NAME

pnpboot, pnp.s386 − pnp diskless boot service

SYNOPSIS

/tftpboot/pnp.s386

AVAILABILITY

Available only on Sun 386i systems running a SunOS 4.0.x release or earlier.  Not a SunOS 4.1 release feature. 

DESCRIPTION

pnp.s386 is a level 2 boot program that requests actions necessary to set up a diskless workstation on the network. 

The PNP diskless boot service is used by diskless workstations at installation time to locate a server that will configure the diskless client. 

The last steps of the level 1 boot (from the PROM) are to load the level 2 program through rarpd(8C) and tftpd(8C).  The first step in the boot sequence is RARP to acquire an IP address.  This is followed by TFTP service calls to acquire the pnp.sun∗ program file needed for the client’s architecture.  A PNP_ACQUIRE RPC is then broadcast to locate a server willing to configure the diskless client. 

A PNP_SETUP is issued to the server which returns one of three statuses: success, failure, or in_progress.  As long as the server responds with a status of in_progress the client will periodically issue a PNP_POLL until the status changes to either success or failure. 

The last step is to reboot the client.  This goes through a RARP, TFTP, BOOT sequence, with the boot using the normal boot.sun∗ file and bootparamd(8) service. 

The system will have been set up using the IP address returned in the first step and a system name will have been assigned. 

FILES

/tftpboot/pnp.sun∗

SEE ALSO

bootparam(3R), bootparams(5) boot(8S), bootparamd(8), ipallocd(8C), netconfig(8C), pnpd(8C), rarpd(8C), tftpd(8C),

Sun Release 4.1  —  Last change: 5 December 1987