TheUEFIBIOSofyourcomputersupportsaninterfacecalledSystemManagementBIOS(SMBIOS)
ReferenceSpecification,version2.8orlater.SMBIOSprovidesinformationaboutthehardwarecomponents
ofyourcomputer.ItistheresponsibilityoftheUEFIBIOStoprovideinformationaboutitselfandthedevices
onthesystemboard.ThisspecificationdocumentsthestandardsforgettingaccesstothisBIOSinformation.
PrebooteXecutionEnvironment
ThePrebooteXecutionEnvironment(PXE)technologymakesthecomputermoremanageablebyenabling
thecomputertostartfromaserver.YourcomputersupportsthepersonalcomputerfunctionsthatPXE
requires.Forexample,withtheappropriateLANcard,yourcomputercanbestartedfromthePXEserver.
Note:TheRemoteInitialProgramLoad(RIPLorRPL)functioncannotbeusedwithyourcomputer.
WakeonLAN
ThenetworkadministratorcanturnonacomputerfromamanagementconsolebyusingtheWakeon
LANfeature.
WhentheWakeonLANfeatureisenabled,manyoperations,suchasdatatransfer,softwareupdates,and
flashupdatesoftheUEFIBIOS,canbedoneremotelywithoutremoteattendance.Theupdatingprocess
canperformafternormalworkinghoursandonweekends,sothattheusersarenotinterruptedduringwork,
andtheLANtrafficiskepttoaminimum.Itsavestimeandincreasesproductivity.
IfthecomputeristurnedonthroughWakeonLAN,thecomputerstartsfollowtheNetworkBootsequence.
AssetIDEEPROM
TheAssetIDEEPROMcontainsinformationaboutthecomputerconfigurationandtheserialnumbersof
thekeycomponents.Italsoincludesanumberofblankfieldswhereyoucanrecordinformationabout
theendusersinyournetwork.
Toenableanetworkadministratortoremotelycontrolyourcomputer,setthefollowingsystem-management
featuresintheThinkPadSetupprogram:
•WakeonLAN
•NetworkBootsequence
Note:Ifasupervisorpasswordhasbeenset,youarerequiredtoenterthesupervisorpasswordwhen
youstarttheThinkPadSetupprogram.
Chapter5.Advancedconfiguration55