Hi,
reading the INSTALL.sgi with regard to autoinstall, and also the manpage
I find that:
The "filename" DHCP
parameter specifies the installer mode, e.g. "auto_install". On
architectures where this parameter is used for netbooting, create
a symbolic link named "auto_install" pointing to the boot program.
due to the old PROM it has, I have to retrieve two files from the
next-server like this:
bootp()bootecoff bootp()bsd.rd.IP22
example host entry for the Indigo:
host excelsior {
# SGI Irix Indigo (Indy)
next-server 10.0.0.27;
# filename "auto_install";
hardware ethernet 08:00:69:06:cc:6f;
fixed-address 10.0.0.31;
option host-name "excelsior";
}
then creating a symlink from bootecoff to auto_install, it fails retrieving
bsd.rd.IP22,
...
arg 7: OSLoadFilename=/bsd
Boot: bootp()bsd.rd.IP22
cannot open /etc/random.seed: Device not configured
Setting $netaddr to 10.0.0.31 (from server )
Obtaining bsd.rd.IP22 from server
bootp()bsd.rd.IP22: Inappropriate file type or format
Boot FAILED!
or vice versa, creating a symlink from bsd.rd.IP22 to auto_install, it fails to
retrieve
bootecoff:
>> bootp()bootecoff bootp()bsd.rd.IP22
Setting $netaddr to 10.0.0.31 (from server )
Obtaining bootecoff from server
Cannot load bootp()bootecoff.
Unable to execute bootp()bootecoff
Basically to get both files from the TFTP server, I have to have the
filename parameter for that host commented out in dhcpd.conf file.
When then the bsd.rd.IP22 finished booting, and asks me what to do,
i.e. install, upgrade, autoinstall etc. then I edit the dhcpd.conf uncommenting
the filename parameter, and select (A)utoinstall.
Then it successfully retrieves my autoinstall script file from httpd and goes on
with the unattended installation. This then fails since the root disk is just
too small
and, as far as I researched, there is no real way yet to edit the disklabel
automatically.
But that's a different story.
So, re-using the next-server parameter to point to the httpd server that hosts
the installation configuration file, works for me, I have it set up on the same
host
as the TFTP server. But with this host, the "filename" parameter definitely
conflicts
with booting the kernel from the net.
Further, I have many different architectures, and this requirement to symlink
the
auto_install file name to the boot file name needed for each architecture also
prevents to boot different architectures at the same time.
So, instead of re-using the filename dhcp option to define if to do an
unattended
upgrade or installation, maybe a different option could be chosen that is not
conflicting with other common functionality.
Looking at some options here [1], option 150 (GRUB config path name),
209 (Configuration file), or 129 (Kernel options) comes to mind.
But as far as I can see, the dhcpd doesn't support those custom options (yet)?
cheers,
Sebastian
[1]
https://www.iana.org/assignments/bootp-dhcp-parameters/bootp-dhcp-parameters.xhtml
