Re: diskless boot

[Håkan Thörngren <hth%update.uu.se@localhost>]

Robert> What happens if you type in a valid root path at this point ?

I tried with 
/export/diskless/root/gestur 
and 
skyfari:/export/diskless/root/gestur

It responds with
use one of: ne0 ddb halt reboot

If I say ne0, I am allowed to select dump device (none), and then 
file system, I choose nfs.  And get:
root on ne0
nfs_boot: trying DHCP/BOOTP
nfs_boot: DHCP next-server: 192.168.106.8
nfs_boot: my_domain=local
nfs_boot: my_addr=192.168.106.247    <-----
nfs_boot: my_mask=255.255.255.0
nfs_boot: gateway=192.168.106.254
nfs_boot: getfh - no pathname
cannot mount root, error = 5
root device (default ne0):  >blinking cursor<

The arrow above indicates that it has gotten number 247 this time from
the dhcp server (I have assigned it as 12 on the network with a static
entry in the dhcpd.conf).  This 247 is from the pool of numbers given
to machines that does not have a static entry.  The syslog says it was
given to a machine with ethernet address 00:00:e8:58:93:c4, which is
quite different from what this cats introduced itself with during boot
(00:00:00:00:e8:e8).

I tried a reboot and a power off, and the behavior is consistent!
What is happening?

Eventually, I added a second entry in the dhcpd.conf file for this
new MAC address and deleted the "skyfari:" part (see below), and the
thing actually came up!

Now it is busy building its own kernel so that I hopefully can return
the monitor and keyboard I borrowed from my fiance.

>> Here is the relevant parts of my current dhpcd.conf:
>> 
>> subnet 192.168.106.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 
>> { 
>> option routers 192.168.106.254;
>> 
>> host gestur
>> {
>> hardware ethernet 00:00:00:00:E8:E8;
>> fixed-address 192.168.106.12;
>> server-name "skyfari";
>> option root-path "skyfari/export/diskless/root/gestur";
>> option tftp-server-name "skyfari";
>> option host-name "gestur";
>> filename "netbsd.aout-GENERIC";
>> }
>> }

Robert> Your root-path doesn't look right to me. I would delete the leading 
'skyfari'.

Actually, it looks as "skyfari:/export/diskless/root/gestur" in the
real file.  The error in my dhcp.conf above was a copy paste problem in
combination with iso-accents-mode in emacs and my error in correcting
it properly.
In the end, I had to remove it as the cats machine added that part
itself, causing double "skyfari:".

Håkan