Introduction (hp300-specific), Diskless NetBSD HOW-TO

Client hardware requirements

• Unsupported models

  Almost all of the Series 300 workstations are capable of running diskless (certainly Rev B and later Boot ROM). All of the Series 400 workstations HP ever produced are capable of running diskless.

  Some models of Series 300 workstations are not supported by NetBSD. In particular, the 332 requires a 68882 FPU and the 310 has a 68010 CPU.

  This of course, does not imply that all the features of your model are supported (i.e. console on a 425e). You should check the hp300 port page for hardware compatibility issues.

• Quirky models

  Series 400 workstations must be configured to be in "HP-UX Compatible Boot Mode" (see the entry in the FAQ). This is only necessary if your machine was previously configured to run Domain/OS. If you previously had HP-UX installed, then you will have no problems.

• Boot ROM version required

  Some early models (in particular, the 320, 350, 330, 318, and 319) might not have a recent enough bootrom. The bootrom revision is printed when your workstation is first powered on (or rebooted). Revision B or later will definitely work. Bootroms with numeric revisions such as 1.1 (on a 400s) will netboot without any problems.

• Which ethernet devices are supported

  Any built-in ethernet (on the system interface board or on the motherboard) or add-on ethernet board (such as the DIO-I 98643) will support netbooting. NetBSD refers to every ethernet board for hp300 as leN (N being the number of the board). These are based on the AMD Lance Ethernet chip. Thus if you had built-in ethernet and an additional ethernet card, they'd be referred to as le0 and le1.

  The ethernet with the lowest select code will be le0, the next lowest would be le1, and so forth. The default select code for built-in ethernet is 21. The select code is set with DIP switches on all Series 300 System Interface boards or on the add-on ethernet board. The select code is set in the EEPROM on Series 400 workstations.

Setting up the client hardware

• Selecting the correct ethernet media

  All hp300 machines ship with either Thin LAN or Thick net. You may need to purchase a transceiver to convert these to 10Base-T if that is what the rest of your network is wired with.

  Series 400 machines have two ethernet media types built into the motherboard. You may only use one at a time. When your Series 400 workstation goes through the self-test when powered on or rebooted, it will say one of the following:

  HP98643 (LAN) at 21, AUI
  HP98643 (LAN) at 21, Thin

  If the wrong type of network is selected, you will need to change the ethernet port. You will need to open the case (4XXt, 4XXdl, 4XXe) or remove the motherboard (4XXs) to access the jumper. Be sure to use static-prevention measures, as you could easily fry your motherboard from carelessness. If you are uncomfortable with this, ask a friend who is aware of these issues. There is a block of 8 jumpers at the rear of the motherboard, labeled AUI/Thin. You will need to put the jumpers in the position necessary for your type of ethernet.

• Determining your ethernet hardware address

  You will need to determine the ethernet hardware address of your workstation. This is sometimes also known as the "link level address" or MAC. It is a twelve digit hexadecimal number (i.e. it uses 0-9 and A-F for each digit). For example, 08:00:09:09:45:84 is the ethernet address of my workstation. AFAIK, all older HP workstations start with 08:00:09:XX:XX:XX.

  The easiest way to determine your ethernet address is to reboot your workstation. During the self-tests, it will print out something similar to one of the following messages:

  HP98643 (LAN) at 21, 080009045AF5
  HP98643 (LAN) at 21, AUI, 080009115DB3

  Write this number down for future reference.

• Default boot device order

  The order in which the bootrom searches for bootable devices depends on your model. In general, it will try to boot off a locally attached hard drive or tape drive before checking the network. See the entry in the FAQ.

• Overriding the default boot device order

  If the ethernet device has a lower boot device priority than your hard drive(s), you'll need to enter the boot selection mode of the bootrom. On any Series 300 or Series 400 machine, the procedure is the same:

  1. Power on your workstation
  2. Wait until the Boot ROM detects the HP-HIL bus. It will beep.
  3. If using a serial console, you still have to wait until it detects the HP-HIL bus.
  4. Press return twice
  5. It will finish its hardware checking
  6. For Series 300 workstations, it will then print the following:

     SEARCHING FOR A SYSTEM (RETURN To Pause)

     For Series 400 workstations, it will print the following:

     RESET To Power-Up, SPACE clears input   Select System, type RETURN       ?

  7. Wait until it lists the device you want to boot from. The choices will be of the form YZ SYSXXXXXXX, where Y is a number from 1 through 9 or a letter from A-Z, Z is a letter representing the bootloader (NetBSD/OpenBSD use Z, HP-UX uses H (and a few other letters)). SYSXXXXXXX is the name of the bootloader to be used (there may be more than one bootloader on the same device).
  8. Type in the YZ number and hit return. The bootloader will then be loaded.

How the Boot ROM starts loading from a diskless server

HP intended for all Series 300/400 machines to entirely use the RMP (Remote Maintenance Protocol) for all things diskless (including filesystem). To keep things simple, the NetBSD folks have only implemented the bootstrapping procedure (known as rbootd), wherein the Boot ROM gets the initial bootloader. Here's what happens when you power on your hp300:

1. The Boot ROM runs through a bunch of hardware checks
2. The Boot ROM checks for the bootloader in various places (see above)
3. When it gets to checking the ethernet, it will broadcast an RMP Boot Request packet
4. If it gets a response, it will send another request (this time asking for the name(s) of the bootloaders on that server)
5. If the user selects that device to boot, the server will send the bootloader to the client using RMP
6. The Boot ROM will transfer control to the bootloader and it will start looking for a NetBSD diskless server (rarp, then bootparams, then nfs)

A few things worth noting

• If you have no access to a rbootd server, you can get the bootloader code loaded off a local disk or tape drive and then netboot the rest of the way. This may also be the only solution for old Series 300 workstations with Boot ROMs that don't support netbooting. You'll need to read the section on installing a local bootloader. This is confirmed to work with a 9122 floppy drive, and will probably also work with the 9121 and 9134.

• The NetBSD/hp300 bootloader program doesn't have a very robust network driver. This means you may get timeouts, dropped packets, and failed responses during the diskless boot procedure. This is especially noticeable on a network with lots of traffic. If you find that the diskless boot isn't repeatable (works sometimes, but not all the time), you should consider creating a private network between your diskless client and the server.

• You can create a small Thin network (two machines). This merely involves a coaxial cable with BNC connectors on either end, two BNC Tee's, and two 50 Ohm BNC terminators. Be sure to attach one terminator to each Tee.

  For a small network, you should use the IP addresses specified in this HOW-TO (e.g. subnet mask, client, server, broadcast, etc.), as these numbers are reserved for private networks.

Begin setting things up (suggested order):

1. rbootd
2. rarp
3. bootparams
4. nfs
5. client filesystem
6. finishing up

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