xfer revision 1.3
1	$NetBSD: xfer,v 1.3 1998/10/21 14:32:36 minoura Exp $	
2
3Installation is supported from several media types, including:
4
5	Removable SCSI hard disk, or Magneto-Optical disk (MO)
6	Tape
7	Remote NFS partition
8	FTP
9
10No matter which installation medium you choose, you'll need to have
11a floppy disk.  On the first, you'll put the install or upgrade floppy
12image, depending on whether you're installing NetBSD for the first time,
13or upgrading a previous installation.
14
15If you are using a UN*X-like system to write the floppy images to
16disks, you should use the "dd" command to copy the file system images
17(.fs files) directly to the raw floppy disks.  It is suggested that
18you read the dd(1) manual page or ask your system administrator to
19determine the correct set of arguments to use; it will be slightly
20different from system to system, and a comprehensive list of the
21possibilities is beyond the scope of this document.
22
23If you are using Human68k to write the floppy images to disks, you should
24use the "rawrite" utility, provided in the "x68k/utils" directory
25of the NetBSD distribution.  It will write the file system images (.fs
26files) to disks.
27
28Note that, when installing, the install floppy MUST not be write-protected.
29The install program needs to write some temporary files, and if the
30disk is write-protected, it can't.  If you're upgrading your system,
31the upgrade floppy may be write-protected.
32
33Obviously, the steps necessary to prepare the distribution sets for
34installation or upgrade depend on which installation medium you
35choose.  The steps for the various media are outlined below.
36
37To install or upgrade NetBSD using 
38
39To install or upgrade NetBSD using a removable SCSI harddisk or MO,
40you need to the following:
41
42	To install NetBSD from a removablethe media MUST be of the IBM
43	`Super-floppy' format.  The Human68k format is not recognized
44	by this release of the NetBSD/x68k.  If you have a MS-DOS (or
45	MS-Windows) machine with an MO drive connected, use it.  If
46	you don't, and if you have a program to handle IBM format MO
47	for Human68k, copy all the files in the subdirectory
48	"x68k/binaries" and CHANGE THEIR NAMES IN UPPER CASE.
49
50To install or upgrade NetBSD using a tape, you need to do the
51following:
52
53	To install NetBSD from a tape, you need to make a tape that
54	contains the distribution set files, in "tar" format.  If
55	you're making the tape on a UN*X-like system, the easiest way
56	to do so is probably something like:
57
58		tar cf <tape_device> <dist_directories>
59
60	where "<tape_device>" is the name of the tape device that
61	describes the tape drive you're using (possibly /dev/rst0, or
62	something similar, but it will vary from system to system.
63	(If you can't figure it out, ask your system administrator.)
64	In the above example, "<dist_directories>" are the
65	distribution sets' directories, for the distribution sets you
66	wish to place on the tape.  For instance, to put the "base"
67	and "etc" distributions on tape (in order to do the absolute
68	minimum installation to a new disk), you would do the
69	following:
70
71		cd .../NetBSD-_VER		# the top of the tree
72		cd x68k/binary/sets
73		tar cf <tape_device> base.tgz etc.tgz
74
75	(Note that you still need to fill in "<tape_device>" in the
76	example.)
77
78	Once you have the files on the tape, you can proceed to the
79	next step in the installation or upgrade process.  If you're
80	installing NetBSD from scratch, go to the section on preparing
81	your hard disk, below.  If you're upgrading an existing
82	installation, go directly to the section on upgrading.
83
84To install or upgrade NetBSD using a remote partition, mounted via
85NFS, you must do the following:
86
87	NOTE:	This method of installation is recommended only for
88		those already familiar with using BSD network
89		configuration and management commands.  If you aren't,
90		this documentation should help, but is not intended to
91		be all-encompassing.
92
93	Place the NetBSD distribution sets you wish to install into a
94	directory on an NFS server, and make that directory mountable
95	by the machine on which you are installing or upgrading NetBSD.
96	This will probably require modifying the /etc/exports file on
97	of the NFS server and resetting its mount daemon (mountd).
98	(Both of these actions will probably require superuser
99	privileges on the server.)
100
101	You need to know the the numeric IP address of the NFS server,
102	and, if the server is not on a network directly connected to
103	the machine on which you're installing or upgrading NetBSD,
104	you need to know the numeric IP address of the router closest
105	to the NetBSD machine.  Finally, you need to know the numeric
106	IP address of the NetBSD machine itself.
107
108	Once the NFS server is set up properly and you have the
109	information mentioned above, you can proceed to the next step
110	in the installation or upgrade process.  If you're installing
111	NetBSD from scratch, go to the section on preparing your hard
112	disk, below.  If you're upgrading an existing installation, go
113	directly to the section on upgrading.
114
115To install or upgrade NetBSD by using FTP to get the installation
116sets, you must do the following:
117
118	NOTE:	This method of installation is recommended only for
119		those already familiar with using BSD network
120		configuration and management commands.  If you aren't,
121		this documentation should help, but is not intended to
122		be all-encompassing.
123
124	The preparations for this installation/upgrade method are
125	easy; all you make sure that there's some FTP site from which
126	you can retrieve the NetBSD distribution when you're about to
127	install or upgrade.  You need to know the numeric IP address
128	of that site, and, if it's not on a network directly connected
129	to the machine on which you're installing or upgrading NetBSD,
130	you need to know the numeric IP address of the router closest
131	to the NetBSD machine.  Finally, you need to know the numeric
132	IP address of the NetBSD machine itself.
133
134	Once you have this information, you can proceed to the next
135	step in the installation or upgrade process.  If you're
136	installing NetBSD from scratch, go to the section on
137	preparing your hard disk, below.  If you're upgrading an
138	existing installation, go directly to the section on
139	upgrading.
140
141If you are upgrading NetBSD, you also have the option of installing
142NetBSD by putting the new distribution sets somewhere in your existing
143file system, and using them from there.  To do that, you must do the
144following:
145
146	Place the distribution sets you wish to upgrade somewhere in
147	your current file system tree.  At a bare minimum, you must
148	upgrade the "base" binary distribution, and so must put the
149	"base.tgz" set somewhere in your file system.  If you wish,
150	you can do the other sets, as well, but you should NOT upgrade
151	the "etc" distribution; the "etc" distribution contains system
152	configuration files that you should review and update by hand.
153
154	Once you have done this, you can proceed to the next step in
155	the upgrade process, actually upgrading your system.
156