ChorusOS man pages section 1CC: Host and Target Utilities

bootMonitor(1CC)

NAME

bootMonitor- load and execute standalone programs over the network

DESCRIPTION

The bootMonitor utility uses standard network protocols over an Ethernet line to load and boot a ChorusOS archive. This archive must be an ELF binary.

The bootMonitor utility is embedded in a ChorusOS archive and can be put on a diskette or into flash memory. The bootMonitor archive contains a light version of a ChorusOS kernel, with all the drivers needed for ethernet network access and the embedded bootMonitor utility.

As soon as bootMonitor is loaded and starts running, it displays a status message similar to the following:

Boot Monitor Loader (v1.0)

This message shows the version number and system architecture for bootMonitor. The bootMonitor utility will then search for an ethernet adaper.

Searching for adapter...
        Unit: 0  device name: smc1660-0

        Using unit 0

If many ethernet adapters are detected then they will be displayed in a list, for example:

Searching for adapters...
        Unit: 0  device name: smc1660-0
        Unit: 1  device name: ne2000-0

        Several adapters have been detected
        Please choose one unit: ...1

        Using unit 1

A selection from the list can be made or, after five seconds, the bootMonitor will use the first adapter in the list.

The local Internet address is usually determined by broadcasting an ethernet RARP request to the network and checking the response, for example:

My IP 129.157.173.131, RARP Server IP 129.157.173.59

If RARP was used, bootMonitor then attempts to download a configuration file from the systems which responded to the RARP request. bootMonitor uses TFTP for all file transfers and therefore assumes that each RARP server is running a TFTP daemon.

bootMonitor uses a configuration file to identify the name of the file to boot and the server on which the file resides. If specified in the file, bootMonitor will display the address of the boot server and name of the boot file for the user to approve or correct, if required. If no configuration file is found, the user is prompted to enter the Internet address of the server and the file name to load.

If there is no RARP reply from the target or there is one but no boot or config file exist, then the BOOTP protocol is tried.

TFTP CONFIGURATION

The bootMonitor acts as a TFTP (Trivial File Transfer Protocol) client for reading files from a TFTP server (tftpd) .

Please, contact your system administrator to setup a TFTP server.

RARP CONFIGURATION

The bootMonitor acts as a RARP (Reverse Address Resolution Protocol) client for getting the Internet address from a RARP server (rarpd) .

Please, contact your system administrator to setup a RARP server.

BOOTP CONFIGURATION

The bootMonitor acts as a BOOTP (Bootstrap Protocol) client for getting the boot configuration from a BOOTP server (bootpd).

The information that the bootMonitor obtains, from the BOOTP server, is:

the target IP address (mandatory)
the boot server IP address (optional, with a default of BOOTP)
the boot filename (optional, with a default of the target IP address in hex)

Please, contact your system administrator to setup a BOOTP server.

CONFIGURATION FILE

The bootMonitor works without any configuration file, however using one is more flexible than directly loading a boot file. It implies a second TFTP load, to get the bootable archive, and also allows you to choose a boot server and the name of the boot file without requiring the intervention of system administrators.

The name of the file that bootMonitor tries to load, using TFTP requests on the RARP server, is built from the target IP address in hex. For example, if the target IP address is 204.216.27.18, then the file name is CCD81B12.ChorusOS.4.0. If this file does not exist, then bootMonitor tries to load the CCD81B12 file. The server location of this file depends on how the TFTP daemon started. The file usually resides in the /tftpboot directory.

CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS

The following parameters are recognized by the bootMonitor

BOOTSERVER=string: This is the Internet address of the remote system containing the boot file required. The Internet address should be of the form ZZZ.ZZ.ZZ.ZZ where ZZ is a decimal number.
BOOTFILE=file name: This specifies the file name of the boot file required. If the remote TFTP daemon is running with a specified "base" directory, this name is referenced on the server relative to this directory. For example, BOOTFILE=chorus would correspond to /tftpboot/chorus on a server running UNIX with the tftpd base directory set to /tftpboot. If the TFTP daemon on the remote server is not running with a specified base directory, the file name must be fully specified and all directories leading to the file must be accessible to any user. For example, BOOTFILE=/home/kernels/chorus would correspond to /home/kernels/chorus on the server running UNIX. Both /home, and /home/kernels would need public read and execute permissions, and the file /home/kernels/chorus would need public read permission.

Each configuration parameter must begin on a new line. White space is ignored up to the first non-white space of the parameter value, after which all characters are taken as part of the value. A line containing a '#" in the first column is considered a comment.

ATTRIBUTES

See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

ATTRIBUTE TYPE	ATTRIBUTE VALUE
Interface Stability	Evolving

DIAGNOSTICS

The following is a list of bootMonitor error messages and their meanings:

Not an elf image.: The boot file is not a ChorusOS bootable archive.
No adapter found.: There is no ethernet adapter on the target.
Can't initialize ethernet driver.: The ethernet address of the ethernet adapter cannot be found or the ethernet device cannot be opened.
Badly formatted BOOTSERVER parameter.: The BOOTSERVER parameter in the configuration file is not a valid IP address.
Badly formatted BOOTSERVER parameter.: The BOOTSERVER parameter in the configuration file is missing.
Loading file chorus on server 129.157.173.59: failed!: The file is not present on the server.
Check your RARP/BOOTP/TFTP configuration: The boot file cannot be found.

ChorusOS 4.0 Last Revised December 1999