Hi,

I had some of the same problems booting my precious MicroVax II.
Unfortunately, the server/client computers are at home right now,
and not within my reach.  However, I can tell you that Brian's
FAQ didn't work for me with 1.4.x until I had dhcpd set up on 
the server.  For the server, I am using NetBSD running on a 
DecStation, which I have found to be very friendly netboot
server.  Linux RedHat, anything later than 5.x, I would stay
away from.  I wasted a lot of time with that.

I got help from Chuck M. and several others on this list
(especially Brian C.), and cobbled together the following
/etc/dhcpd.conf file, which works on the Univ. of Md. campus:

#-------------------------- dhcpd.conf ----------------
use-host-decl-names on;
server-name "inforumdec";
option domain-name "umd.edu";
option domain-name-servers 128.8.76.2;

subnet 128.8.56.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
  option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
  option broadcast-address 128.8.56.255;
  option routers 128.8.56.1;
}

host inforumvax {
  hardware ethernet 08:00:2b:0f:43:0c;
  fixed-address 128.8.56.99;
  option root-path "/export/inforumvax/root";
  option host-name "inforumvax";
}
#---------- end dhcpd.conf -------------------------

In this case, inforumdec is the server, on which this file
is installed, and dhcpd is told to run in the /etc/rc.conf 
file.  inforumvax is the client.  The rootpath on the 
server is /export/inforumvax/root.  Everything else was
set up exactly according to Brian's FAQ.  Of course, you'll
want to change your ip's to match your site.  Netbooting
of many hosts can be accomplished by adding a new section
for each host (client).

Brian, if you get any time to update that wonderful FAQ,
I would say that all you need is a paragraph or so about
dhcpd.  I haven't had any trouble at all netbooting vaxes
of all flavors since I started using it.

If I didn't say it already (I did) stay away from RedHat 
6.x, 7.x!!

Doug

 

On Tue, 10 Oct 2000, Brian Chase wrote:

> On Tue, 10 Oct 2000, bart sikkes wrote:
> 
> > Ok, this comes as a major shock to us :)
> > 
> > Because with the HOWTO we had a nice step by step instruction what to
> > do and what to put in certain files. Now were flying free not sure
> > anymore what programs we have to use and so on.
> 
> Yes, I know it's evil.  I apologize.
> 
> It sounds like you're very close to having this work.  If you can get the
> NFS serving working properly (which does have unique problems using Linux
> as the NFS server, because Linux is kind of flakey in this role).
> 
> It just sounds like you you need to get a DHCP server running and serving
> up the diskless boot into.  Using DHCP is actually somewhat simpler than
> bootparamd.  I also recommend using DHCP instead of BOOTP.  It's newer,
> but backwards compatible with BOOTP.  See man dhcpd and man dhcpd.conf for
> some more details on setting this up.  I'd give you an example config
> file, but I'm still unpacking from a recent move and don't have all my
> computers up yet.
> 
> Someone else on the list may also be able to provide you with an example
> /etc/dhcpd.conf file.
> 
> -brian.
> --- Brian Chase | bdc@world.std.com | http://world.std.com/~bdc/ -----
>             What in the HELL are you talking about?  -- red.
>