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Date:      Wed, 30 Aug 1995 10:14:35 +0100 (BST)
From:      Doug Rabson <dfr@render.com>
To:        John Hay <jhay@mikom.csir.co.za>
Cc:        FreeBSD-current <freebsd-current@freebsd.org>
Subject:   Re: nfs-diskless
Message-ID:  <Pine.BSF.3.91.950830101148.1192V-100000@minnow.render.com>
In-Reply-To: <199508300549.HAA18630@zibbi.mikom.csir.co.za>

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On Wed, 30 Aug 1995, John Hay wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> Well I guess my basic question is: Does nfs-diskless work with a fbsd-current
> client and a fbsd-current server? If somebody can just tell me that they are
> using it with fbsd-current, I can go through my setups again to see if I
> have done something wrong.
> 
> I had nfs-diskless working with V2.0 in January this year and had wiped
> all the setups for the bootp etc when I upgraded. Last night I have been
> trying to get a nfs-diskless client working using FreeBSD-current, but I
> get a panic that it can't find init.
> 
> The first part is working:
> The diskless machine finds the bootp server, loads the kernel, the kernel
> probes everything and then gives two messages roughly:
> SWAP 146.64.58.34:/usr/tftp/swapfs
> ROOT 146.64.58.34:/usr/tftp/rootfs
>                             ^^^^^^ This is where I made the root fs for the
> 				   client
> 
> Then there is a few exec errors while it tries to find init. All of them
> give error 20 (Which is ENOTDIR, but /usr/tftp/rootfs/sbin exists) Then it
> panics with init not found.
> 
> I have traced with tcpdump and I can see where it loads the kernel, but there
> is no activity on the ethernet after the kernel is loaded. It looks like it
> isn't even trying to read /sbin/init over the net.
> 
> Tips and kicks in the right direction appreciated. :)

There is a known problem in mounting diskless roots which I caused when 
trying to get amd's direct maps to work :-(.  I was intending to try and 
fix this either today or tomorrow.

There is also a problem with diskless swapping where the machine will 
spontaneously reboot as soon as it starts paging.  A workaround for this 
is to pre-allocate the swapfile using dd rather than just creating an 
empty file (as the FAQ suggests).

--
Doug Rabson, Microsoft RenderMorphics Ltd.	Mail:  dfr@render.com
						Phone: +44 171 251 4411
						FAX:   +44 171 251 0939




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