Setting Network Boot Arguments in the OpenBoot PROM - Booting and Shutting Down Oracle® Solaris 11.3 Systems

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SPARC: Setting Network Boot Arguments in the OpenBoot PROM

The network-boot-arguments parameter of the eeprom utility enables you to set configuration parameters to be used by the PROM when you perform a WAN boot. Setting network boot arguments in the PROM takes precedence over any default values. If you are using DHCP, these arguments also take precedence over configuration information that is provided by the DHCP server for the given parameter.

If you are manually configuring an Oracle Solaris system to boot from the network, you must provide thesystem with all of the necessary information for the system to boot.

Information that is required by the PROM includes the following:

IP address of the booting client

Note - WAN boot does not include support for IPv6 addresses.
Name of the boot file
IP address of the stem that is providing the boot file image

In addition, you might be required to provide the subnet mask and IP address of the default router to be used.

The syntax to use for network booting is as follows:

[protocol,] [key=value,]*

protocol: Specifies the address discovery protocol that is to be used.
key=value: Specifies configuration parameters as attribute pairs.

The following table lists the configuration parameters that you can specify for the network-boot-arguments parameter.

Parameter	Description
`tftp-server`	IP address of the TFTP server
`file`	File to download by using TFTP or URL for WAN boot
`host-ip`	IP address of the boot client (in dotted-decimal notation)
`router-ip`	IP address of the default router (in dotted-decimal notation)
`subnet-mask`	Subnet mask (in dotted-decimal notation)
`client-id`	DHCP client identifier: this can be set to any unique value that the DHCP server allows. For AI clients, this value should be set to the hexidecimal hardware address of the client, preceded by the string `01` to indicate an ethernet network. For example, an Oracle Solaris client with the hexadecimal Ethernet address `8:0:20:94:12:1e` uses the client ID `0108002094121E`.
`hostname`	Host name to use in the DHCP transaction
`http-proxy`	HTTP proxy server specification (`IPADDR`[:`PORT`])
`tftp-retries`	Maximum number of TFTP retries
`dhcp-retries`	Maximum number of DHCP retries

SPARC: How to Specify Network Boot Arguments in the OpenBoot PROM

Before You Begin

Complete any preliminary tasks that are required for booting a system from the network. For more information, see Requirements for Booting a System From the Network.

On the system that is to be booted from the network, Assume the root role.
See Using Your Assigned Administrative Rights in Securing Users and Processes in Oracle Solaris 11.3.
Specify the appropriate values for the network-boot-arguments parameter.
```
# eeprom network-boot-arguments="protocol,hostname=hostname"
```
For example, to use DHCP as the boot protocol and a host name of mysystem.example.com, you would set the values for the network-boot-arguments parameter as follows:
```
# eeprom network-boot-arguments="DHCP,hostname=mysystem.example.com"
```
Bring the system to the ok PROM prompt.
```
# init 0
```
Boot the system from the network.
```
ok boot net
```
Note - When you specify the network-boot-arguments parameter in this way, there is no need to specify the arguments from the PROM command line. Doing so will ignore any other values set for the network-boot-arguments parameter that you have might have specified.