Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 09:57:43 +0000 () From: Tim Pushor <timp@rnd.orion.ab.ca> To: dwhite@resnet.uoregon.edu Cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Creating bootable floppy Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.3.92.960829093435.20943A-100000@rnd.orion.ab.ca> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSI.3.94.960828182537.233G-100000@gdi.uoregon.edu>
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On Wed, 28 Aug 1996, Doug White wrote: > > Does anybody know how to possibly create a bottable floppy? I need two > > different ones, for different situations: > > Um, you probably don't want to build one yourself -- it involves building > the whole system. The whole system? Does that mean rebuilding the kernel? Or building all the software that belongs on the disk? It doesn't really matter. I am no beginner to compiling software :-) > What you want, it sounds like, is the 'fixit' floppy. YOu boot the > standard boot.flp then select 'fixit' and shove the fixit floppy in. That > gets you a good set of tools to unwedge your system. This is a definate possibility, however, I would really like to know how to create a bootable diskette with my own utilities on them. In SCO, I used to read the partition table and divvy table off the raw disk whenever disk stuff changed, text files with configuration information, and custom scripts to rebuild the system in record time. This would not be difficult to do if I knew how to create a bootable diskette. > Another suggestion is to make a backup root on a second hard disk, if the > system is using more than one. Then if one blows up you can use the Boot: > prompt to point it to the second disk. Stash the utils you need on that > root and you should be set. That is not a bad idea, however I would prefer to not rely onany piece of hardware currently in the system. > What do you need RPC for? NFS? I would assume you just need them to fix > the system so it'll reboot properly, not drive one from the other. Well, I have one server with a large tape drive that backs up other servers. In the event that a tapeless server crashes or I need to rebuild do to my stupidity (geez, that has NEVER happened. -:) I can do it remotely. I guess I could probably get away with just TCP/IP and do it over a socket if I had too. I know people have succesfully booted FreeBSD diskless, so that is another option in the case of the remote machines going down. I could boot the remote machine, load up TCP/IP, possibly RPC stuff, and restore that way. I just have to figure out how.. Thanks for your help. Tim --- Tim Pushor, Technical Director Phone: (403) 246-0826 Orion Technologies Inc. FAX: (403) 242-7380 timp@orion.ab.ca Pager: (403) 229-8722
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