System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (FNS and NIS+)

`bootparams` Table

The bootparams table stores configuration information about every diskless machine in a domain. A diskless machine is a machine that is connected to a network, but has no hard disk. Since it has no internal storage capacity, a diskless machine stores its files and programs in the file system of a server on the network. It also stores its configuration information—or boot parameters—on a server.

Because of this arrangement, every diskless machine has an initialization program that knows where this information is stored. If the network has no name service, the program looks for this information in the server's /etc/bootparams file. If the network uses the NIS+ name service, the program looks for it in the bootparams table, instead.

The bootparams table can store any configuration information about diskless machines. It has two columns: one for the configuration key, another for its value. By default, it is set up to store the location of each machine's root, swap, and dump partitions.

The default bootparams table has only two columns that provide the following items of information:

Table 23–3 bootparams Table


Column	Content	Description
Key	Hostname	The diskless machine's official host name, as specified in the hosts table
Value	Configuration	Root partition: the location (server name and path) of the machine's root partition
		Swap partition: the location (server name and path) of the machine's swap partition
		Dump partition: the location (server name and path) of the machine's dump partition
		Install partition.
		Domain.

Input File Format

The columns are separated with a TAB character. Backslashes (\) are used to break a line within an entry. The entries for root, swap, and dump partitions have the following format:

client-name root=server:path \
swap=server:path \ 
dump=server:path \
install=server:path \
domain=domainname

Here is an example:

buckarooroot=bigriver:/export/root1/buckaroo \
 swap=bigriver:/export/swap1/buckaroo \
 dump=bigriver:/export/dump/buckaroo \
 install=bigriver:/export/install/buckaroo \
 domain=sales.doc.com

Additional parameters are available for x86-based machines. See the bootparams man page for additional information.

bootparams Table

`bootparams` Table