User:Hxp/Sparc Netboot - Revision history

Hxp at 08:03, 17 April 2012

2012-04-17T08:03:30Z

Hxp at 02:58, 17 April 2012

2012-04-17T02:58:00Z

Hxp at 02:52, 17 April 2012

2012-04-17T02:52:36Z

Hxp: Created page with " Work in progress This is a guide on how to boot a sparc64 machine from the network for the purpose of installing FreeBSD. Much of this would also be useful in settin..."

2012-04-17T02:13:36Z

Created page with " ** Work in progress ** This is a guide on how to boot a sparc64 machine from the network for the purpose of installing FreeBSD. Much of this would also be useful in settin..."

New page

** Work in progress **

This is a guide on how to boot a sparc64 machine from the network for the purpose of installing FreeBSD. Much of this would also be useful in setting up a diskless workstation, or for booting pretty much any other OS for sparc64.

== The Boot Process ==

1. Openboot will send out RARP requests for an IP address.
2. When a rarpd server responds to the request, Openboot will then use TFTP to request a loader from the *same machine* that answered the RARP request.
3. The tftpd server provides the loader, which Openboot then executes.
4. In the case of the FreeBSD bootloader, it will then perform a DHCP request
5. The DHCP server responds with the IP address of the Sun box, and the location of the root file system on NFS.
6. The loader loads the kernel from NFS and boots it.

So, that's pretty complicated. What's necessary on the server side is the following:

* rarpd to give the firmware its initial IP address.
* tftpd to transfer the bootloader.
* dhcpd to give the bootloader the location of the kernel and root file system.
* NFS to serve up the FS and kernel.

I used FreeBSD 9.0 for amd64 in a VM, but other combinations should work. In theory, any OS which can provide those four services can be the netboot server, including other BSDs, Linux, Mac OS X and even Windows but the configuration of those is beyond the scope of this article.

It's important for the machine to be on the same physical network -- rarpd in particular will not pass through routers. Modern PCs with Gigabit ethernet can be connected directly port-to-port and will enable crossover automatically.

=== Edit /etc/hosts ===

The first thing you should do is assign an IP for your sparc box in /etc/hosts

=== Setting up rarpd ===

Rarpd listens for requests on an interface for IPs then responds based on what is in the file /etc/ethers. /etc/ethers has a very simple format of <ethernet address> <ip>.

@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 </pre>
-==== Have a copy of FreeBSD for sparc64 handy ====
+==== Have a copy of FreeBSD/sparc64 and appropriate tools handy ====
 Mount FreeBSD-9.0-RELEASE-sparc64-disc1.iso at /cdrom or some similarly convenient location.  Extracting the contents to a directory will also work.
 === Setting up rarpd ===
@@ Line 90: / Line 92: @@
 === DHCP ===

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-** Work in progress **
+'''Work in progress'''
 This is a guide on how to boot a sparc64 machine from the network for the purpose of installing FreeBSD.  Much of this would also be useful in setting up a diskless workstation, or for booting pretty much any other OS for sparc64.
@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 # Openboot will send out RARP requests for an IP address.
-# When a rarpd server responds to the request, Openboot will then use TFTP to request a loader from the *same machine* that answered the RARP request.
+# When a rarpd server responds to the request, Openboot will then use TFTP to request a loader from the ''same machine'' that answered the RARP request.
 # The tftpd server provides the loader, which Openboot then executes.
 # In the case of the FreeBSD bootloader, it will then perform a DHCP request.
@@ Line 23: / Line 23: @@
 It's important for the machine to be on the same physical network -- rarpd in particular will not pass through routers.  Modern PCs with Gigabit ethernet can be connected directly port-to-port with the Sun box and will enable crossover automatically.
 ==== Edit /etc/hosts ====
@@ Line 62: / Line 60: @@
 </pre>
-The Sun box will request a file equivalent to the assigned IP address from rarpd *in hexadecimal*.  Use sipcalc (available in ports) or a similar tool:
+The Sun box will request a file equivalent to the assigned IP address from rarpd ''in hexadecimal''.  Some sun4c and sun4m machines require HEXIP.SUN4C or HEXIP.SUN4M, respectively.  Check what the machine requests using Wireshark if you're not certain.  Use sipcalc (available in ports) or a similar tool:
 <pre>
@@ Line 85: / Line 83: @@
 </pre>
-The hexadecimal IP for the Sun machine in this example is **C0A80202**.  Link the firmware to that filename.
+The hexadecimal IP for the Sun machine in this example is '''C0A80202'''.  Link the firmware to that filename.
 <pre>
 # ln -s /tftpboot/loader /tftpboot/C0A80202
 </pre>

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 This is a guide on how to boot a sparc64 machine from the network for the purpose of installing FreeBSD.  Much of this would also be useful in setting up a diskless workstation, or for booting pretty much any other OS for sparc64.
-== The Boot Process ==
+=== The Boot Process ===
-. Openboot will send out RARP requests for an IP address.
+# Openboot will send out RARP requests for an IP address.
-. When a rarpd server responds to the request, Openboot will then use TFTP to request a loader from the *same machine* that answered the RARP request.
+# When a rarpd server responds to the request, Openboot will then use TFTP to request a loader from the *same machine* that answered the RARP request.
-. The tftpd server provides the loader, which Openboot then executes.
+# The tftpd server provides the loader, which Openboot then executes.
-. In the case of the FreeBSD bootloader, it will then perform a DHCP request
+# In the case of the FreeBSD bootloader, it will then perform a DHCP request.
-. The DHCP server responds with the IP address of the Sun box, and the location of the root file system on NFS.
+# The DHCP server responds with the IP address of the Sun box, and the location of the root file system on NFS.
-. The loader loads the kernel from NFS and boots it.
+# The loader loads the kernel from NFS and boots it.
 So, that's pretty complicated.  What's necessary on the server side is the following:
-* rarpd to give the firmware its initial IP address.
+# rarpd to give the firmware its initial IP address.
-* tftpd to transfer the bootloader.
+# tftpd to transfer the bootloader.
-* dhcpd to give the bootloader the location of the kernel and root file system.
+# dhcpd to give the bootloader the location of the kernel and root file system.
-* NFS to serve up the FS and kernel.
+# NFS to serve up the FS and kernel.
-I used FreeBSD 9.0 for amd64 in a VM, but other combinations should work.  In theory, any OS which can provide those four services can be the netboot server, including other BSDs, Linux, Mac OS X and even Windows but the configuration of those is beyond the scope of this article.
+I used FreeBSD 9.0 for amd64 in a VM with bridged networking to install FreeBSD 9.0 for sparc64, but other combinations should work.  In theory, any OS which can provide those four services can be the netboot server, including other BSDs, Linux, Mac OS X and even Windows but the configuration of those is beyond the scope of this article.
-It's important for the machine to be on the same physical network -- rarpd in particular will not pass through routers.  Modern PCs with Gigabit ethernet can be connected directly port-to-port and will enable crossover automatically.
+It's important for the machine to be on the same physical network -- rarpd in particular will not pass through routers.  Modern PCs with Gigabit ethernet can be connected directly port-to-port with the Sun box and will enable crossover automatically.
-=== Edit /etc/hosts ===
+=== Setup
-The first thing you should do is assign an IP for your sparc box in /etc/hosts
+The first thing you should do is assign an IP on your network for your sparc box in /etc/hosts:
 === Setting up rarpd ===
-Rarpd listens for requests on an interface for IPs then responds based on what is in the file /etc/ethers.  /etc/ethers has a very simple format of <ethernet address>  <ip>.
+<pre>

User:Hxp/Sparc Netboot - Revision history

Hxp at 08:03, 17 April 2012

Hxp at 02:58, 17 April 2012

Hxp at 02:52, 17 April 2012

Hxp: Created page with " ** Work in progress ** This is a guide on how to boot a sparc64 machine from the network for the purpose of installing FreeBSD. Much of this would also be useful in settin..."

Hxp: Created page with " Work in progress This is a guide on how to boot a sparc64 machine from the network for the purpose of installing FreeBSD. Much of this would also be useful in settin..."