FreeBSD Man Pages

bootptab(5)

NAME

     bootptab -- Internet Bootstrap Protocol server database

DESCRIPTION

     The bootptab file is the configuration database file for bootpd(8), the
     Internet Bootstrap Protocol server.  Its format is similar to that of
     termcap(5) in which two-character case-sensitive tag symbols are used to
     represent host parameters.  These parameter declarations are separated by
     colons (:), with a general format of:

	   hostname:tg=value. . . :tg=value. . . :tg=value. . . .

     where hostname is the actual name of a bootp client (or a "dummy entry"),
     and tg is a two-character tag symbol.  Dummy entries have an invalid
     hostname (one with a "." as the first character) and are used to provide
     default values used by other entries via the tc=.dummy-entry mechanism.
     Most tags must be followed by an equals-sign and a value as above.  Some
     may also appear in a boolean form with no value (i.e. :tg:).  The cur-
     rently recognized tags are:

     bf   Bootfile
     bs   Bootfile size in 512-octet blocks
     cs   Cookie server address list
     df   Merit dump file
     dn   Domain name
     ds   Domain name server address list
     ef   Extension file
     gw   Gateway address list
     ha   Host hardware address
     hd   Bootfile home directory
     hn   Send client's hostname to client
     ht   Host hardware type (see Assigned Numbers RFC)
     im   Impress server address list
     ip   Host IP address
     lg   Log server address list
     lp   LPR server address list
     ns   IEN-116 name server address list
     nt   NTP (time) Server (RFC 1129)
     ra   Reply address override
     rl   Resource location protocol server address list
     rp   Root path to mount as root
     sa   TFTP server address client should use
     sm   Host subnet mask
     sw   Swap server address
     tc   Table continuation (points to similar "template" host entry)
     td   TFTP root directory used by "secure" TFTP servers
     to   Time offset in seconds from UTC
     ts   Time server address list
     vm   Vendor magic cookie selector
     yd   YP (NIS) domain name
     ys   YP (NIS) server address

     There is also a generic tag, Tn, where n is an RFC1084 vendor field tag
     number.  Thus it is possible to immediately take advantage of future
     extensions to RFC1084 without being forced to modify bootpd first.
     Generic data may be represented as either a stream of hexadecimal numbers
     or as a quoted string of ASCII characters.  The length of the generic
     '0x' or '0X').  Any IP addresses may alternatively be specified as a
     hostname, causing bootpd to lookup the IP address for that host name
     using gethostbyname(3).  If the ip tag is not specified, bootpd will
     determine the IP address using the entry name as the host name.  (Dummy
     entries use an invalid host name to avoid automatic IP lookup.)

     The ht tag specifies the hardware type code as either an unsigned deci-
     mal, octal, or hexadecimal integer or one of the following symbolic
     names: ethernet or ether for 10Mb Ethernet, ethernet3 or ether3 for 3Mb
     experimental Ethernet, ieee802, tr, or token-ring for IEEE 802 networks,
     pronet for Proteon ProNET Token Ring, or chaos, arcnet, or ax.25 for
     Chaos, ARCNET, and AX.25 Amateur Radio networks, respectively.  The ha
     tag takes a hardware address which may be specified as a host name or in
     numeric form.  Note that the numeric form must be specified in hexadeci-
     mal; optional periods and/or a leading '0x' may be included for readabil-
     ity.  The ha tag must be preceded by the ht tag (either explicitly or
     implicitly; see tc below).  If the hardware address is not specified and
     the type is specified as either "ethernet" or "ieee802", then bootpd will
     try to determine the hardware address using ether_hostton(3).

     The hostname, home directory, and bootfile are ASCII strings which may be
     optionally surrounded by double quotes (").  The client's request and the
     values of the hd and bf symbols determine how the server fills in the
     bootfile field of the bootp reply packet.

     If the client provides a file name it is left as is.  Otherwise, if the
     bf option is specified its value is copied into the reply packet.	If the
     hd option is specified as well, its value is prepended to the boot file
     copied into the reply packet.  The existence of the boot file is checked
     only if the bs=auto option is used (to determine the boot file size).  A
     reply may be sent whether or not the boot file exists.

     Some newer versions of tftpd(8) provide a security feature to change
     their root directory using the chroot(2) system call.  The td tag may be
     used to inform bootpd of this special root directory used by tftpd.  (One
     may alternatively use the bootpd -c chdir option.)  The hd tag is actu-
     ally relative to the root directory specified by the td tag.  For exam-
     ple, if the real absolute path to your BOOTP client bootfile is
     /tftpboot/bootfiles/bootimage, and tftpd uses /tftpboot as its "secure"
     directory, then specify the following in bootptab:

	   :td=/tftpboot:hd=/bootfiles:bf=bootimage:

     If your bootfiles are located directly in /tftpboot, use:

	   :td=/tftpboot:hd=/:bf=bootimage:

     The sa tag may be used to specify the IP address of the particular TFTP
     server you wish the client to use.  In the absence of this tag, bootpd
     will tell the client to perform TFTP to the same machine bootpd is run-
     ning on.

     The time offset to may be either a signed decimal integer specifying the
     client's time zone offset in seconds from UTC, or the keyword auto which
     uses the server's time zone offset.  Specifying the to symbol as a
     boolean has the same effect as specifying auto as its value.

     The bootfile size bs may be either a decimal, octal, or hexadecimal inte-
     RFC1084-style reply), or cmu (which always forces a CMU-style reply).

     The hn tag is strictly a boolean tag; it does not take the usual equals-
     sign and value.  Its presence indicates that the hostname should be sent
     to RFC1084 clients.  Bootpd attempts to send the entire hostname as it is
     specified in the configuration file; if this will not fit into the reply
     packet, the name is shortened to just the host field (up to the first
     period, if present) and then tried.  In no case is an arbitrarily-trun-
     cated hostname sent (if nothing reasonable will fit, nothing is sent).

     Often, many host entries share common values for certain tags (such as
     name servers, etc.).  Rather than repeatedly specifying these tags, a
     full specification can be listed for one host entry and shared by others
     via the tc (table continuation) mechanism.  Often, the template entry is
     a dummy host which doesn't actually exist and never sends bootp requests.
     This feature is similar to the tc feature of termcap(5) for similar ter-
     minals.  Note that bootpd allows the tc tag symbol to appear anywhere in
     the host entry, unlike termcap which requires it to be the last tag.
     Information explicitly specified for a host always overrides information
     implied by a tc tag symbol, regardless of its location within the entry.
     The value of the tc tag may be the hostname or IP address of any host
     entry previously listed in the configuration file.

     Sometimes it is necessary to delete a specific tag after it has been
     inferred via tc.  This can be done using the construction tag@ which
     removes the effect of tag as in termcap(5).  For example, to completely
     undo an IEN-116 name server specification, use :ns@: at an appropriate
     place in the configuration entry.	After removal with @, a tag is eligi-
     ble to be set again through the tc mechanism.

     Blank lines and lines beginning with "#" are ignored in the configuration
     file.  Host entries are separated from one another by newlines; a single
     host entry may be extended over multiple lines if the lines end with a
     backslash (\).  It is also acceptable for lines to be longer than 80
     characters.  Tags may appear in any order, with the following exceptions:
     the hostname must be the very first field in an entry, and the hardware
     type must precede the hardware address.

     An example /etc/bootptab file follows:

	   # Sample bootptab file (domain=andrew.cmu.edu)

	   .default:\
		   :hd=/usr/boot:bf=null:\
		   :ds=netserver, lancaster:\
		   :ns=pcs2, pcs1:\
		   :ts=pcs2, pcs1:\
		   :sm=255.255.255.0:\
		   :gw=gw.cs.cmu.edu:\
		   :hn:to=-18000:

	   carnegie:ht=6:ha=7FF8100000AF:tc=.default:
	   baldwin:ht=1:ha=0800200159C3:tc=.default:
	   wylie:ht=1:ha=00DD00CADF00:tc=.default:
	   arnold:ht=1:ha=0800200102AD:tc=.default:
	   bairdford:ht=1:ha=08002B02A2F9:tc=.default:
	   bakerstown:ht=1:ha=08002B0287C8:tc=.default:

	   hickman:ht=6:ha=7FFF810001BA:tc=.default:
	   lowber:ht=1:ha=00DD00CAF000:tc=.default:
	   mtoliver:ht=1:ha=00DD00FE1600:tc=.default:

FILES

     /etc/bootptab

SEE ALSO

     bootpd(8), tftpd(8)

     DARPA Internet Request For Comments RFC951, RFC1048, RFC1084, Assigned
     Numbers

FreeBSD 5.4		       October 31, 1991 		   FreeBSD 5.4

SPONSORED LINKS