1999/12/3 NetbootServer 1.0 Release Note Lucent NetbootServer is a Java-based graphical user interface (GUI) to a TFTP server and BOOTP server that can boot a Lucent PortMaster(R) product across a network or download a new version of ComOS(R). NetbootServer is independent of the version of ComOS that is running on the PortMaster. _______________ Contents How NetbootServer Works TFTP Configuration BOOTP Configuration Limitations System Requirements Installation Deinstallation Running NetbootServer Debug Log Contacting Technical Support _______________ How NetbootServer Works The NetbootServer's TFTP and BOOTP servers are independent of each other and can be started, stopped, and configured separately. A list of clients that have been served by the TFTP and BOOTP servers is displayed in the main window. NetbootServer includes online help. On any UNIX system, you must be root to start the NetbootServer's TFTP or BOOTP server. On any UNIX system, you cannot run another TFTP or BOOTP server when running NetbootServer. Otherwise, NetbootServer is unable to use the defined UDP ports to listen for TFTP and BOOTP requests. _______ TFTP Server The TFTP server implements RFC 1350, the Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP). TFTP is a protocol for transferring files in 512-byte blocks over UDP. The TFTP server can send files to any TFTP client, such as the one implemented on PortMaster products. For example, as part of the normal upgrade procedure, the PortMaster can retrieve a new version of ComOS from the TFTP server when you enter the following command: tftp get comos For security reasons, the TFTP server cannot write files -- it cannot receive files sent from a TFTP client. _______ BOOTP Server The BOOTP server implements RFC 951, the Bootstrap protocol (BOOTP). BOOTP is a UDP protocol that provides a BOOTP client with its own IP address and the IP address of a server host, based on the client's media access control (MAC) address. Unlike the TFTP server, which responds to any TFTP client, the BOOTP server is customized to respond only to BOOTP clients in PortMaster products. This selective response is possible because the BOOTP server provides only a subset of configuration information in the BOOTP request, which is all that is needed by the PortMaster BOOTP client. The PortMaster acts as a BOOTP client and sends a BOOTP request as part of its netbooting process -- when the DIP switch on the PortMaster is set for netbooting -- or when the configuration stored in nonvolatile RAM is invalid. The BOOTP server searches for the MAC address of the BOOTP client in its MAC-address-IP-address database. If it finds the MAC address, the BOOTP server sends a BOOTP response packet containing the MAC address, the corresponding IP address, and the IP address of the machine on which NetbootServer is running. During the netbooting process, the PortMaster uses the IP address of the machine on which NetbootServer is running to request a standard ComOS file containing minimum functionality -- GENERIC.PM3 for the PortMaster 3, for example -- from the TFTP server. Once this minimal ComOS file is downloaded, the PortMaster can then be upgraded to a fully functional ComOS release using PMVision, pmupgrade from PMTools, or the ComOS "tftp get comos" command. _______________ TFTP Configuration The following settings are configurable on the TFTP server: Timeout Number of seconds that must elapse before the server attempts to resend a data packet if an ACK packet has not been received. The value can be between 1 and 30. Max Retries Number of times the server attempts to resend a data packet after the Timeout interval has elapsed, before terminating the connection with the TFTP client. The value can be between 0 and 10. A setting of 0 prevents the server from resending data packets. Base Directory Name of the base directory from which files are read when the TFTP server receives a read request from a TFTP client. The actual filename or file path in the request from the TFTP client is appended to this base directory. The TFTP server does not support the optional TFTP option extensions defined in RFC 2347, RFC 2348, and RFC 2349. _______________ BOOTP Configuration The following settings are configurable on the BOOTP server: MAC address MAC address of the client that sends a BOOTP request. IP address IP address corresponding to this MAC address, which the BOOTP server sends in the BOOTP response to the client. By entering these settings into the GUI, you can define the database of MAC addresses and their corresponding IP addresses through the application. Alternatively, you can import an existing file containing a list of MAC-address-IP-address pairs into the application. This file must contain each pair on a separate line with MAC address first. For example: 00:c0:05:04:34:e6 149.198.32.104 The file can include blank lines, and comment lines that start with a number sign (#), but it must not contain any other data. This database can be exported to a user-defined file, to use, for example, with NetbootServer running on another machine. _______________ Limitations Following is a list of known limitations in NetbootServer 1.0: * When NetbootServer is first started on Microsoft Windows NT, the BOOTP server can take up to a minute before responding to BOOTP requests from a client if NetbootServer is running on an isolated machine that cannot access the Domain Name Server (DNS). After the first minute, the BOOTP server responds correctly to BOOTP requests. * An entry deleted from the BOOTP database is active until the BOOTP server is stopped and restarted. _______________ System Requirements NetbootServer is a Java-based product that runs on any system with Java Development Kit (JDK) or Java Runtime Environment (JRE) version 1.1.6 or later installed. Nondevelopers can use the JRE rather than the JDK. Currently, JDK 1.1 and JRE 1.1 are available for the following platforms: * Windows NT 4.0 http://www.javasoft.com/products/jdk/1.1/ * Windows 95 http://www.javasoft.com/products/jdk/1.1/ * Solaris 2.5.1 http://www.javasoft.com/products/jdk/1.1/ * Solaris x86 2.5.1 http://www.javasoft.com/products/jdk/1.1/ * Linux 2.x ftp://lagrange.la.asu.edu/pub/Linux_jdk/ * FreeBSD http://www.freebsd.org/java/ * SGI IRIX 6.3 http://www.sgi.com/developers/devtools * HP-UX 10.02 http://www.hp.com/esy/go/java.html * Alpha Digital UNIX 4.0 http://www.digital.com/java/download/ * IBM AIX 4.1 http://www.ibm.com/java/tools/jdk.html * Macintosh http://developer.apple.com/java/ * All other platforms http://java.sun.com/cgi-bin/java-ports.cgi _______________ Installation You can install NetbootServer with or without netbootable ComOS images. You can get individual netbootable ComOS images from ftp://ftp.livingston.com/pub/le/netboot/ or you can get a single file containing all the netbootable ComOS images as described below. To install NetbootServer use the following steps: 1. Download files from ftp.livingston.com as follows: ftp ftp.livingston.com (Enter "anonymous".) (Enter your email address; it will not echo.) binary cd pub/le/software/java - For Solaris, enter get netboot10_solaris.tar - For other UNIX systems, enter get netboot10_unix.tar - For Windows, enter get netboot10.zip - For Macintosh, enter get netboot10.sit - If you want all the ComOS netboot images, enter one of the three - following commands: - For Solaris and UNIX, enter - get netboot.tar - For Windows, enter get netboot.zip - For Macintosh, enter get netboot.sit - If you do not want to get the entire (large) set of netboot images, - you can retrieve individual images from /pub/le/netboot. Enter: cd /pub/le/netboot mget GENERIC* quit 2. For UNIX systems only, define the path for jre/bin in your .cshrc file. For example, if you install the JRE in the /usr/local/lib directory, your .cshrc file must have the following entry: set path=( /usr/local/lib/jre/bin $path ) If the JDK has been installed, then change the netboot and zipexpand scripts to use the java command instead of jre. 3. Run the installation. * For Solaris, enter the following commands on the command line: tar xvf netboot10_solaris.tar ./netboot_install.bin * For other UNIX systems, use the following commands, replacing /usr/local/Lucent with your desired path: mkdir /usr/local/Lucent mkdir /usr/local/Lucent/NetbootServer cp netboot10_unix.tar /usr/local/Lucent/NetbootServer cd /usr/local/Lucent/NetbootServer tar xvf netboot10_unix.tar rm netboot10_unix.tar * On both Solaris and other UNIX systems, to install the netbootable ComOS images create a directory and place the images in it. Configure NetbootServer to tell it where to find the images. mkdir /usr/local/Lucent/tftpboot cp netboot.tar /usr/local/Lucent/tftpboot cd /usr/local/Lucent/tftpboot tar xvf netboot.tar rm netboot.tar ln -s . tftpboot Move any netboot images you retrieved from the FTP site to the /usr/local/Lucent/tftpboot directory. * For Windows, unzip the netboot10.zip file, run the netboot_install.exe program, and follow its instructions. To install the netboot ComOS images on Windows, unzip the netboot.zip file and run the resulting program, and follow its instructions. * For Macintosh, unstuff the netboot10.sit file, run the netboot_install program, and follow its instructions. To install the netboot ComOS images on Macintosh, unstuff the netboot.sit file and run the resulting program, and follow its instructions. _______________ Deinstallation * On a Solaris, Windows, or Macintosh system, an application called Uninstall_Netboot is placed in the netbootserver directory. Run this application to remove NetbootServer from your system. On Solaris, if the local jre directory still exists after you run Uninstall_Netboot, remove the directory with the command "rm -rf jre". * On a UNIX system, remove the shell script and jar files to remove NetbootServer from your system. _______________ Running NetbootServer * On UNIX systems (including Solaris), run NetbootServer by typing "netbootserver" when you are in the netbootserver installation directory. If you have added the netbootserver installation directory to your PATH, you can run it from anywhere. * On a Windows NT system, select the NetbootServer icon from the Lucent folder in your Start --> Programs menu. * On Macintosh systems, select the NetbootServer icon from the Apple menu. _______________ Debug Log When running NetbootServer, you can use the following options: -g -l (specifies the local directory) The -g option specifies the debug level. Valid debug level values are the following: 0 - NONE - No debug output 10 - FATAL_ERRORS - Debug output for fatal errors only 20 - ALL_ERRORS - Debug output for all errors (the default) 30 - DEBUG - Useful debug information 40 - VERBOSE - More debug than you can possibly stand The -l option sends all debug output to the directory NetbootServer is installed in. By default, all debug output is sent to the Lucent/NetbootServer directory created in your home directory. On UNIX machines, the default works properly. However the concept of a home directory is not so clear on PCs and seems to differ for each vendor's Virtual Machine. Try looking for one of the following: c:\java\Lucent\NetbootServer c:\users\\Lucent\NetbootServer c:\windows\Lucent\NetbootServer If you still cannot find the directory that contains debug output, select Find --> File and search for debuglog.txt. ________________________________________________________________________ Copyright and Trademarks Copyright 1999 Lucent Technologies. All rights reserved. PortMaster, ComOS, ChoiceNet, MERLIN, and NetCare are registered trademarks of Lucent Technologies. PMVision, IRX, PortAuthority, and MERLIN MAGIX are trademarks of Lucent Technologies. PolicyFlow is a service mark of Lucent Technologies. All other marks are the property of their respective owners. Notices Lucent Technologies makes no representations or warranties with respect to the contents or use of this publication, and specifically disclaims any express or implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. Further, Lucent Technologies reserves the right to revise this publication and to make changes to its content, any time, without obligation to notify any person or entity of such revisions or changes. Contacting Lucent NetCare Technical Support Lucent NetCare(R) Professional Services provides technical support via voice and electronic mail, or through the World Wide Web at http://www.livingston.com/. Mention that you are running NetbootServer 1.0, and include the version of JDK or JRE that you are running, the operating system version ("uname -a" output), and the version of ComOS on the PortMaster. The "About NetbootServer..." menu item in the Help menu displays the version of NetbootServer you are running, including the build date, debug level, and location of runtime debug files. Internet service providers (ISPs) and other end users in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, and Pakistan must contact their authorized Lucent sales channel partner for technical support; see http://www.livingston.com/International/EMEA/distributors.html. For North America, the Caribbean and Latin America (CALA), and Asia Pacific customers, technical support is available Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. U.S. Pacific Time (GMT -8). Dial 1-800-458-9966 within the United States (including Alaska and Hawaii), Canada, and CALA, or 1-925-737-2100 from elsewhere, for voice support. Otherwise, send email to support@livingston.com (asia-support@livingston.com for Asia Pacific customers).