I'm not sure there's a single "canonical" answer, but many installations have run the auth server off its own file system, as James originally described. It's been several years now so my memory could be fuzzy, but I believe this is what they did at the main Bell Labs installation.
> On Nov 15, 2016, at 14:05, Stanley Lieber <[email protected]> wrote: > > "James A. Robinson" <[email protected]> wrote: > >> So in a canonical installation the auth server mounts its root from the >> file server? >> >>> On Tue, Nov 15, 2016 at 10:47 AM Stanley Lieber <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> The idea is that there is one file system shared by all the >> neighboring >>> systems. The canonical Plan 9 installation comprises one disk file >> server >>> and many diskless computing machines (auth servers, cpu servers, >> terminals). >>> > > Yes. You can arrange for hands-free booting by storing the same > authid/authdom/password in the nvram of both the file server and the auth > server. I usually boot the auth server from a 9fat partition or a USB key, > then tcp (actually, tls) mount the root file system from the file server. > > sl >
