xfer revision 1.4
1 $NetBSD: xfer,v 1.4 1998/11/16 00:59:38 simonb Exp $ 2 3First-time installation on a bare machine is not supported, because most 4DECstations do not have any suitable load device. Some versions of 5DECstation PROMs are buggy and will not boot via TFTP/bootp; still 6other versions are buggy and do not boot via MOP. 7 8The only DECstation with a floppy-disk drive is the Personal Decstation, 9and that device is not supported as a boot device. 10 11The recommended installation procedure is to boot a miniroot via TFTP, 12or to use a "helper" system to write a miniroot onto a disk, move that 13disk to the target installation system, and then boot the miniroot. 14 15Once the miniroot is booted, a disklabel should be written. 16At that point, 17 18Installation is supported from several media types, including: 19 NFS partitions 20 FTP 21 Tape 22 CD-ROM 23 24The steps necessary to prepare the distribution sets 25for installation depend on which method of installation 26you choose. The various methods are explained below. 27 28To prepare for installing via an NFS partition: 29 30 Place the NetBSD software you wish to install into 31 a directory on an NFS server, and make that directory 32 mountable by the machine which you will be installing 33 NetBSD on. This will probably require modifying the 34 /etc/exports file of the NFS server, and resetting 35 mountd. Both these actions will require superuser 36 privileges on the NFS server. Note the numeric IP address 37 of the NFS server. If the NFS server is not on a network 38 which is directly attached to the NetBSD machine, you must 39 also note the numeric address of the router closest to the the 40 new NetBSD machine. 41 42 43 If you are using a diskless setup to install NetBSD on 44 your machine, you can take advantage of the fact that 45 the above has already been done on your machine's server. 46 So, you can conveniently put the NetBSD filesets in your 47 machine's root filesystem on the server where the install 48 program can find them. 49 50 Once you have done this, you can proceed to the next 51 step in the installation process, preparing your 52 system for NetBSD installation. 53 54 55To prepare for installing via FTP: 56 57 NOTE: this method of installation is recommended 58 only for those already familiar with using 59 the BSD network-manipulation commands and 60 interfaces. If you aren't, this documentation 61 should help, but is not intended to be 62 all-encompassing. 63 64 The preparations for this method of installation 65 are easy: all you have to do is make sure that 66 there's some FTP site from which you can retrieve 67 the NetBSD installation when it's time to do 68 the install. You should know the numeric IP 69 address of that site, the numeric IP address of 70 your nearest router if one is necessary 71 72 Once you have done this, you can proceed to the next 73 step in the installation process, preparing your 74 system for NetBSD installation. 75 76 77To prepare for installing via a tape: 78 79 To install NetBSD from a tape, you need to somehow 80 get the NetBSD filesets you wish to install on 81 your system on to the appropriate kind of tape, 82 in tar format. 83 84 NOTE: the tape devices with which NetBSD/pmax is 85 believed to work is the DEC TK-50. This is a very slow 86 device. Installation via disk or network is recommended 87 if at all possible. 88 89 If you're making the tape on a UN*X system, the easiest 90 way to do so is: 91 92 tar cvf <tape_device> <files> 93 94 where "<tape_device>" is the name of the tape device 95 that describes the tape drive you're using (possibly 96 something like /dev/nrst0, but we make no guarantees 8-). 97 Under SunOS 5.x, this would be something like /dev/rmt/0mbn. 98 Again, your mileage may vary. If you can't figure it out, 99 ask your system administrator. "<files>" are the names 100 of the "set_name.nnn" files which you want to be placed 101 on the tape. 102 103 Once you have done this, you can proceed to the next 104 step in the installation process, preparing your 105 system for NetBSD installation. 106 107 108