Setting up the rpc.bootparamd server, Diskless NetBSD HOW-TO

The rpc.bootparamd is used to convey some information to diskless clients. NetBSD only uses information regarding the root NFS directory. Most platforms no longer require bootparams, as they now use DHCP to acquire most of their netboot information. In particular, sparc and sparc64 systems can skip ahead to setting up tftpd

Before starting, it's worth mentioning that sometimes the bootparamd daemon decides not to respond to whoami requests. I've seen this happen with NetBSD, Linux, and Solaris. Sometimes it takes several tries! This gives the same error message as if bootparamd is not running. If, after several tries, you still can't get it to work, try compiling a different bootparamd server (or if none is available for your server platform, try a different server OS).

Also, some systems (particularly Sun 3 ones) ask for a gateway entry from bootparamd, and will not boot without one. You can add a gateway entry to your bootparams by changing the line in the examples below from

client root=nfsserver:/export/client/root

to

client root=nfsserver:/export/client/root gateway=gateway:0xffffff00

replacing gateway with the IP address of the gateway or router on your network, and 0xffffff00 with your netmask.

The following links provide more detailed information about setting up bootparams on different operating systems:

This runs the bootparamd server in debugging mode. When the bootparamd server gets a request, it will print the following messages:

rpc.bootparamd: whoami got question for 192.168.1.10
rpc.bootparamd: This is host client.test.net
rpc.bootparamd: Returning client       127.0.0.1
rpc.bootparamd: getfile got question for "client" and file "root"
rpc.bootparamd: returning server:nfsserver path:/export/client/root address: 192.168.1.5

If the requests fail, the client will print:

bootparamd: `whoami' call failed
le(0,0,0,0): Unknown error: code 60
boot: Unknown error: code 60

If the bootparams requests succeed, the client will print:

boot: client name: client.test.net
root addr=192.168.1.5 path=/export/client/root

Continue on to setting up nfs or tftpd

This runs the bootparamd server in debugging mode. When the bootparamd server gets a request, it will print the following messages:

whoami got question for 192.168.1.10
bootparamd: this is host client.test.net
Returning client       192.168.1.5
bootparamd: getfile got question for "client" and file "root"
returning server:nfsserver path:/export/client/root address: 192.168.1.5

If the bootparams requests fail, the client will print:

bootparamd: `whoami' call failed
le(0,0,0,0): Unknown error: code 60
boot: Unknown error: code 60

If the bootparams requests succeed, the client will print:

boot: client name: client.test.net
root addr=192.168.1.5 path=/export/client/root

Continue on to setting up nfs or tftpd

This runs the bootparamd server in debugging mode. When the bootparamd server gets a request, it will print the following messages:

rpc.bootparamd: whoami got question for 192.168.1.10
rpc.bootparamd: This is host client.test.net
rpc.bootparamd: Returning client       127.0.0.1
rpc.bootparamd: getfile got question for "client" and file "root"
rpc.bootparamd: returning server:nfsserver path:/export/client/root address: 192.168.1.5

If the bootparams requests fail, the client will print:

bootparamd: `whoami' call failed
le(0,0,0,0): Unknown error: code 60
boot: Unknown error: code 60

If the bootparams requests succeed, the client will print:

boot: client name: client.test.net
root addr=192.168.1.5 path=/export/client/root

Continue on to setting up nfs or tftpd

The bootparam daemon should come with all recent distributions as of this writing (2001-03-01). If you don't have /usr/sbin/rpc.bootparamd then you'll have to download the newest netkit-bootparamd sources from ftp://ftp.uk.linux.org/pub/linux/Networking/netkit.

This runs the bootparamd server in debugging mode. When the bootparamd server gets a request, it will print the following messages:

whoami got question for 192.168.1.10
This is host client.test.net
Returning client   (none)    127.0.0.1
getfile got question for "client" and file "root"
returning server:nfsserver path:/export/client/root address: 192.168.1.5

If the bootparams requests fail, the client will print:

bootparamd: `whoami' call failed
le(0,0,0,0): Unknown error: code 60
boot: Unknown error: code 60

There have been several reports of problems with the bootparamd that ships with some distributions of linux. If you run into this, try compiling the NetKit bootparamd from source and check that your rarpd is working. Debian/woody with kernels 2.4.x, rarpd-0.981107 and netkit-bootparamd-0.17 are reported to work without problems.

If the bootparams requests succeed, the client will print:

boot: client name: client.test.net
root addr=192.168.1.5 path=/export/client/root

Continue on to setting up nfs or tftpd

If your SunOS box is already set up as an NFS server and if the directory /tftpboot exists, then the bootparamd server will already be running.

This runs the bootparamd server in debugging mode. If the bootparams requests fail, the client will print:

bootparamd: `whoami' call failed
le(0,0,0,0): Unknown error: code 60
boot: Unknown error: code 60

If the bootparams requests succeed, the client will print:

boot: client name: client.test.net
root addr=192.168.1.5 path=/export/client/root

Continue on to setting up nfs or tftpd

If your Solaris box is already set up as an NFS server and if the directory /tftpboot exists, then the bootparamd server will already be running.

This runs the bootparamd server in debugging mode. It doesn't even notice that the client has sent a bootparams request.

If the bootparams requests fail, the client will print:

bootparamd: `whoami' call failed
le(0,0,0,0): Unknown error: code 60
boot: Unknown error: code 60

If the bootparams requests succeed, the client will print:

boot: client name: client.test.net
root addr=192.168.1.5 path=/export/client/root

Continue on to setting up nfs or tftpd

If the bootparams requests fail, the client will print:

bootparamd: `whoami' call failed
le(0,0,0,0): Unknown error: code 60
boot: Unknown error: code 60

If the bootparams requests succeed, the client will print:

boot: client name: client.test.net
root addr=192.168.1.5 path=/export/client/root

Continue on to setting up nfs or tftpd

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If the bootparams requests fail, the client will print:

bootparamd: `whoami' call failed
le(0,0,0,0): Unknown error: code 60
boot: Unknown error: code 60

If the bootparams requests succeed, the client will print:

boot: client name: client.test.net
root addr=192.168.1.5 path=/export/client/root

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Sorry, HP-UX does not ship with the bootparamd daemon. It might be possible to find source code and compile the daemon, but I couldn't find it.

If you know more about this, please let us know.

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