network boot (summary)

[Miles Nordin]

>>>>> "jg" == John-Mark Gurney <gurney_j at resnet.uoregon.edu> writes:
>>>>> "kk" == Kris Kennaway <kris at obsecurity.org> writes:
>>>>> "rw" == Royce Williams <royce at alaska.net> writes:
>>>>> "a" == alm  <alm at sirius.net.au> writes:

    jg> http://people.freebsd.org/~murray/sparc64/install.html
    kk> Here's a snippet from my dhcpd.conf
    rw> http://ezine.daemonnews.org/200301/sparc64-nfsroot.html
     a> -Configure a static DHCP lease for it: 
     a> host netboot { 
     a>   hardware ethernet <mac-addr> ; 
     a>   option host-name "<hostname>" ;
     a>   fixed-address <IP addr.> ; 
     a>   always-reply-rfc1048 on; 
     a>   filename "/boot/loader"; 
     a>   next-server <TFTP/NFS server> ; 
     a>   option root-path "<TFTP/NFS server>:/mnt" ;
     a> }

It turned out to be pretty easy just to get the system booted once
hearing that /boot/loader could be fed straight to OpenPROM over tftp.

This:

     a> boot net:dhcp

behaved the same on my sparc64 as 'boot net'.  The OpenPROM used RARP
(not DHCP) to find the second-stage loader even with 'boot net:dhcp'.
Then it TFTPs to whatever machine replied to the RARP.  I wonder if
net:dhcp is a cue to Solaris's inetboot?  They have this massively
complicated 'wanboot' framework now, too, including multiple
cryptographic keys and CGI scripts on web servers.  <shudder>.

I put /boot/loader in the tftpboot directory and named it C0A8017C to
match the IP of my Sun, 192.168.1.124.  /boot/loader then used DHCP
(not bootparams) to get just one option, root-path:

host amber {
  fixed-address amber;
  hardware ethernet 08:00:20:xx:xx:xx;
  option root-path "69.31.131.61:/export0/nbnfs/amber";
}

and /boot/loader loaded loader.conf and whatever else it needed over
NFS rather than TFTP.  The only thing loaded over TFTP was
the file C0A8017C (a copy of /boot/loader).

     a> lofiadm

I didn't end up using this nor the mfsroot, because I didn't use
sysinstall.  I just extracted all the {base,doc,src,..}.{aa,ab,ac...}
files by hand.  But it's good to have those instructions written down
because others will probably want to netboot into sysinstall.

Now I have three more problems:

 1. The NetBSD NFS server I'm using doesn't support locking, so I
    can't run vipw or pwd_mkdb, and vi always says 'UNLOCKED' in the
    status bar.  I can't 'mount -u -o -L 69.31.131.61:/ex.... /'
    because the -L option is documented, obeyed only on initial mount,
    not for remount.  Is there a way to get this option turned on for
    the initial root mount?

 2. I tried 'mdmfs -s 32m md /tmp' and it never returned to the
    prompt.  ^C doesn't work, and I can't get to 'ok' or to 'ddb>' by
    pressing BREAK.  Is there a sysctl to obey BREAK?

 3. Boot hung after ``waiting 15 seconds for SCSI devices to settle''
    when I have my Firewire card installed.  The Install CD boots
    successfully with the card installed and even makes an fwe0.  Is
    there a way to use the loader to disable a broken device like this
    SCSI-over-Firewire?  I tried commands like 'disable-module sbp'
    but it always says 'sbp not found'.

sorry for all the questions.  I'm just getting started.
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