NAME

       rbootd — HP remote boot server

SYNOPSIS

       rbootd [-ad] [-i interface] [config_file]

DESCRIPTION

       The  rbootd  utility  services boot requests from Hewlett-Packard workstations over a local area network.
       All boot files must reside in the boot file directory; further, if a client supplies path information  in
       its  boot request, it will be silently stripped away before processing.  By default, rbootd only responds
       to requests from machines listed in its configuration file.

       The options are as follows:

       -a          Respond to boot requests from any machine.  The configuration file is ignored if this  option
                   is specified.

       -d          Run rbootd in debug mode.  Packets sent and received are displayed to the terminal.

       -i interface
                   Service  boot  requests  on  specified interface.  If unspecified, rbootd searches the system
                   interface list for the lowest numbered, configured  ``up''  interface  (excluding  loopback).
                   Ties are broken by choosing the earliest match.

       Specifying  config_file  on the command line causes rbootd to use a different configuration file from the
       default.

       The configuration file is a text file where each line describes a particular machine.  A line must  start
       with  a  machine's Ethernet address followed by an optional list of boot file names.  An Ethernet address
       is specified in hexadecimal with each of its six octets separated by a colon.  The boot file  names  come
       from  the  boot  file  directory.  The ethernet address and boot file(s) must be separated by white-space
       and/or comma characters.  A pound sign causes the remainder of a line to be ignored.

       Here is a sample configuration file:

       #
       # ethernet addr     boot file(s)        comments
       #
       08:00:09:0:66:ad    SYSHPBSD            # snake (4.3BSD)
       08:00:09:0:59:5b                        # vandy (anything)
       8::9:1:C6:75        SYSHPBSD,SYSHPUX    # jaguar (either)

       Rbootd logs status and error messages via syslog(3).  A startup message is always logged, and in the case
       of fatal errors (or deadly signals) a message is logged announcing the server's termination.  In general,
       a non-fatal error is handled by ignoring the event that caused it (e.g. an invalid  Ethernet  address  in
       the config file causes that line to be invalidated).

       The  following  signals  have  the  specified  effect  when  sent to the server process using the kill(1)
       command:

               SIGHUP   Drop all active connections and reconfigure.

               SIGUSR1  Turn on debugging, do nothing if already on.

               SIGUSR2  Turn off debugging, do nothing if already off.

FILES

       /etc/rbootd.conf
                        configuration file
       /tmp/rbootd.dbg  debug output
       /var/lib/rbootd  directory containing boot files
       /var/run/rbootd.pid
                        process id

SEE ALSO

       kill(1), socket(2), signal(3), syslog(3),

BUGS

       If multiple servers are started on the same interface, each will receive and respond  to  the  same  boot
       packets.   The  interface should be specified in a configuration file rather than having to be put on the
       command line as an argument.  Also the location of the boot  images  is  hardcoded  into  the  binary  at
       compile time.

Debian                                          December 11, 1993                                      RBOOTD(8)