For use in a system where a plurality of servers are connected to an
external disk device, a method is provided for a server to boot an
operating system from the external disk device. The method includes the
steps of searching for the port of a network switch to which the server
is connected; establishing a network to which only the server and a
management server belong; sending a server information acquisition
program from the management server to the server via a network boot
operation; acquiring, by the server information acquisition program,
unique information owned by the storage interface of the server for
transfer to the management server; and setting, by the management server,
a disk within the external disk device accessible from the server based
on the unique information.