Re: autodectection of modules at boot time
Hartmut Koptein wrote:
> > > > * bootp/dhcp integration in the boot-floppies (boot-floppies)
> > >
> > > I'm intrested in that too, but I never used it and don't know enough
> > > about it right now to tell how difficult it is.
> >
> > I have little experience with bootp because I configured my sparc few days ago
> > to using it. It is not that difficult, and using bootpc, you could get all
> > parameters on the client side.
> >
> > # bootpc --server 192.168.1.255
> > SERVER='192.168.1.1'
> > IPADDR='192.168.1.13'
> > BOOTFILE='//linux-2.2.12.aout'
> > NETMASK='255.255.255.0'
> > NETWORK='192.168.1.0'
> > BROADCAST='192.168.1.255'
> > ROOT_PATH='/tftpboot/debian-sparc-root'
> > DOMAIN='pontchartrain.fr'
> > SEARCH='pontchartrain.fr'
> > ...
> >
> > We just need to parse this output in dbootstrap.
> > Moreover, bootpc is only 12kB.
>
> We need the addr. of the bootp-server. And what, if the server is != sparc?
> And if the bootp-server is an rs/6000 with axi you have some trouble then ...
No, just broadcast to broadcast addr of the subnet.
Well, since the subnet could be not known, broadcast to 255.255.255.255 is the
solution. However, on my system, I need to add a route to this address
otherwise the request is not sent ;( (route add -host 255.255.255.255 eth0).
Anyway, if we install pump or dhclient, we don't need to configure the network
at all.
Semi-automated detection of network configuration is best with networks with no
bootp or dhcp servers. For example, I need to set up a RARP & TFTP server to
boot my sparc over the net for Debian installation (no floppy drive).
dboostrap could then issue rarp request to get IP address of the workstation,
guess the subnet mask based on the IP addr replied, broadcast to the subnet to
look for a DNS or NIS server, then translate IP addr to hostname & extract the
domain name. I don't know whether the gateway IP addr could be determined as
such, hope it will. When all steps have succeeded, dbootstrap could summarize
the network configuration directly and ask the user to validate it, instead of
requesting him to enter each field manually. If he disagrees with the
settings, he could cancel them and go manually through each step.
Regards.
--
Eric Delaunay | "La guerre justifie l'existence des militaires.
delaunay@lix.polytechnique.fr | En les supprimant." Henri Jeanson (1900-1970)
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