1 # $FreeBSD: src/share/examples/diskless/README.BOOTP,v 1.2.4.1 2002/02/12 17:43:11 luigi Exp $
2 # $DragonFly: src/share/examples/diskless/README.BOOTP,v 1.2 2003/06/17 06:36:57 dillon Exp $
3 # Notes on diskless boot.
7 As of Feb. 11, 2002 (and indeed, for quite some time before that),
8 the /etc/rc.diskless{1,2} scripts support a slightly different
9 diskless boot process than the one documented in the rest of
10 this file (which is 3 years old).
12 I am not deleting the information below because it contains some
13 useful background information on diskless operation, but for the
14 actual details you should look at /etc/rc.diskless1, /etc/rc.diskless2,
15 and the /usr/share/examples/diskless/clone_root script which can
16 be useful to set up clients and server for diskless boot.
18 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
20 BOOTP configuration mechanism
25 BOOTP kernels automatically configure the machine's IP address, netmask,
26 optional NFS based swap, and NFS based root mount. The NFS server will
27 typically export a shared read-only /, /usr, and /var to any number of
28 workstations. The shared read-only root is typically either the server's
29 own root or, if you are more security concious, a contrived root.
31 The key issue with starting up a BOOTP kernel is that you typically want
32 to export read-only NFS partitions from the server, yet still be able to
33 customize each workstation ( or not ).
35 /etc/rc.diskless1 is responsible for doing core mounts and for retargeting
36 /conf/ME ( part of the read-only root NFS mount ) to /conf/$IP_OF_CLIENT.
37 /etc/rc.conf.local and /etc/rc.local, along with other machine-specific
38 configuration files, are typically softlinks to /conf/ME/<filename>.
40 In the BOOTP workstation /conf/$IP/rc.conf.local, you must typically
41 turn *OFF* most of the system option defaults in /etc/rc.conf as well
42 as do additional custom configuration of your environment
44 The /usr/src/share/examples/diskless directory contains a typical
45 X session / sshd based workstation configuration. The directories
46 involved are HT.DISKLESS/ and 192.157.86.12/.
48 Essentially, the $IP/ directory ( which rc.diskless looks for in
49 /conf/$IP/ ) contains all the junk. The HT.DISKLESS directory exists
50 to hold common elements of your custom configuration so you do not have
51 to repeat those elements for each workstation. The example /conf
52 structure included here shows how to create a working sshd setup ( so
53 you can sshd into the diskless workstation ), retarget xdm's pid and error
54 files to R+W directories if /usr is mounted read-only, and retarget
55 syslogd and other programs. This example is not designed to run out of
56 the box and some modifications are required.
58 >> NOTE << HT.DISKLESS/ttys contains the typical configuration required
59 to bring X up at boot time. Essentially, it runs xdm in the foreground
60 with the appropriate arguments rather then a getty on ttyv0. You must
61 run xdm on ttyv0 in order to prevent xdm racing with getty on a virtual
62 terminal. Such a race can cause your keyboard to be directed away from
63 the X session, essentially making the session unusable.
65 Typically you should start with a clean slate by tar-copying this example
66 directory to /conf and then hack on it in /conf rather then in
67 /usr/share/examples/diskless.
71 Here is a typical kernel configuration. If you have only one ethernet
72 interface you do not need to wire BOOTP to a specific interface name.
73 BOOTP requires NFS and NFS_ROOT, and our boot scripts require MFS. If
74 your /tmp is *not* a softlink to /var/tmp, the scripts also require NULLFS
78 options BOOTP # Use BOOTP to obtain IP address/hostname
79 options BOOTP_NFSROOT # NFS mount root filesystem using BOOTP info
80 options "BOOTP_NFSV3" # Use NFS v3 to NFS mount rootoptions
81 options BOOTP_COMPAT # Workaround for broken bootp daemons.
82 #options "BOOTP_WIRED_TO=de0"
84 options MFS # Memory File System
85 options NFS # Network Filesystem
86 options NFS_ROOT # Nfs can be root
87 options NULLFS # nullfs to map /var/tmp to /tmp
91 The BOOTP server must be running on the same logical LAN as the the
92 BOOTP client(s). You need to setup two things:
94 (1) You need to NFS-export /, /usr, and /var.
96 (2) You need to run a BOOTP server. DHCPD can do this.
101 Here is an example "/etc/exports" file.
103 / -ro -maproot=root: -network 192.157.86.0 -mask 255.255.255.192
104 /usr -ro -maproot=root: -network 192.157.86.0 -mask 255.255.255.192
105 /var -ro -maproot=root: -network 192.157.86.0 -mask 255.255.255.192
107 In order to be an NFS server, the server must run portmap, mountd,
108 nfsd, and rpc.statd. The standard NFS server options in /etc/rc.conf
109 will work ( you should put your overrides in /etc/rc.conf.local on the
110 server and not edit the distribution /etc/rc.conf, though ).
114 This configuration file "/etc/dhcpd.conf" example is for
115 the '/usr/ports/net/isc-dhcp' dhcpd port.
117 subnet 192.157.86.0 netmask 255.255.255.192 {
118 # range if you want to run the core dhcpd service of
119 # dynamic IP assignment, but it is not used with BOOTP
121 range 192.157.86.32 192.157.86.62;
123 # misc configuration.
125 option routers 192.157.86.2;
126 option domain-name-servers 192.157.86.2;
128 server-name "apollo.fubar.com";
129 option subnet-mask 255.255.255.192;
130 option domain-name-servers 192.157.86.2;
131 option domain-name "fubar.com";
132 option broadcast-address 192.157.86.63;
133 option routers 192.157.86.2;
137 hardware ethernet 00:a0:c9:d3:38:25;
138 fixed-address 192.157.86.11;
139 option root-path "192.157.86.2:/";
140 option option-128 "192.157.86.2:/images/swap";
144 # hardware ethernet 00:e0:29:1d:16:09;
145 hardware ethernet 00:10:5a:a8:94:0e;
146 fixed-address 192.157.86.12;
147 option root-path "192.157.86.2:/";
148 option option-128 "192.157.86.2:/images/swap";
151 SWAP. This example includes options to automatically BOOTP configure
152 NFS swap on each workstation. In order to use this capabilities you
153 need to NFS-export a swap directory READ+WRITE to the workstations.
155 You must then create a swap directory for each workstation you wish to
156 assign swap to. In this example I created a dummy user 'lander' and
157 did an NFS export of /images/swap enforcing a UID of 'lander' for
160 apollo:/usr/ports/net# ls -la /images/swap
162 drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 512 Dec 28 07:00 .
163 drwxr-xr-x 8 root wheel 512 Jan 20 10:54 ..
164 -rw-r--r-- 1 lander wheel 33554432 Dec 23 14:35 swap.192.157.86.11
165 -rw-r--r-- 1 lander wheel 335544320 Jan 24 16:55 swap.192.157.86.12
166 -rw-r--r-- 1 lander wheel 134217728 Jan 21 17:19 swap.192.157.86.6
168 A swap file is best created with dd:
170 # create a 32MB swap file for a BOOTP workstation
171 dd if=/dev/zero of=swap.IPADDRESS bs=1m count=32
173 It is generally a good idea to give your workstations some swap space,
174 but not a requirement if they have a lot of memory.