The Network Security Toolkit is available in both a SMP, for multi-core and hyperthreaded systems, and a non-SMP form. We have found that the SMP version will boot on most non-SMP systems. However, we have run across several single core systems that will refuse to boot the SMP version of the Network Security Toolkit. The solution to this problem is simply to boot the non-SMP version of the Network Security Toolkit. NOTE: This problem seems to occur more frequently in laptops.

Once I have a system setup, I typically configure the BIOS to boot directly from the hard disk. This minimizes the boot time as the BIOS doesn't need to waste time checking for a bootable floppy or CD each time the system starts. However, this also means that I won't be able to boot from my Network Security Toolkit CD. So, after cursing at myself for forgetting about this once again, I make sure that the BIOS is configured to check for a CD prior to booting from the hard disk.

A typical BIOS will stop the boot process if vital system components are missing (think keyboard here). If you are like me, you'll find it is very easy to convert an existing computer to a Network Security Toolkit probe by removing the hard drive, video card, keyboard, mouse, etc. While this is fine as far as the Network Security Toolkit is concerned, the BIOS will complain that its missing some vital component (like the keyboard) and fail to boot from the Network Security Toolkit CD. To remedy this problem, one typically needs to temporarily connect a keyboard and monitor to the system, enter into the BIOS configuration and configure the BIOS specific option to prevent the BIOS from halting the boot process when it detects errors. If you're smarter than me, you'll remember to do this BEFORE you strip the components from the system you are converting into a Network Security Toolkit probe.

Ron and I have both run into a situation where a certain combination of a CD-ROM drive and BIOS resulted in the inability to boot the Network Security Toolkit.

We've found that if the ISO image is of a particular size, the system will fail to boot. However, if we simply add some filler files to increase the size of the ISO image and burn a new CD, we've found that the same system will boot the Network Security Toolkit. Fortunately, this problem occurs rarely. Its a frustrating problem as we have not been able to track down the underlying cause yet.

Paul has a 3COM 3C905C-TX-M™ managed Ethernet card. This Ethernet card has its own BIOS and attempts to boot from the local area network before falling back to booting from the local hard disk. When this feature was enabled, Paul could not get the system to boot from the Network Security Toolkit CD. The BIOS configuration utility built into the Ethernet card did not appear to have a means to disable this feature. So, Paul gave up and replaced the card.

If you have a custom built Network Security Toolkit, it is possible that it was done a particular type of CPU. If you then attempt to boot the CD on a system without this type of CPU it might not work. Paul discovered this when he built a Network Security Toolkit distribution on a Anthlon™ based system and ended up with a CD that would make it part way through the boot process on a Celeron™ based laptop and then reboot the system as soon at it attempted to uncompress and load the kernel.

The NST likes lots of memory (remember, by default it does not access your hard drive). If your system runs low or out of memory, the NST will either slow to the point it is unusable or lock up. Even though your system may meet the What are the System Requirements?, its may run out of memory if you try to run too much at once.