Re: Diskless NetBSD HOW-TO (http://www.netbsd.org/docs/network/netboot/)

[Alexander Schreiber <als%thangorodrim.ch@localhost>]

On Fri, Oct 23, 2020 at 10:20:04AM +1100, matthew green wrote:
> > > The NFS subsection (http://www.netbsd.org/docs/network/netboot/nfs.html)
> > > indicates that "/export/client/swap" should be exported as a diretory, but
> > > this does not make sense since "/export/client/swap" is the actual swap
> > > file.
> > 
> > That doc has aged badly: "Most versions of linux only implement NFS2".
> 
> yeah, it really is.  we added normal swap to nfs file a long time
> ago, not really that much longer than the "nfsmntpt" mount point
> option.  i've just been using plain swap files for decades.
> 
> it would be great if someone updated this doc.

I don't have access (just a happy NetBSD user).
 
> > That hasn't been true for _many_ years and indeed, by now the reverse
> > is true. Most Linux distros prefer NFSv4, will provide NFSv3, but have
> > NFSv2 disabled by default. Which plays merry hell with netbooting NetBSD
> > off a Linux server, because that _needs_ NFSv2 (at least for a sparc64
> > client), making the addition of RPCNFSDOPTS="--nfs-version 2,3,4" to the
> > appropriate config necessary. Yes, it took me staring at packet captures
> > to figure that one out.
> 
> this sounds more like a build-time option we can probably fix.
> eg, ofwboot and kernel just need to do the right thing and try
> nfsv3 before nfsv2.

I think the kernel was OK wih NFSv3, but the bootloader only spoke
NFSv2 and thus failed to load the kernel without it.

Kind regards,
            Alex.
-- 
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and
 looks like work."                                      -- Thomas A. Edison