

                             Netboot

                Copyright (C) 1996-2007 Gero Kuhlmann



0  -  Copyright Notice, Acknowledgements

  You are allowed to modify and redistribute this code under the terms of
  the GNU General License, which you can find in the file doc/COPYING.
  My special thanks go to Jamie Honan for defining the initial bootrom
  specifications, to Markus Gutschke for enhancing mknbi-linux, and to
  Jens-Uwe Mager for explaining to me the basics of the NFS networking
  system and sometimes helping me out with his wealth of knowledge,
  experience and hardware resources.


1 -  Overview

  Booting a computer without a hard disk usually requires a floppy disk
  drive or a network connection in order to get the operating system into
  the RAM and up running. This package allows a diskless PC to boot an
  operating system using a TCP/IP based ethernet network. That's done
  in the following steps:

	- First the operating system has to be loaded into system memory.
	  This can be done using a bootrom, which loads the operating
	  system image over the network. The bootrom code found in this
	  package can be burned into an EPROM, a Flash-ROM or even the
	  system BIOS, or just copied onto a boot floppy disk. Please note
	  that the term "bootrom" in all documentation texts in this package
	  refers to the real ROM version as well as the version copied
	  onto and started from a floppy disk.
	  For the bootrom to find, load and start the operating system
	  image it uses various standard internet protocols.

	- When the operating system starts running, it has to mount
	  it's root filesystem. This can either be done by using a network
	  filesystem like NFS, or by using a ramdisk, depending on the
	  capabilities of the booted operating system.


2 -  Features of netboot

	- Booting a diskless client either from an EPROM, Flash-EPROM,
	  system BIOS  or from a floppy without additional utility tools
	- The bootrom code can use many different network driver interfaces
	  including standard DOS packet drivers and NDIS (version 2) drivers
	  and therefore supports almost any PC network card.
	- Support for various PC standards including the BIOS Boot Specifi-
	  cation (BBS), PnP BIOS Specification, POST Memory Manager (PMM)
	  specification and Intel's Preboot Execution Environment (PXE)
	  specification.
	- Support of many Internet RFC standards, like BOOTP, DHCP, TFTP
	  and Multicast-TFTP.
	- Easy configuration of the bootrom under UNIX.
	- The bootrom can load a BOOTP vendor extension file in order to
	  support more space for tags. It also supports TFTP blocksize and
	  filesize options for faster download of boot images.
	- Using the Menu Generation Language it's possible to optionally
	  boot different operating systems, and even implement management
	  functions like automatic BIOS updates of booted clients.
	- Cross-gateway booting
	- Able to boot different operating system. Currently supported are
	  Linux, FreeBSD and various DOS brands.


3 -  Installation

  All documentation can be found in the doc subdirectory. See the file
  INSTALL for installation instructions. If you have any problems installing
  or running the programs see the file PROBLEMS. It's organized as an FAQ
  and also says who to contact when you run into problems you can't solve
  by yourself.

  IMPORTANT: BEFORE you start any installation please read ALL relevant
  documentation in the doc directory, especially the INSTALL file! Also,
  read all relevant manual pages which come with the various programs
  included in this package. Not reading and understanding the documen-
  tation can result in serious software and hardware damage... you have
  been warned!



4 -  Internet resources

  There exists a mailing list devoted to network booting. To subscribe
  simply send a mail with the only line

		subscribe netboot

  in it's body to

		majordomo@baghira.han.de

  The subject in the mail header doesn't matter. This mailing list is
  intended to be a general discussion forum about any aspect of network
  booting and is not limited to this netboot package. However, any new
  version of this package will get announced on that mailing list. After
  subscribing to it, you can send messages into the list by writing a mail
  to netboot@baghira.han.de. Before you subscribe to this list please
  observe the following rules:

	* Get the help file by sending a mail with the only line

			help

	  in it's body to majordomo@baghira.han.de. You will then get
	  a mail back which explains all features of the mailing list
	  processor. It also explains how you can unsubscribe from the
	  list.

	* Do not send any articles to netboot@baghira.han.de before you
	  got the acknowledgement that you have been added to the list.
	  Otherwise your articles will not go into the list.

	* Always send your messages from the mail address with which you
	  have been subscribed. All mails from accounts not being sub-
	  scribed will silently get discarded.

	* Make sure that your email address is valid and reachable. You
	  will get unsubscribed without notice when your email address
	  is unreachable for whatever reason.

	* Unsubscribe BEFORE your email address gets invalid to save the
	  list administrator work

	* Unsubscribe BEFORE you start modifying or experimenting with
	  your email system. You can always resubscribe when your system
	  works stable again.


  Netboot also has it's own WWW home page. Turn to

		http://www.netboot.info

  which is an alias for

		http://netboot.sourceforge.net

  to learn more about the latest version of netboot. This home page also
  offers an archive of the netboot mailing list and many useful links.

  If you want to participate in the netboot development, you might also
  want to check out the netboot project page on sourceforge:

  		http://sourceforge.net/projects/netboot



5 -  Disclaimer

  The software in this package heavily interacts with hardware and software
  not only on the local system, but also on the boot server. Use it at your
  own risk. All participating authors cannot be held responsible for any
  damage done by this software, no matter if this software has been used as
  intended and described in the documentation or not. Please refer to the
  file doc/COPYING for further information.

  For German users / Fuer deutsche Benutzer:
  Alle Programme, die in diesem netboot-Packet enthalten sind, interagieren
  z.T. stark mit der Hard- und Software nicht nur des lokalen Systems (in der
  Dokumentation "Diskless Client" genannt), sondern auch des Boot-Servers. Die
  Benutzung saemtlicher Programme, die in diesem Packet enthalten sind, erfolgt
  ausschliesslich auf eigenes Risiko. Alle beteiligten Autoren koennen fuer
  Schaeden, die aus der ordnungsgemaessen oder auch fehlerhaften Benutzung
  dieses Packets entstehen, nicht haftbar gemacht werden. Saemtliche Doku-
  mentation in diesem Packet erfolgt in der englischen Sprache. Die Autoren
  koennen nicht fuer Schaeden jedweder Art haftbar gemacht werden, die daraus
  resultieren, dass die Dokumentation nicht verstanden wird. Durch die Benutzung
  der Programme, die in diesem Packet enthalten sind, erkennen Sie diese Regeln
  automatisch an. Weitere Informationen hierzu sind in der Datei doc/COPYING zu
  finden. 



Gero Kuhlmann <gero@gkminix.han.de>

