GAMING NETWORK WITH REMOTE FILE SYSTEM FOR STORING GAME CONTENT

1 . A gaming machine comprising:

a processor and a memory operable to present a wagering game upon which monetary value may be wagered;

a network operating system; and

a remote file access module coupled to the network operating system and operable to access one or more files on a remote file system using a remote file access protocol.

2 . The gaming machine of claim 1 , wherein the remote file access protocol comprises the NFS (Network File System) protocol.

3 . The gaming machine of claim 1 , wherein the remote file system resides on a file server communicably coupled to the gaming machine.

4 . The gaming machine of claim 1 , wherein the remote file system resides on a network attached storage unit communicably coupled to the gaming machine.

5 . The gaming machine of claim 4 , wherein the network attached storage unit comprises a SAN (storage area network).

6 . The gaming machine of claim 1 , further comprising an authentication module coupled to the network operating system and operable to authenticate the one or more files on the remote file system.

7 . The gaming machine of claim 1 , wherein the network operating system implements the BOOTP protocol.

8 . The gaming machine of claim 1 , wherein the one or more files include content selected from the group consisting of banner content, advertising content, denomination, pay table, language data, video content, audio content, episodic game data, wagering game software, operating system software, device driver software, and device firmware.

9 . A method comprising:

providing a gaming machine operable to present a wagering game upon which monetary value may be wagered;

determining a network address for a file server communicably coupled to the gaming machine;

establishing an association between a mount point on a file system on the gaming machine and a directory on a remote file system on the file server; and

loading a file located on the remote file system into a memory of the gaming machine.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein establishing an association includes establishing an association using an NFS protocol.

11 . The method of claim 9 , wherein establishing an association includes establishing an association using a Novell protocol.

12 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising authenticating the file located on the remote file system prior to loading the file.

13 . The method of claim 9 , wherein authenticating the file includes utilizing security keys to authenticate the file.

14 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

determining a location of the gaming machine; and

if the location is beyond an authorized location, clearing the memory of the gaming machine.

15 . The method of claim 9 wherein the file includes content selected from the group consisting of banner content, advertising content, denomination, pay table, language data, video content, audio content, episodic game data, wagering game software, operating system software, device driver software, and device firmware.

16 . A computer-readable medium having computer executable instructions for performing a method for managing software on a gaming machine, the method comprising:

determining a location for a file server communicably coupled to a gaming machine, the gaming machine operable to present a wagering game upon which monetary value may be wagered;

establishing an association between a mount point on a file system on the gaming machine and a directory on a remote file system on the file server; and

loading a file located on the remote file system into a memory of the gaming machine.

17 . The computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein establishing an association includes establishing an association using an NFS protocol.

18 . The computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein establishing an association includes establishing an association using a Novell protocol.

19 . The computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the method further comprises authenticating the file located on the remote file system prior to loading the file.

20 . The computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein authenticating the file includes utilizing security keys to authenticate the file.

21 . The computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the method further comprises:

determining a location of the gaming machine; and

if the location is beyond an authorized location then clearing the memory of the gaming machine.

22 . The computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the file includes content selected from the group consisting of banner content, advertising content, denomination, pay table, language data, video content, audio content, episodic game data, wagering game software, operating system software, device driver software, and device firmware.