BOOTING(8) BOOTING(8)
NAME
booting - bootstrapping procedures
SYNOPSIS
none
DESCRIPTION
This manual page collects the incantations required to
bootstrap Plan 9 machines. Some of the information here is
specific to the installation at Bell Labs; some is generic.
If a CPU server is up, BOOTP/DHCP and TFTP will run from
there; if not, the necessary files and services must be
available on a separate machine, such as a Unix system, to
use these protocols for bootstrapping.
Be sure to read boot(8) to understand what happens after the
kernel is loaded.
Terminals
To bootstrap a diskless terminal or a CPU server, a file
server must be running. PCs can boot from a floppy disk or
any FAT16 partition. On all the terminals, typing two
control-T's followed by a lower-case r reboots the machine;
other methods of rebooting are mentioned for some machines.
PCs
To boot a PC, it is necessary to get /386/9load loaded into
memory. There are many ways to do this. A Plan 9 boot
floppy prepared by format (see prep(8)) will load 9load when
the PC is reset or powered on. Other methods are described
in 9load(8). 9load then locates and loads a Plan 9 kernel,
using configuration information from the file plan9.ini
stored in the 9fat configuration partition or on a DOS file
system. See 9load(8) for details.
Once the kernel is booted, it behaves like the others. See
boot(8) for details.
Alpha PCs
Alpha PCs must be booted via TFTP using the SRM console. If
the system has ARC firmware instead, SRM may be downloaded
from
http://www.compaq.com/
You must configure the SRM firmware to load the file
/alpha/bootalphapc. The following commands may be used
(replace ewa0 with the name of your ethernet device, if dif-
ferent):
Page 1 Plan 9 (printed 4/19/24)
BOOTING(8) BOOTING(8)
set boot_reset ON
set boot_file /alpha/bootalphapc
set bootdev_def ewa0
set ewa0_inet_init bootp
set ewa0_protocols BOOTP
This secondary bootstrap program will first load the file
/alpha/conf/<IP-address> (substituting the IP address of the
system as obtained via bootp). This file is expected to be
in plan9.ini(8) format (the file /alpha/conf/10.0.0.2 may be
used as a template). It then loads the kernel via tftp,
using the value of bootfile to tell it which file to load;
this should be /alpha/9apc for terminals.
CPU Servers
The Plan 9 CPU servers are multi-user, so they do not
request a user name when booting. On the CPU servers, typ-
ing a control-P on the console reboots the machine.
PC CPU Server
Proceed as for the PC terminal, but load /386/9pccpu or
/386/9pccpudisk.
Alpha PC CPU Server
Proceed as for the Alpha PC terminal, but use /alpha/9apccpu
as the value of bootfile.
SGI Challenge multiprocessor CPU Server
The Challenge ROM monitor can boot from the Ethernet. To
boot from the Ethernet, type
bootp()/mips/9ch
or use the ROM command setenv to set the variable bootfile
to that same string and type boot. To load a different
file, tell bootp which file to load, and to force the down-
load to come from a particular system, bootp()system:file.
Any arguments after bootp()file are passed to /boot. If you
are running a Plan 9 BOOTP server (see dhcpd(8)), the file
name can be omitted and the file specified by the bootf
parameter for the machine in /lib/ndb will be downloaded by
default.
Once the kernel is loaded, it prompts for the Ethernet pro-
tocol to use to reach the root file server; request the
default.
File servers
The CPU servers and terminals run essentially the same pro-
gram, but the Plan 9 file servers run a distinct system.
The file servers accept only the commands described in fs(8)
on their consoles.
Page 2 Plan 9 (printed 4/19/24)
BOOTING(8) BOOTING(8)
PC File Server
Boot the PC file server like a regular PC, loading the
appropriate file system kernel.
SEE ALSO
9load(8), boot(8), fs(8), init(8), plan9.ini(8)
SOURCE
Sources for the various boot programs are under
/sys/src/boot.
BUGS
The file server should be able to boot from its own disk.
Page 3 Plan 9 (printed 4/19/24)