> > Ragge is not a what.  Ragge is a who.
> >
> > Peace...  Sridhar
>
> Yes, I realized that as soon as I pressed the "send" key..  OK, so now I
> sound as stupid as I feel.

Feeling stupid usually means that when you do figure something out, you'll
then feel smart and enlightened, which is good encouragement to attack
something new.


Ok, here's my summarised VAX netbooting; I'll note where stuff is
particular to the VAXStation 4000/60, so you can go look for stuff
relevant to your VAX.

(To start with, I don't even know what kind of serial port you have; I
take it that you've already figured this stuff out)


Step one: set up the serial console.

First, you need a cable for the serial console. I got a 25 pin connector
(for the Amiga, or any other standard serial port) and an RJ11 phone cord.
The VAX serial port has an offset latch, so you need to file or sand off
the latch on the phone cord's connector.

Looking at the serial port, the following wires need to be connected:

---------------
I             I  1 - DTR (Data terminal ready)
I 1 2 3 4 5 6 I  2 - TxD (Transmit data)
I             I  3 - GND (Signal ground)
I             I  4 - RxC (Receive common)
---------I    I  5 - RxD (Receive data)
         ------  6 - DSR (Data set ready)

Pin 2 of the phone connector goes to pin 3 of the 25 pin serial, pins 3 &
4 go to ground (pin 7 of DB25), and pin 5 goes to pin 2 of the DB25.

Then, make sure that the S3 switch (on the front of the 4000/60) is set to
the up position so that the VAX uses the serial console instead of the
graphics console.

Then, load up minicom (or some other term program), set the speed to 9600
baud, make sure hardware handshaking is off, and see if you can talk to
the VAX.

The first thing to do is find out the ethernet's hardware address:
>>> show ether   (Specific to VAX models; could be "test 50" or others)

ETHERNET = 08-00-2B-17-91-31

Take note of this.


Step 2: Set up the netbooting services.

VAXen use MOP to boot. A MOP daemon is part of the standard NetBSD
install, but is broken in 1.5; upgrade to release on your boot server.
Then, do the following:

mkdir -p /tftpboot/mop
cd /tftpboot/mop
ftp ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-1.5/vax/installation/netboot/boot.mop

Then, using your ethernet address:
ln -s 08002b179131.SYS boot.mop
(use the ethernet address, lowercase hex, no colons, with zeros)

Then, run the MOP daemon:
mopd -a -d
(the -d runs it in debug mode, so you'll need to open more shells or leave
off -d)


Next, set up rarp:

Create /etc/ethers:
# /etc/ethers for VAX netbooting
08:00:2b:17:91:31       vax
00:e0:98:19:21:6e       lilith

Add entries into /etc/hosts:
192.168.1.77    lilith  lilith.sixgirls.org	(netboot server)
192.168.1.55    vax     vax.sixgirls.org	(VAX, of course)

Then start rarpd:
/usr/sbin/rarpd -a -d    (again, -d is debug mode; time for another console)


Next, set up /etc/bootparams:
#/etc/bootparams
vax root=lilith:/export/vaxboot

And run bootparamd, but bootparamd requires rpcbind, if it's not already
running:
rpcbind
/usr/sbin/rpc.bootparamd -d


Now to set up NFS:

mkdir -p /export/vaxboot
cd /export/vaxboot
ftp ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-1.5/vax/installation/netboot/netbsd.ram.gz
gunzip netbsd.ram.gz
mv netbsd.ram netbsd.vax

Then set up /etc/exports:
#/etc/exports
/export/vaxboot         -maproot=root:wheel     vax

Now start mountd and nfsd:
/usr/sbin/mountd
/usr/sbin/nfsd -tun 4


Step 3: Booting and installing NetBSD.

Now the boot server is set up. Go back to the serial console, and tell
your VAX to boot off of the network:
>>> b esa0

(specific to VAX model; see
http://www.netbsd.org/Documentation/network/netboot/intro.vax.html for
information on your model)

After waiting for the bootp to timeout, your VAX should boot the
installation kernel!

Good luck,
John
-- 
The proof of a system's value is its existence.