My original question:
>I have a question concerning using bootp to do a remote boot of an Alpha
>workstation. I'm booting a DEC 3000/600 running OSF V3.0. The machine
>delivering the kernel is a DEC 2000/300 running OSF V3.0.
>
>I have bootp, tftpd, and inet all working fine. The syslog shows that they're
>delivering the vmunix file (called vmunix.bootp) as expected. However, when
>the DEC 2000 finishes delivering vmunix and the DEC 3000 starts executing
>the kernel, it immediately halts with a invalid KSP (which I assume is
>kernel stack pointer) error.
>
>I'm not using the RIS or dataless systems--I'm just trying to have the kernel
>live on a remote machine instead of the local disk.
>
>Anyone have it working so that you can boot from a remote kernel?
>
>By the way, I have successfully "booted" the firmware update boot program
>using bootp and tftp. But the same setup doesn't work for a "real" vmunix.
Thanks to all who responded:
Dave Cherkus <cherkus_at_UniMaster.COM>
Selden E Ball Jr <SEB_at_LNS62.LNS.CORNELL.EDU>
Jon Forrest <forrest_at_postgres.Berkeley.EDU>
Pit Linnartz <linnartz_at_col01.enet.dec.com>
Siggy Hensel <siggy%aed.uucp_at_Germany.EU.net>
Edward K. Lee <eklee_at_pa.dec.com>
The consensus was the nobody had ever done this successfully. Apparently
it takes a special type of kernel to be able to remote boot (a "standalone"
kernel), and the normal vmunix (or genvmunix) is not that type. The only
standalone kernels are (probably) the kernel from the ris subset (which
doesn't help me, though it might work for others out there) and the
firmware update boot program.
If anybody out there knows how to do this or is now doing it, please e-mail me.
Several people asked why I was doing bothering with this. My answer:
I'm doing kernel development, and it's would be very inconvenient to
have to reboot the 3000/600, store the new kernel on the local disk,
then reboot the 3000/600. With remote booting, I can crash the 3000/600,
then rebuild the kernel remotely and reboot the 3000/600 with the newly
built kernel.
Several other people asked if the kernel I was trying to boot was in fact
the right kernel (ie. was bootable on the DEC 3000/600). The answer is that
it was the right kernel (I had already verified this).
Pete
Prof. Peter M. Chen
EECS Department, 2211 EECS
1301 Beal Ave.
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2122
(313) 763-4472, fax: (313) 763-4617
pmchen_at_eecs.umich.edu
http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~pmchen/
Received on Fri Mar 10 1995 - 13:01:38 NZDT