1Installing NetBSD is a relatively complex process, but if you have 2this document in hand it shouldn't be too much trouble. 3 4There are several ways to install NetBSD onto a disk. The easiest way 5in terms of preliminary setup is to use the NetBSD miniroot that can 6be booted off your local disk's swap partition. Alternatively, if your 7Sparcstation is hooked up in a network you can find a server and arrange 8for a diskless setup which is a convenient way to install on a machine 9whose disk does not currently hold a usable operating system (see the 10section `Installing using a diskless setup' below). 11 12 13Installing using the NetBSD miniroot. 14 15The miniroot is a self-contained NetBSD filesystem holding all utilities 16necessary to install NetBSD on a local disk. It is distributed as a plain 17file designed to be transferred to a raw disk partition from which it can 18be booted using the appropriate PROM command. Usually, the miniroot will 19be loaded into the swap partition of a disk. If needed, you can use any 20other unused partition, but remember that the partition will then not 21available during the installation process. 22 23Loading the miniroot onto your raw partition is simple. On NetBSD as well 24as SunOS you use a command like: 25 26 # dd if=miniroot-RELEASE.fs of=/dev/rsd0b bs=20b conv=sync 27 28(here `/dev/rsd0b' is assumed to be your swap partition). There's a 29potential problem here if /dev/rsd0b is actually in use as a swap 30partition by your currently running system. If you don't have another 31disk or partition to spare, you can usually get away with running this 32command anyway after first booting into single-user mode to ensure a 33quiet system. 34 35After transferring the miniroot to disk, bring the system down by: 36 37 # halt 38 39Then boot the miniroot by typing the appropriate command at the PROM: 40 41 > b sd(,,1)netbsd -s # for sun4 monitors 42 ok boot sd(,,1)netbsd -s # for version 1 OpenBOOT ROMs 43 ok boot disk:b netbsd -s # for version 2 OpenBOOT ROMs 44 45If you've loaded the miniroot onto some other disk than `sd0' adapt 46the boot specifier accordingly, e.g.: 47 48 ok boot disk1:b netbsd -s 49 50to boot from SCSI disk target 1 from a version 2 OpenBOOT ROM. 51If you have to use the old-style `sd(c,u,p)' syntax to boot from a 52SCSI disk, you can calculate the parameters as follows: 53 54 `c' - specifies the controller number 55 `u' - the hexadecimal number obtained from evaluating 56 the expression `(8 * TARGET) + LUN' 57 `p' - the partition number from which to boot (0=`a', 1=`b', etc). 58 59 60The monitor boot command will cause the NetBSD kernel contained in the 61miniroot image to be booted. After the initial probe messages you'll be 62asked to start the install or upgrade procedure. Proceed to the section 63`Running the installation scripts' below. 64 65Installing using a diskless setup. 66 67First, you must setup a diskless client configuration on a server. If 68you are using a NetBSD system as the boot-server, have a look at the 69diskless(8) manual page for guidelines on how to proceed with this. 70If the server runs another operating system, you'll have to consult 71documentation that came with it (on SunOS systems, add_client(8) is a 72good start). 73 74Your Sparcstation expects to be able to download a second stage bootstrap 75program via TFTP after having acquired its IP address through RevARP when 76instructed to boot "over the net". It will look for a filename composed of 77the machine's IP address followed by the machine's architecture, separated 78by a period. For example, a sun4c machine which has been assigned IP 79address 130.115.144.11, will make an TFTP request for `8273900B.SUN4C'. 80Normally, this file is a symbolic link to an appropriate second-stage 81boot program, which should be located in a place where the TFTP daemon 82can find it (remember, many TFTP daemons run in a chroot'ed environment). 83You can find the boot program in `/usr/mdec/boot' in the NetBSD/sparc 84distribution. Unfortunately, it is necessary to install this file 85differently for sun4 and sun4c clients: the sun4 version needs to have its 86`a.out' header stripped off (otherwise the machine will crash), while the 87sun4c version must retain it (otherwise the PROM will complain). 88 89Here's an example to illustrate this whole mess: 90 91 server# cd /<client-root-dir>/usr/mdec 92 if client is a sun4: 93 server# set SKIP=1 94 server# set KARCH=SUN4 95 else 96 server# set SKIP=0 97 server# set KARCH=SUN4C 98 server# dd if=boot of=/tftpboot/boot.sparc.netbsd.$KARCH skip=$SKIP bs=32 99 server# cd /tftpboot 100 server# ln -s boot.sparc.netbsd.$KARCH 8273900B.$KARCH 101 102Note: some versions of Openboot ROMs (sun4c/sun4m) seem to require that the 103boot program size is nicely rounded. Therefore it may be necessary to 104strip(8) off the symbol table. 105 106After the boot program has been loaded into memory and given control by 107the PROM, it starts locating the machine's remote root directory through 108the BOOTPARAM protocol. First a BOOTPARAM WHOAMI request is broadcast 109on the local net. The answer to this request (if it comes in) contains 110the client's name. This name is used in next step, a BOOTPARAM GETFILE 111request -- sent to the server that responded to the WHOAMI request -- 112requesting the name and address of the machine that will serve the client's 113root directory, as well as the path of the client's root on that server. 114 115Finally, this information (if it comes in) is used to issue a REMOTE MOUNT 116request to the client's root filesystem server, asking for an NFS file 117handle corresponding to the root filesystem. If successful, the boot 118program starts reading from the remote root filesystem in search of the 119kernel which is then read into memory. 120 121 122As noted above in the section `Preparing your System for NetBSD Installation', 123you have several options when choosing a location to store the installation 124filesets. However, the easiest way is to put the *.tar.gz files you want 125to install into the root directory for your client on the server. 126 127Next, unpack `base.tar.gz' and `etc.tar.gz' on the server in the root 128directory for your machine. If you elect to use a separately NFS-mounted 129filesystem for `/usr' with your diskless setup, make sure the "./usr" base 130files in base.tar.gz end up in the correct location. One way to do this is 131to temporarily use a loopback mount on the server, re-routing <root>/usr to 132your server's exported NetBSD "/usr" directory. Also put the kernel and the 133install/upgrade scripts into the root directory. 134 135A few configuration files need to be edited: 136 137 <root>/etc/hosts 138 Add the IP addresses of both server and client. 139 140 <root>/etc/myname 141 This files contains the client's hostname; use the same 142 name as in <root>/etc/hosts. 143 144 <root>/etc/fstab 145 Enter the entries for the remotely mounted filesystems. 146 For example: 147 server:/export/root/client / nfs rw 0 0 148 server:/export/exec/sun4.netbsd /usr nfs rw 0 0 149 150Now you must populate the the `/dev' directory for your client. If you server 151runs SunOS 4.x, you can simply change your working directory to `<root>/dev' 152and run the MAKEDEV script: `sh MAKEDEV all'. 153 154On SunOS 5.x systems, MAKEDEV can also be used, but there'll be error 155messages about unknown user and groups. These errors are inconsequential 156for the purpose of installing NetBSD. However, you may want to correct them 157if you plan to use the diskless setup regularly. In that case, you may re-run 158MAKEDEV on your NetBSD machine once it has booted. 159 160Boot your workstation from the server by entering the appropriate `boot' 161command at the monitor prompt. Depending on the PROM version in your machine, 162this command takes one of the following forms: 163 164 > b le()netbsd -s # for sun4 monitors 165 ok boot le()netbsd -s # for version 1 OpenBOOT ROMs 166 ok boot net netbsd -s # for version 2 OpenBOOT ROMs 167 168This will boot the NetBSD kernel in single-user mode. 169 170[[ 171NOTE: the latter two examples assume you operate the OpenBOOT ROM in 172"new command mode". If your machine comes up and gives you a `>' prompt 173instead of `ok', type: 174 175 >n # enter native OpenBOOT mode 176 ok setenv sunmon-compat? false # make it permanent 177 ok 178]] 179 180If you use a diskless setup with a separately NFS-mounted /usr filesystem, 181mount /usr by hand now: 182 183netbsd# mount /usr 184 185At this point, it's worth checking the disk label and partition sizes on 186the disk you want to install NetBSD onto. NetBSD understands SunOS-style 187disklabels, so if your disk was previously used by SunOS there will be 188a usable label on it. Use `disklabel -e <disk>' (where <disk> is the 189device name assigned by the NetBSD kernel, e.g. `sd0') to view and 190modify the partition sizes. See the section `Preparing your System for 191NetBSD Installation' above for suggestions about disk partition sizes. 192 193If you are installing on a SCSI disk that does *not* have a SunOS or 194NetBSD label on it, you may still be able to use disklabel(8) but you'll 195have to create all partitions from scratch. If your disk is listed in 196`/etc/disktab', you may use the entry (which in most cases only defines 197a `c' partition to describe the whole disk) to put an initial label on 198the disk. Then proceed with `disklabel -e <disk>' to create a partition 199layout that suits your needs. 200 201NOTE: Because of the built-in compatibility with SunOS-style labels, 202ALWAYS MAKE SURE ALL YOUR PARTITIONS START AND END ON CYLINDER BOUNDARIES. 203 204 205Here follows an example of what you'll see while in the dislabel editor. 206Do not touch any of the parameters except for the `label: ' entry and 207the actual partition size information at the bottom (the lines starting 208with `a:', `b:', ...). 209 210The size and offset fields are given in sector units. Be sure to make 211these numbers multiples of the of the number of sectors per cylinder: 212the kernel might be picky about these things, but aside from this you'll 213have the least chance of wasting disk space. 214Partitions on which you intend to have a mountable filesystem, should 215be given fstype `4.2BSD'. Remember, the `c' partition should describe 216the whole disk. 217The `(Cyl. x - y)' info that appears after the hash (`#') character is 218treated as a comment and need not be filled in when altering partitions. 219 220Special note: the line containing `8 partitions:' is best left alone, 221even if you define less then eight partitions. If this line displays 222a different number and the program complains about it (after you leave 223the editor), then try setting it to `8 partitions:'. 224 225 226<BEGIN SAMPLE DISKLABEL SCREEN> 227netbsd# disklabel sd2 228 # /dev/rsd2c: 229type: SCSI 230disk: SCSI disk 231label: Hold Your Breath 232flags: 233bytes/sector: 512 234sectors/track: 64 235tracks/cylinder: 7 236sectors/cylinder: 448 237cylinders: 1429 238rpm: 3600 239interleave: 1 240trackskew: 0 241cylinderskew: 0 242headswitch: 0 # milliseconds 243track-to-track seek: 0 # milliseconds 244drivedata: 0 245 2468 partitions: 247# size offset fstype [fsize bsize cpg] 248 a: 50176 0 4.2BSD 0 0 0 # (Cyl. 0 - 111) 249 b: 64512 50176 swap # (Cyl. 112 - 255) 250 c: 640192 0 unknown # (Cyl. 0 - 1428) 251 d: 525504 114688 4.2BSD 0 0 0 # (Cyl. 256 - 1428) 252<END SAMPLE DISKLABEL SCREEN> 253 254 255If you are upgrading a NetBSD installation, start the upgrade script: 256 257netbsd# sh upgrade.sh 258 259else, start the installation script: 260 261netbsd# sh install.sh 262 263 264Running the installation scripts. 265 266The installation scripts will do most of the work of transferring the 267system from the distribution sets onto your disk. You will frequently be 268asked for confirmation before the script proceeds with each phase of the 269installation process. 270 271Occasionally, you'll have to provide a piece of information such as the 272name of the disk you want to install on or IP addresses and domain names 273you want to assign. If your system has more than one disk, you may want 274to look at the output of the dmesg(8) command to see how your disks 275have been identified by the kernel. 276 277The installation script goes through the following phases: 278 279 - determination of the disk to install NetBSD on 280 - checking of the partition information on the disk 281 - creating and mounting the NetBSD filesystems 282 - setup of IP configuration 283 - extraction of the distribution tar files 284 - installation of boot programs 285 286 287Now try a reboot. Initially I'd suggest you "boot sd()netbsd -bs", then 288try multiuser after that. If you boot single-user the NetBSD incantation 289to make the root filesystem writable is 290 291 netbsd# mount -u /dev/sd0a / 292 293The Sun monitor might have been setup to instruct the boot program to load 294a file called "vmunix". On OpenBOOT ROM systems you can change it to load 295"netbsd" instead using the following commands: 296 297On version 1 OpenBOOT ROMs: 298 >n 299 ok setenv boot-from sd(0,0,0)netbsd 300 ok 301 302On version 2 OpenBOOT ROMs: 303 ok setenv boot-file netbsd 304 ok setenv boot-device /sbus/esp/sd@0,0 305 306 307Congratulations, you have successfully installed NetBSD RELEASE. When you 308reboot into NetBSD, you should log in as "root" at the login prompt. 309There is no initial password, but if you're using the machine in a 310networked environment, you should create yourself an account and 311protect it and the "root" account with good passwords. 312 313Some of the files in the NetBSD RELEASE distribution might need to be 314tailored for your site. In particular, the /etc/sendmail.cf file will 315almost definitely need to be adjusted, and other files in /etc will 316probably need to be modified. If you are unfamiliar with UN*X-like 317system administration, it's recommended that you buy a book that 318discusses it. 319 320