Erik Andersen <andersen@xmission.com> writes:
> Now, show me the user space solution that lets me tftp
> an initrd without having to glob it into the kernel.
I usually use something like this to remote boot diskless <=8MB machines:
server# mknbi-linux -d ram -r ramdisk.img.gz -k bzImage -o /tftpboot/xt.boot
The mknbi-linux tool is 25 KB long and it doesn't require any gcc, binutils
nor other "devel" stuff. It basically appends ramdisk image to the kernel.
On the client (say, pentium-100 with 4MB RAM and a network card) I update
the flash EPROM (the main BIOS on the motherboard) by adding a ~ 30 KB
netboot (or etherboot) module. One could insert a netboot EPROM into
ethernet card's socket instead. The boot ROM gets the whole boot file using
bootp (or dhcp) and tftp. No problems with upgrading ramdisk or kernel
images - you just need to run mknbi-linux then.
That way the only portion of code stored in client's permanent memory
(like (flash) EPROM) is the boot ROM (etherboot or netboot). It's quite
independent from the OS and in fact I use it for loading other OSes as well.
Everything else resides on the server(s) and is easily upgradable.
-- Krzysztof Halasa Network Administrator- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Jan 15 2000 - 21:00:15 EST