> I just discovered I can netboot my Sparc IPX from the tftp 2.2.1 image. > I installed slink onto an NFS-root filesystem. Now I can't quite figure > out how to boot it.
You need a RARP server to provide the IP address for the sparc (on the same subnet), a TFTP server to provide the kernel and a NFS server to serve the root (and other) filesystem. The NFS server can be hosted on a different machine. I did not check if the RARP and TFTP server could be on different hosts (it should), but the most common case is to have the 3 on the same host. > I have tftp enabled in inetd.conf, and I have a /etc/bootptab file that > LOOKS like (according to the man page) to be set up properly. However, > tftp boot hangs at this point, and if I comment out my machine's entry it > boots to dbootstrap, no matter anything I try on the Sparc console. TFTP and BOOTP are different things. I know Sun's prom handles TFTP. I don't know if it handles BOOTP too. The first step is to provide a RARP server. If this server is under Linux, you need RARP in the kernel. If it's in a module, load it. Then you have to give the Internet address for your Sparc's MAC (ethernet) address to the IP stack: rarp -s Sparc_IP(what you like) Sparc_MAC(0800200CDC80) The second step is to configure the TFTP server for the kernel. You should have a line like that in your /etc/inetd.conf, uncomment it if necessary. tftp dgram udp wait root /usr/sbin/tcpd in.tftpd If you don't provide any further argument to the tftpd, the TFTP root will be /tftpboot. In this directory, put the kernel for the sparc and make a link to it named 0800200CDC80 (Sparc_MAC). This kernel must have support for NFS_ROOT (which is available with IP_PNP). The third step is to export a Sparc tree (Sparc_root_path). You'll have to change a few things in this tree for netboot. Be careful not to mount any local / in the etc/fstab. I do it with NFS_Server_IP_addr:Sparc_root_path / nfs defaults 1 0. You'll have to change a few things in init scripts to have a complete and correct shutdown. The Sun's boot command is : boot net nfsroot=(NFS_Server_IP_addr):(Sparc_root_path) A so configured SS4 boots in 2 minutes on a 10Mb/s lan (about 30sec for the Sun's diags, 30sec for initial RARP and Kernel TFTP and startup, and 1 min for the system init). > Do I need to compile a kernel and boot that instead of the tftpboot image? Yes Gilles Chaumarat
