SUMMARY: PortMaster products support netbooting over tftp which is booting off an image file located on another host using tftp (trivial file transfer protocol) to actually move the file from the host to the PortMaster. This technote details how to netboot using Microsoft Windows NT. QUICK STEPS: Download a netboot image Install TFTP on NT server From the TFTP control panel set the defualt directory Start the TFTP service Turn off the Portmaster Raise dips 1 and 2 Connect Portmaster to a console via a null modem cable Power on the Portmaster Press 'ESC' to get prompt and give Portmaster an ip address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx' TFTP the image from NT host using tftp yyy.yyy.yyy.yyy', where y is the ip address of the NT host. BEFORE YOU START: PKUNZIP.EXE This program will be used to extract the file. TFTPDS12.ZIP This is the TFTP shareware software. The author of this application licenses the software for a VERY reasonable cost. See the REGISTER.WRI file for details. This program can be found at: TFTP Server is multi-threaded Trivial File Transfer Protocol daemon for the Microsoft Windows NT operating system. The program runs as a native Windows NT service and is designed to comply with RFC 1350, The TFTP Protocol. An ethernet connection between the NT host and the Portmaster INSTALLATION OF TFTP SERVICE ON NT: Download the TFTPDS12.ZIP program file from ftp.cyclone.iea.com/nt/tftpds12.zip as a binary file and then decompress the file with PKUNZIP.EXE From the command prompt, run TFTPDS.EXE with the -install switch to install the service. You should copy the Control Panel program (TFTPDS.CPL) to the \system directory. This file must be in your \system directory in order for the TFTP Server Control Panel applet to appear. After TFTP Server is successfully installed, you should configure it using the TFTP Server applet in the Control Panel. These options allow you to set the defualt directory and so forth. Go to the TFTP control panel and set the "Default" to be the directory containing the netboot image. Once configured start the TFTP service by going to the "Control Panel", selecting "Services" and then in the list find tftp and select it. Then just click on the "Start" button. PREPARING A CONSOLE FOR NETBOOT NETBOOTING: With console connect boot up the Portmaster which will look similar to the following. Livingston Enterprises, Inc. Boot Prom Rev M Testing Low Memory.... Testing System Clock.... Testing System Memory.... 1024K Checking Boot Rom.... Calibrating.... 33MHz Starting Net Boot..... When you see the RARP's (Reverse Arps) press the 'Esc' key and you will be given a prompt. Sending RARP request for 0:c0:5:1:61:a7 Sending RARP request for 0:c0:5:1:61:a7 Sending RARP request for 0:c0:5:1:61:a7 From the prompt you can set gateway, netmask and ip address (syntax below) but you only need to give the portmaster an ip address if you are doing the netboot from the same ethernet segment. > address [ip address for portmaster] > netmask [netmask in dotted decimal] > gateway [ip address of gateway router] Next transfer the image from your NT host. tftp [ip address of NT host] The Portmaster will first look for a filename using its ip address translated into hex. If that is not found it will then look for GENERIC.PM2. Upon successfully netbooting the Portmaster will automatically reboot itself. > address 10.0.0.9 # assigned the portmaster an ip off 10.0.0.9 OK > tftp 10.0.0.10 # net booting of NT host found at 10.0.0.10 Starting tftp... Requesting tftp of A000009.PM2 from server a00000a Request failed - 1 File not found Requesting tftp of GENERIC.PM2 from server a00000a Loading Image at 0fff0000 336496 tftp complete Verifying Load Module Checksum... Starting Load Module ... Sizing Physical Memory ... 1Mb Testing High Memory ... . 1024K Found 11 ports.... Running ComOS... PortMaster Console login: CLEANUP: In most cases after netbooting you will want to upgrade the Portmaster using pmconsole or pminstall to have a more permanent version of the ComOS. Be sure to put dip switch 2 back down so you don't go into netboot mode each time the unit is powered up. TROUBLESHOOTING: NT - TFTP "Error installing the TFTP Server service" If TFTP Server encounters an error while installing the service, it responds with "Error installing the TFTP Server service". If you encounter this error while attempting to install the service, ensure that you are logged into the system as a user that has access rights to the system registry. Note that installation will fail if the service is already installed. In order to re-install the service, you must first remove it by using the -remove switch. By default, the TFTP Server service will install itself to run from within the local system account. If you decide to run TFTP Server in a restricted user account, note that the service may not have the right to post events to the systems event log. If you need to see the events that TFTP Server is posting, configure the service to run in a less restricted account. PORTMASTER DOES NOT REBOOT AFTER NETBOOT Wait it can take a few minutes sometimes. Verify the byte count of the image file vs. the file on the ftp site. Download it again as a binary file. SOLID LED ON OR OFF. IF the green LED next to the dip switches not flash off once every 5 seconds call Lucent Remote Access Technical Support and keep your phillips screwdriver handy. NOTHING SEEN ON THE CONSOLE Make sure the PortMaster is on, plugged in with the Null modem firmly attached to S0 and the other end of the cable firmly connected to the terminal. Make sure dip switch 1 is On/Up. Try turning off the PortMaster and flipping dip 1 up and down a few times and then reboot with dip 1 On/Up. Make sure you have the right COM port selected on your PC. Make sure the single green LED next to the dip switches flashes off once every 5 seconds. Swap the Null modem cable Swap the COM port on the terminal Try another terminal program Try another hardware device as your console. Program a modem for 9600,8,N,1 and for auto-answer and try dialing into the port. If you have other PortMaster products try connecting your terminal to those devices and then swing the console over to the terminal. If it works on another PortMaster product but not this one call Technical Support. CAN SEE THE LIVINGSTON BOOT AND THE PROMPT BUT CAN'T TYPE Swap the NULL modem it is probably bad It is possible that the serial port or COM port is bad, but chances are its the cable. GETTING GARBADGE ON THE CONSOLE DTE speed mismatch. Make sure that your terminal is set to 9600 baud. IRQ mismatch. If you have another device that is using the IRQ of your COM port you'll see garbage from the other device. Use a different COM port. Swap NULL modem cable. Try another hardware device for your terminal. ERROR MESSAGE ON BOOT UP, "PANIC WATCHDOG ERROR" Call Lucent Remote Access Technical Support. Have your console ready on S0. This may be a problem with the NVRAM. ERROR MESSAGE ON BOOT UP, "SHARED MEMORY ERROR" Call Lucent Remote Access Technical Support. Have your console ready on S0.