NetBSD/distrib/notes/pmax/xfer

.\"	$NetBSD: xfer,v 1.6 1999/05/04 03:42:20 simonb Exp $	
.
First-time installation on a bare machine is not supported, because most
DECstations do not have any suitable load device. Some versions of
DECstation
.Tn PROM No Ns s
are buggy and will not boot via
.Tn TFTP
and bootp; still other versions are buggy and do not boot via
.Tn MOP .
.Pp
The only DECstation with a floppy-disk drive is the Personal DECstation,
and that device is not supported as a boot device.
.Pp
The recommended installation procedure is to boot an install kernel
via
.Tn TFTP ,
or to use a
.Dq helper
system to write a miniroot diskimage onto a disk, move that
disk to the target installation system, and then boot the miniroot.
.Pp
Installation is supported from several media types, including:
.Bl -bullet -compact
.It
NFS partitions
.It
FTP
.It
Tape
.It
CD-ROM
.El
.Pp
The steps necessary to prepare the distribution sets
for installation depend on which installation medium you choose.
The steps for the various media are outlined below.
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width NFS\ Installation
.
.It Em NFS Installation
Place the NetBSD distribution sets you wish to install into a directory
on an NFS server, and make that directory mountable by the machine
on which you are installing or upgrading NetBSD.  This will probably
require modifying the
.Pa /etc/exports
file on of the NFS server and resetting its mount daemon (mountd).
Both of these actions will probably require superuser
privileges on the server.
.Pp
You will need to know the IP address of your nameserver or of your NFS
server, and, if the server is not on a network directly connected to the
machine on which you're installing or upgrading NetBSD, you need to know
the IP address of the closest router . Finally, you need to know the IP
address of the NetBSD machine itself. The install program will ask you
to provide this information to be able to access the sets via NFS.
.Pp
If you are using a diskless setup to install NetBSD on your machine,
you can take advantage of the fact that the above has already been done
on your machine's server.  So, you can conveniently put the NetBSD file
sets in your machine's root filesystem on the server where the install
program can find them.
.Pp
Once the NFS server is set up properly and you have the information
mentioned above, you can start the actual installation process.
.
.It Em FTP Installation
Determine an FTP site from which you can retrieve the NetBSD
distribution when you're about to install. You will need to know the
IP address of your nameserver or of your ftp site, and, if it's not on
a network directly connected to the machine on which you're installing
or upgrading NetBSD, you need to know the IP address of the closest
router.  Finally, you need to know the IP address of the NetBSD machine
itself. The install program will ask you to provide this information to
be able to access the sets via ftp.
.Pp
Once you have this information, you can proceed to the actual
installation.
.
.It Em Tape Installation
To install NetBSD from a tape, you need to somehow get the NetBSD
filesets you wish to install on your system on to the appropriate kind
of tape, in tar format.
.(Note
the tape devices with which NetBSD/pmax is believed to work is the DEC
TK-50. This is a very slow device.  Installation via disk or network is
recommended if at all possible.
.Note)
.Pp
If you're making the tape on a UN*X system, the easiest way to do so is:
.Dl tar cvf Ar tape_device files
.No where Ar tape_device
is the name of the tape device that describes the tape drive you're
using (possibly something like
.Pa /dev/nrst0 ,
but we make no guarantees 8-).  Under SunOS 5.x, this would be
something like
.Pa /dev/rmt/0mbn.
Again, your mileage may vary.  If you can't figure it out, ask your
system administrator.
.Ar files No are the names
of the
.Ar set_name.nnn
files which you want to be placed on the tape.
.Pp
Once you have done this, you can proceed to the next step in the
installation process, preparing your system for NetBSD installation.
.
.It Em CD-ROM Installation
If you are installing from a CD-ROM, the distribution sets are
already in the proper format and no special handling is required.
.El