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diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/nfs/nfsroot.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/nfs/nfsroot.txt deleted file mode 100644 index ae4332464560..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/filesystems/nfs/nfsroot.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,355 +0,0 @@ -Mounting the root filesystem via NFS (nfsroot) -=============================================== - -Written 1996 by Gero Kuhlmann <gero@gkminix.han.de> -Updated 1997 by Martin Mares <mj@atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz> -Updated 2006 by Nico Schottelius <nico-kernel-nfsroot@schottelius.org> -Updated 2006 by Horms <horms@verge.net.au> -Updated 2018 by Chris Novakovic <chris@chrisn.me.uk> - - - -In order to use a diskless system, such as an X-terminal or printer server -for example, it is necessary for the root filesystem to be present on a -non-disk device. This may be an initramfs (see Documentation/filesystems/ -ramfs-rootfs-initramfs.txt), a ramdisk (see Documentation/admin-guide/initrd.rst) or a -filesystem mounted via NFS. The following text describes on how to use NFS -for the root filesystem. For the rest of this text 'client' means the -diskless system, and 'server' means the NFS server. - - - - -1.) Enabling nfsroot capabilities - ----------------------------- - -In order to use nfsroot, NFS client support needs to be selected as -built-in during configuration. Once this has been selected, the nfsroot -option will become available, which should also be selected. - -In the networking options, kernel level autoconfiguration can be selected, -along with the types of autoconfiguration to support. Selecting all of -DHCP, BOOTP and RARP is safe. - - - - -2.) Kernel command line - ------------------- - -When the kernel has been loaded by a boot loader (see below) it needs to be -told what root fs device to use. And in the case of nfsroot, where to find -both the server and the name of the directory on the server to mount as root. -This can be established using the following kernel command line parameters: - - -root=/dev/nfs - - This is necessary to enable the pseudo-NFS-device. Note that it's not a - real device but just a synonym to tell the kernel to use NFS instead of - a real device. - - -nfsroot=[<server-ip>:]<root-dir>[,<nfs-options>] - - If the `nfsroot' parameter is NOT given on the command line, - the default "/tftpboot/%s" will be used. - - <server-ip> Specifies the IP address of the NFS server. - The default address is determined by the `ip' parameter - (see below). This parameter allows the use of different - servers for IP autoconfiguration and NFS. - - <root-dir> Name of the directory on the server to mount as root. - If there is a "%s" token in the string, it will be - replaced by the ASCII-representation of the client's - IP address. - - <nfs-options> Standard NFS options. All options are separated by commas. - The following defaults are used: - port = as given by server portmap daemon - rsize = 4096 - wsize = 4096 - timeo = 7 - retrans = 3 - acregmin = 3 - acregmax = 60 - acdirmin = 30 - acdirmax = 60 - flags = hard, nointr, noposix, cto, ac - - -ip=<client-ip>:<server-ip>:<gw-ip>:<netmask>:<hostname>:<device>:<autoconf>: - <dns0-ip>:<dns1-ip>:<ntp0-ip> - - This parameter tells the kernel how to configure IP addresses of devices - and also how to set up the IP routing table. It was originally called - `nfsaddrs', but now the boot-time IP configuration works independently of - NFS, so it was renamed to `ip' and the old name remained as an alias for - compatibility reasons. - - If this parameter is missing from the kernel command line, all fields are - assumed to be empty, and the defaults mentioned below apply. In general - this means that the kernel tries to configure everything using - autoconfiguration. - - The <autoconf> parameter can appear alone as the value to the `ip' - parameter (without all the ':' characters before). If the value is - "ip=off" or "ip=none", no autoconfiguration will take place, otherwise - autoconfiguration will take place. The most common way to use this - is "ip=dhcp". - - <client-ip> IP address of the client. - - Default: Determined using autoconfiguration. - - <server-ip> IP address of the NFS server. If RARP is used to determine - the client address and this parameter is NOT empty only - replies from the specified server are accepted. - - Only required for NFS root. That is autoconfiguration - will not be triggered if it is missing and NFS root is not - in operation. - - Value is exported to /proc/net/pnp with the prefix "bootserver " - (see below). - - Default: Determined using autoconfiguration. - The address of the autoconfiguration server is used. - - <gw-ip> IP address of a gateway if the server is on a different subnet. - - Default: Determined using autoconfiguration. - - <netmask> Netmask for local network interface. If unspecified - the netmask is derived from the client IP address assuming - classful addressing. - - Default: Determined using autoconfiguration. - - <hostname> Name of the client. If a '.' character is present, anything - before the first '.' is used as the client's hostname, and anything - after it is used as its NIS domain name. May be supplied by - autoconfiguration, but its absence will not trigger autoconfiguration. - If specified and DHCP is used, the user-provided hostname (and NIS - domain name, if present) will be carried in the DHCP request; this - may cause a DNS record to be created or updated for the client. - - Default: Client IP address is used in ASCII notation. - - <device> Name of network device to use. - - Default: If the host only has one device, it is used. - Otherwise the device is determined using - autoconfiguration. This is done by sending - autoconfiguration requests out of all devices, - and using the device that received the first reply. - - <autoconf> Method to use for autoconfiguration. In the case of options - which specify multiple autoconfiguration protocols, - requests are sent using all protocols, and the first one - to reply is used. - - Only autoconfiguration protocols that have been compiled - into the kernel will be used, regardless of the value of - this option. - - off or none: don't use autoconfiguration - (do static IP assignment instead) - on or any: use any protocol available in the kernel - (default) - dhcp: use DHCP - bootp: use BOOTP - rarp: use RARP - both: use both BOOTP and RARP but not DHCP - (old option kept for backwards compatibility) - - if dhcp is used, the client identifier can be used by following - format "ip=dhcp,client-id-type,client-id-value" - - Default: any - - <dns0-ip> IP address of primary nameserver. - Value is exported to /proc/net/pnp with the prefix "nameserver " - (see below). - - Default: None if not using autoconfiguration; determined - automatically if using autoconfiguration. - - <dns1-ip> IP address of secondary nameserver. - See <dns0-ip>. - - <ntp0-ip> IP address of a Network Time Protocol (NTP) server. - Value is exported to /proc/net/ipconfig/ntp_servers, but is - otherwise unused (see below). - - Default: None if not using autoconfiguration; determined - automatically if using autoconfiguration. - - After configuration (whether manual or automatic) is complete, two files - are created in the following format; lines are omitted if their respective - value is empty following configuration: - - - /proc/net/pnp: - - #PROTO: <DHCP|BOOTP|RARP|MANUAL> (depending on configuration method) - domain <dns-domain> (if autoconfigured, the DNS domain) - nameserver <dns0-ip> (primary name server IP) - nameserver <dns1-ip> (secondary name server IP) - nameserver <dns2-ip> (tertiary name server IP) - bootserver <server-ip> (NFS server IP) - - - /proc/net/ipconfig/ntp_servers: - - <ntp0-ip> (NTP server IP) - <ntp1-ip> (NTP server IP) - <ntp2-ip> (NTP server IP) - - <dns-domain> and <dns2-ip> (in /proc/net/pnp) and <ntp1-ip> and <ntp2-ip> - (in /proc/net/ipconfig/ntp_servers) are requested during autoconfiguration; - they cannot be specified as part of the "ip=" kernel command line parameter. - - Because the "domain" and "nameserver" options are recognised by DNS - resolvers, /etc/resolv.conf is often linked to /proc/net/pnp on systems - that use an NFS root filesystem. - - Note that the kernel will not synchronise the system time with any NTP - servers it discovers; this is the responsibility of a user space process - (e.g. an initrd/initramfs script that passes the IP addresses listed in - /proc/net/ipconfig/ntp_servers to an NTP client before mounting the real - root filesystem if it is on NFS). - - -nfsrootdebug - - This parameter enables debugging messages to appear in the kernel - log at boot time so that administrators can verify that the correct - NFS mount options, server address, and root path are passed to the - NFS client. - - -rdinit=<executable file> - - To specify which file contains the program that starts system - initialization, administrators can use this command line parameter. - The default value of this parameter is "/init". If the specified - file exists and the kernel can execute it, root filesystem related - kernel command line parameters, including `nfsroot=', are ignored. - - A description of the process of mounting the root file system can be - found in: - - Documentation/driver-api/early-userspace/early_userspace_support.rst - - - - -3.) Boot Loader - ---------- - -To get the kernel into memory different approaches can be used. -They depend on various facilities being available: - - -3.1) Booting from a floppy using syslinux - - When building kernels, an easy way to create a boot floppy that uses - syslinux is to use the zdisk or bzdisk make targets which use zimage - and bzimage images respectively. Both targets accept the - FDARGS parameter which can be used to set the kernel command line. - - e.g. - make bzdisk FDARGS="root=/dev/nfs" - - Note that the user running this command will need to have - access to the floppy drive device, /dev/fd0 - - For more information on syslinux, including how to create bootdisks - for prebuilt kernels, see http://syslinux.zytor.com/ - - N.B: Previously it was possible to write a kernel directly to - a floppy using dd, configure the boot device using rdev, and - boot using the resulting floppy. Linux no longer supports this - method of booting. - -3.2) Booting from a cdrom using isolinux - - When building kernels, an easy way to create a bootable cdrom that - uses isolinux is to use the isoimage target which uses a bzimage - image. Like zdisk and bzdisk, this target accepts the FDARGS - parameter which can be used to set the kernel command line. - - e.g. - make isoimage FDARGS="root=/dev/nfs" - - The resulting iso image will be arch/<ARCH>/boot/image.iso - This can be written to a cdrom using a variety of tools including - cdrecord. - - e.g. - cdrecord dev=ATAPI:1,0,0 arch/x86/boot/image.iso - - For more information on isolinux, including how to create bootdisks - for prebuilt kernels, see http://syslinux.zytor.com/ - -3.2) Using LILO - When using LILO all the necessary command line parameters may be - specified using the 'append=' directive in the LILO configuration - file. - - However, to use the 'root=' directive you also need to create - a dummy root device, which may be removed after LILO is run. - - mknod /dev/boot255 c 0 255 - - For information on configuring LILO, please refer to its documentation. - -3.3) Using GRUB - When using GRUB, kernel parameter are simply appended after the kernel - specification: kernel <kernel> <parameters> - -3.4) Using loadlin - loadlin may be used to boot Linux from a DOS command prompt without - requiring a local hard disk to mount as root. This has not been - thoroughly tested by the authors of this document, but in general - it should be possible configure the kernel command line similarly - to the configuration of LILO. - - Please refer to the loadlin documentation for further information. - -3.5) Using a boot ROM - This is probably the most elegant way of booting a diskless client. - With a boot ROM the kernel is loaded using the TFTP protocol. The - authors of this document are not aware of any no commercial boot - ROMs that support booting Linux over the network. However, there - are two free implementations of a boot ROM, netboot-nfs and - etherboot, both of which are available on sunsite.unc.edu, and both - of which contain everything you need to boot a diskless Linux client. - -3.6) Using pxelinux - Pxelinux may be used to boot linux using the PXE boot loader - which is present on many modern network cards. - - When using pxelinux, the kernel image is specified using - "kernel <relative-path-below /tftpboot>". The nfsroot parameters - are passed to the kernel by adding them to the "append" line. - It is common to use serial console in conjunction with pxeliunx, - see Documentation/admin-guide/serial-console.rst for more information. - - For more information on isolinux, including how to create bootdisks - for prebuilt kernels, see http://syslinux.zytor.com/ - - - - -4.) Credits - ------- - - The nfsroot code in the kernel and the RARP support have been written - by Gero Kuhlmann <gero@gkminix.han.de>. - - The rest of the IP layer autoconfiguration code has been written - by Martin Mares <mj@atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz>. - - In order to write the initial version of nfsroot I would like to thank - Jens-Uwe Mager <jum@anubis.han.de> for his help. |