NETBOOT(8)

NAME
netboot - Allows remote booting of the operating system

SYNOPSIS
netboot
is used for booting the operating system over a network card. The program is either loaded into a ROM, or run from DOS.

DESCRIPTION
netboot loads parameters such as IP addresses, kernel name and filesystem names from a bootp server, tries to mount the specified root and swap filesystems, loads the specified kernel from the root filesystem using NFSv2, and then gives control to the kernel.

The bootp server must be configured appropriately. An example configuration for /etc/bootptab is the following:

      .default:\
    	:sm=255.255.255.0:\
    	:gw=your.gateway.ip:\
    	:hn:ht=ether:vm=rfc1048:\
    	:rp="rootfs.ip:/rootfs/path":\
    	:T128="swapfs.ip:/swapfs/path":\
    	:T129=swapsize:\
    	:T130="root,mount,options":\
    	:T131="swap,mount,options":\
    	:ra=255.255.255.255:
      client01:bf="kernel.300":ha=00400530d6d9:tc=.default:
      client02:bf="kernel.280":ha=00400530d6d3:tc=.default:
      ...

For a precise description of the bootptab parameters, see bootptab (5) .

The netboot code uses options as follows.

sm  indicates the subnet mask.

gw  is the ip address of the gateway.

hn  instructs the bootp server to send the hostname in the reply.

ht=ether
    indicates that the hardware is ethernet.

vm=rfc1048
    indicates the use of rfc1048 extensions.

rp  specifies where the directory mounted as the root filesystem is located. The IP address of the server must be specified, followed by a : and the directory pathname.

T128
    specifies where the directory containing the swap file is located. The IP address of the server must be specified, followed by a : and the directory pathname. The actual swapfile is a file named swap.X.Y.Z.T where X.Y.Z.T is the IP address of the client. If this argument is given, the swap file must exist.

T129
    specifies the size of the swap file, in KB. Must be specified as a 8 digits long hexadecimal number. 16 MB swap thus becomes T129=00004000. This argument is optional; if missing, the size of the swap file is read from the server.

T130
    specifies root mount options, such as soft, intr, tcp, etc. This argument is optional. The default is to use UDP.

T131
    specifies swap mount options. This argument is optional.

bf  is the name of the kernel. If not specified, it defaults to "kernel".

ra  is used to override the reply address.

FILES
/usr/mdec/nb8390.rom
    rom image for NE1000/NE2000 cards
/usr/mdec/nb8390.com
    DOS executable for NE1000/NE2000 cards
/usr/mdec/nb3c509.rom
    rom image for 3C509 cards
/usr/mdec/nb3c509.com
    DOS executable for 3C509 cards

SEE ALSO
bootpd(8), bootptab(5)

BUGS
To use netboot with Western Digital/SMC cards or 3C503 cards, a recompile is needed after a little Makefile tweaking.