ingram@symsys.com said:
>   nfs_boot: mountd ':/export/vax/root', error=13
>                    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 

This might be not vax specific. Does your bootp server perhaps not
fill in the "server hostname" field in the reply?
(bp_sname in the bootp struct at the beginning og sys/nfs/nfs_bootdhcp.c)
It should be harmless however (if I don't miss something) as long as it fills
in the server IP address correctly.
I'd use tcpdump to track this down further.

> Can DHCP tell a client to get its
> root filesystem from another host?  I'd much rather the NetBSD/x86 system
> serve up the filesystems.

Yes, bootp servers can set the server name/address to another
machine (it's the "next-server" directive iirc).
The kernel bootp/dhcp code also allows to override the root
filesystem server with the "swap-server" tag. (This is needed
if tftp and nfs servers are different.)

best regards
Matthias