Re: Getting started netbooting a NeXTcube

Hi David,

When booting from disk, BOOTP is a critical step to getting on the =
network, and things like NetInfo won't even work without it.

However, I'm not sure what happens if there isn't a BOOTP response. I =
assume that the NEXTSTEP OS on disk would still launch, but the network =
would not function, and all configuration from NetInfo would necessarily =
be absent.

Since netboot has no disk to fall back on, I'm going to assume that =
BOOTP is absolutely essential to get working before the netboot can even =
begin.

I became very familiar with BOOTP while creating my own multi-tier =
NetInfo hierarchy of NeXTcube, NeXTstation, and even SPARCstation =
machines. Some of the information is duplicated on multiple machines in =
case one machine goes down, because things won't boot if the BOOTP =
server is down. Obviously, I had to toss all that knowledge and learn =
DHCP with newer systems. I seem to recall that DHCP is a superset of =
BOOTP, and it might even be true that some or all DHCP servers have the =
ability to respond to BOOTP requests.

I have very little knowledge of netboot, but I would recommend that you =
set up a BOOTP server in conjunction / coordination with the netboot =
server. Once the machine receives a BOOTP response, it will probably =
then continue on to load the OS from the netboot server.

Just remember: NEXTSTEP is older than DHCP, and certainly older than =
ZeroConf (Bonjour).

Brian


On Sep 26, 2021, at 15:53, David Ross <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hey port-next68k,
>=20
> I've managed to acquire a NeXTcube and I'm playing around with getting
> the old netbsd port up and running on it.  Since it was only ever set
> up to netboot, I'm starting there.  Unfortunately I'm seeing some
> really weird behavior...
>=20
> The ethernet network connection seems to work fine.  When I boot up
> via the hard drive, I see it recognizes when it's plugged in and
> attempts to retrieve network configuration.  Sniffing on the network I
> see BOOTP packets.
>=20
> However, when I attempt to netboot from the ROM monitor, I'm seeing
> that the network only comes up for a brief period of time, if at all.
> During that time, in some cases a BOOTP packet manages to make it out.
> I haven't gone any further to try to respond to the BOOTP packet yet.
>=20
> Any idea what might be causing this behavior, or how it might be
> fixed?  Can anyone attest to what the normal behavior is when
> netbooting?  (I'd expect the network comes up & stays up, and BOOTP
> packets continue to get sent on some interval until there's a
> response.)
>=20
> David Ross
> [email protected]
>=20