install revision 1.10
1 Installing NetBSD is a relatively complex process, but if you have 2 this document in hand it shouldn't be too much trouble. 3 4 There are several ways to install NetBSD onto a disk. If your Sparcstation 5 is hooked up in a network you can find find a server and arrange for a 6 diskless setup which is a convenient way to install on a machine with 7 a single disk attached. Alternatively, you could use SunOS (booted from 8 a local disk) and install NetBSD onto a second disk. For the latter method, 9 skip to the section "Installing from SunOS" below. 10 11 12 Installing using a diskless setup. 13 14 First, you must setup a diskless client configuration on a server. If 15 you are using a NetBSD system as the boot-server, have a look at the 16 diskless(8) manual page for guidelines on how to proceed with this. 17 If the server runs another operating system, you'll have to consult 18 documentation that came with it (on SunOS systems, add_client(8) is a 19 good start). 20 21 Your Sparcstation expects to be able to download a second stage bootstrap 22 program via TFTP after havinf acquired its IP address through RevARP when 23 instructed to boot "over the net". It will look for a filename composed of 24 the machine's IP address followed by the machine's architecture, separated 25 by a period. For example, a sun4c machine which has been assigned IP 26 address 130.115.144.11, will make an TFTP request for `8273900B.SUN4C'. 27 Normally, this file is symbolic link to an appropriate second-stage 28 boot program, which should be located in a place where the TFTP daemon 29 can find it (remember, many TFTP daemons run in a chroot'ed environment). 30 You can find the boot program in `/usr/mdec/boot' in the NetBSD/sparc 31 distribution. Unfortunately, it is necessary to install this file 32 differently for sun4 and sun4c/sun4m clients: the sun4 version needs to 33 have its `a.out' header stripped off (otherwise the machine will crash), 34 while the sun4c/sun4m version must retain it (otherwise the PROM will 35 complain). 36 37 Luckily, there is a script in /usr/mdec to do all this for you. You only 38 need to do this: 39 40 server# cd /<client-root-dir>/usr/mdec 41 server# ./binstall net /<client-root-dir> 42 43 44 As noted above in the section `Preparing your System for NetBSD Installation', 45 you have several options when choosing a location to store the installation 46 filesets. However, the easiest way is to put the *.tar.gz files you want 47 to install into the root directory for your client on the server. 48 49 Next, unpack `base.tar.gz' and `etc.tar.gz' on the server in the root 50 directory for your machine. If you elect to use a separately NFS-mounted 51 filesystem for `/usr' with your diskless setup, make sure the "./usr" base 52 files in base.tar.gz end up in the correct location. One way to do this is 53 to temporarily use a loopback mount on the server, re-routing <root>/usr to 54 your server's exported NetBSD "/usr" directory. Also put the kernel and the 55 install/upgrade scripts into the root directory. 56 57 A few configuration files need to be edited: 58 59 <root>/etc/hosts 60 Add the IP addresses of both server and client. 61 62 <root>/etc/myname 63 This files contains the client's hostname; use the same 64 name as in <root>/etc/hosts. 65 66 <root>/etc/fstab 67 Enter the entries for the remotely mounted filesystems. 68 For example: 69 server:/export/root/client / nfs rw 0 0 70 server:/export/exec/sun4.netbsd /usr nfs rw 0 0 71 72 Now you must populate the the `/dev' directory for your client. If you server 73 runs SunOS 4.x, you can simply change your working directory to `<root>/dev' 74 and run the MAKEDEV script: `sh MAKEDEV all'. 75 76 On SunOS 5.x systems, MAKEDEV can also be used, but there'll be error 77 messages about unknown user and groups. These errors are inconsequential 78 for the purpose of installing NetBSD. However, you may want to correct them 79 if you plan to the diskless setup regularly. In that case, you may re-run 80 MAKEDEV on your NetBSD machine once it has booted. 81 82 Boot your workstation from the server by entering the appropriate `boot' 83 command at the monitor prompt. Depending on the PROM version in your machine, 84 this command takes one of the following forms: 85 86 > b le()netbsd -s # for sun4 monitors 87 ok boot le()netbsd -s # for version 1 OpenBOOT ROMs 88 ok boot net netbsd -s # for version 2 OpenBOOT ROMs 89 90 This will boot the NetBSD kernel in single-user mode. 91 92 [[ 93 NOTE: the latter two examples assume you operate the OpenBOOT ROM in 94 "new command mode". If your machine comes up and gives you a `>' prompt 95 instead of `ok', type: 96 97 >n # enter native OpenBOOT mode 98 ok setenv sunmon-compat? false # make it permanent 99 ok 100 ]] 101 102 If you use a diskless setup with a separately NFS-mounted /usr filesystem, 103 mount /usr by hand now: 104 105 netbsd# mount /usr 106 107 At this point, it's worth checking the disk label and partition sizes on 108 the disk you want to install NetBSD onto. NetBSD understands SunOS-style 109 disklabels, so if your disk was previously used by SunOS there will be 110 a usable label on it. Use `disklabel -e <disk>' (where <disk> is the 111 device name assigned by the NetBSD kernel, e.g. `sd0') to view and 112 modify the partition sizes. A comfortable size for the root filesystem 113 partition is about 20MB; a good initial size for the swap partition is 114 twice the amount of physical memory in your machine (though, unlike 115 SunOS 4.x, there are no restrictions on the size of the swap partition 116 that would render part of your memory unusable). A full binary installation 117 takes about 60MB in `/usr'. Make all your partitions start and end on 118 cylinder boundaries. 119 120 NOTE: if you are installing on a SCSI disk that does *not* have a SunOS 121 or NetBSD label on it, you may still be able to use disklabel(8) but you'll 122 have to create all partitions from scratch. If your disk is listed in 123 `/etc/disktab', you may use the entry (which in most cases only defines 124 a `c' partition to describe the whole disk) to put an initial label on 125 the disk. 126 127 Here follows an example of what you'll see while in the dislabel editor. 128 Do not touch any of the parameters except for the `label: ' entry and 129 the actual partition size information at the bottom (the lines starting 130 with `a:', `b:', ...). 131 132 The size and offset fields are given in sector units. Be sure to make 133 these numbers multiples of the of the number of sectors per cylinder: 134 the kernel might be picky about these things, but aside from this you'll 135 have the least chance of wasting disk space. 136 Partitions on which you intend to have a a mountable filesystem, should 137 be given fstype `4.2BSD'. Remember, the `c' partition should describe 138 the whole disk. 139 The `(Cyl. x - y)' info that appears after the hash (`#') character is 140 treated as a comment and need not be filled in when altering partitions. 141 142 Special note: the line containing `8 partitions:' is best left alone, 143 even if you define less then eight partitions. If this line displays 144 a different number and the program complains about it (after you leave 145 the editor), then try setting it to `8 partitions:'. 146 147 148 <BEGIN SAMPLE DISKLABEL SCREEN> 149 netbsd# disklabel sd2 150 # /dev/rsd2c: 151 type: SCSI 152 disk: SCSI disk 153 label: Hold Your Breath 154 flags: 155 bytes/sector: 512 156 sectors/track: 64 157 tracks/cylinder: 7 158 sectors/cylinder: 448 159 cylinders: 1429 160 rpm: 3600 161 interleave: 1 162 trackskew: 0 163 cylinderskew: 0 164 headswitch: 0 # milliseconds 165 track-to-track seek: 0 # milliseconds 166 drivedata: 0 167 168 8 partitions: 169 # size offset fstype [fsize bsize cpg] 170 a: 50176 0 4.2BSD 0 0 0 # (Cyl. 0 - 111) 171 b: 64512 50176 swap # (Cyl. 112 - 255) 172 c: 640192 0 unknown # (Cyl. 0 - 1428) 173 d: 525504 114688 4.2BSD 0 0 0 # (Cyl. 256 - 1428) 174 <END SAMPLE DISKLABEL SCREEN> 175 176 177 If you are upgrading a NetBSD installation, start the upgrade script: 178 179 netbsd# sh upgrade.sh 180 181 else, start the installation script: 182 183 netbsd# sh install.sh 184 185 186 These scripts will do most of the work of transferring the system from the 187 tar files onto your disk. You will frequently be asked for confirmation 188 before the script proceeds with each phase of the installation process. 189 Occasionally, you'll have to provide a piece of information such as the 190 name of the disk you want to install on or IP addresses and domain names 191 you want to assign. If your system has more than one disk, you may want 192 to look at the output of the dmesg(8) command to see how your disks 193 have been identified by the kernel. 194 195 The installation script goes through the following phases: 196 197 - determination of the disk to install NetBSD on 198 - checking of the partition information on the disk 199 - creating and mounting the NetBSD filesystems 200 - setup of IP configuration 201 - extraction of the distribution tar files 202 - installation of boot programs 203 204 205 Now try a reboot. (If needed, swap your scsi id's first). Initially 206 I'd suggest you "boot sd()netbsd -bs", then try multiuser after that. 207 if you boot single-user the NetBSD incantation to make the root 208 filesystem writable is 209 210 netbsd# mount -u /dev/sd0a / 211 212 The Sun monitor normally tries to load a file called "vmunix". On 213 OpenBOOT ROM systems you can change it to load NetBSD instead using 214 the following commands: 215 216 On version 1 OpenBOOT ROMs: 217 >n 218 ok setenv boot-from sd(0,0,0)netbsd 219 ok 220 221 On version 2 OpenBOOT ROMs: 222 ok setenv boot-file netbsd 223 ok setenv boot-device /sbus/esp/sd@0,0 224 225 226 Congratulations, you have successfully installed NetBSD RELEASE. When you 227 reboot into NetBSD, you should log in as "root" at the login prompt. 228 There is no initial password, but if you're using the machine in a 229 networked environment, you should create yourself an account and 230 protect it and the "root" account with good passwords. 231 232 Some of the files in the NetBSD RELEASE distribution might need to be 233 tailored for your site. In particular, the /etc/sendmail.cf file will 234 almost definitely need to be adjusted, and other files in /etc will 235 probably need to be modified. If you are unfamiliar with UN*X-like 236 system administration, it's recommended that you buy a book that 237 discusses it. 238 239 240 241 Installing from SunOS. 242 243 You need a SunOS machine to install NetBSD. You also need at 244 least the following pieces: 245 246 the *.tar.gz files you want to install (as a minimum, base.tar.gz) 247 gzip (GNU gzip) SunOS binary 248 gtar (GNU tar) SunOS binary 249 the "install.sh" script 250 a "/boot" file from a SunOS machine that matches your machine type 251 (e.g. sun4 for sun4 server, sun4c and sun4m for these) 252 a kernel, most likely "/netbsd" 253 254 All these pieces, except "/boot", are supplied in the NetBSD/sparc 255 distribution. 256 257 You can format and partition the disk using SunOS (since 258 NetBSD/sparc uses SunOS disk labels.) Give yourself adequate 259 partition sizes. Here is an example layout: 260 261 partition size offset will be.. 262 sd2a 28140 0 / 263 sd2b 16170 28140 swap 264 sd2c 204540 0 `whole disk' 265 sd2g 160230 44310 /usr 266 267 BTW, These are not recommended sizes. They simply match the first 268 (tiny) disk that NetBSD/sparc ran on. 269 270 Use SunOS to newfs the partitions which will have filesystems on them. 271 (NetBSD's filesystem format is identical to SunOS). 272 273 sunos# newfs /dev/rsd2a 274 [... lots of output] 275 sunos# newfs /dev/rsd2g 276 [... lots of output] 277 278 NOTE: If you are able to, there is a performance benefit from 279 newfs'ing using NetBSD. If you newfs using the NetBSD newfs command, 280 be sure to use the -O flag for your / partition, so that newfs will 281 use the 4.3BSD filesystem format, rather than the new 4.4BSD filesystem 282 format. If you forget, you will not be able to boot -- the SunOS boot 283 blocks do not understand the extended 4.4BSD filesystem format. 284 285 Mount those partitions in a tree formation, under /mnt; ie: 286 287 sunos# df 288 Filesystem kbytes used avail capacity Mounted on 289 [...] 290 /dev/sd2a 11501 0 11501 0% /mnt 291 /dev/sd2g 179529 0 179529 0% /mnt/usr 292 293 Place a standard SunOS "/boot" program in /mnt (your new root 294 partition), and use the SunOS command "installboot" to make it work. 295 The installboot man page says to do something like this: 296 297 sunos# cp /boot /mnt/boot 298 sunos# /usr/mdec/installboot -vlt /mnt/boot /usr/mdec/bootsd /dev/rsd2a 299 300 You can now extract the provided "*.tar.gz files onto your disk. The 301 provided script, "install_from_sunos.sh" will help you: 302 303 sunos# ls -FC 304 base.tar.gz etc.tar.gz man.tar.gz secr.tar.gz 305 comp.tar.gz games.tar.gz misc.tar.gz text.tar.gz 306 install.sh netbsd.id3_scsi 307 sunos# ./install_from_sunos.sh 308 [...] 309 310 This script NEEDS gzip and gtar (GNU gzip and GNU tar) on your 311 execution path! The tar files are in a "new format" that includes 312 directory information, and SunOS tar will not read them. Statically 313 linked versions of these programs for SunOS are supplied in the 314 distribution. 315 316 After the files have been extracted, repair /mnt/etc/fstab to match 317 your actual disk layout. (Minus the "/mnt" component of each path, of 318 course :-) 319 320 Now proceed to reboot the machine as described above in "Installing 321 using a diskless setup". 322
Indexes created Sun Oct 19 16:10:00 GMT 2025