NAME
bootptab
—
Internet Bootstrap Protocol server
database
DESCRIPTION
Thebootptab
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 currently 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 data is
automatically determined and inserted into the proper field(s) of the
RFC1084-style bootp reply.
The following tags take a whitespace-separated list of IP
addresses: cs,
ds,
gw,
im,
lg,
lp,
ns,
nt,
ra,
rl, and
ts. The
ip, sa,
sw,
sm, and
ys tags each
take a single IP address. All IP addresses are specified in standard
Internet "dot" notation and may use decimal, octal, or hexadecimal
numbers (octal numbers begin with 0, hexadecimal numbers begin with '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 decimal, 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 hexadecimal; optional periods and/or a leading '0x' may be
included for readability. 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
actually relative to the root directory specified by the
td tag. For example, 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 running 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 integer specifying the size of the bootfile in 512-octet blocks, or the keyword auto which causes the server to automatically calculate the bootfile size at each request. As with the time offset, specifying the bs symbol as a boolean has the same effect as specifying auto as its value.
The vendor magic cookie selector (the vm tag) may take one of the following keywords: auto (indicating that vendor information is determined by the client's request), rfc1048 or rfc1084 (which always forces an 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-truncated
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 does not actually exist and never sends
bootp requests. This feature is similar to the tc feature
of termcap(5) for similar terminals. 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 eligible 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: # Special domain name server and option tags for next host butlerjct:ha=08002001560D:ds=128.2.13.42:\ :T37=0x12345927AD3BCF:\ :T99="Special ASCII string":\ :tc=.default: gastonville:ht=6:ha=7FFF81000A47:tc=.default: hahntown:ht=6:ha=7FFF81000434: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
DARPA Internet Request For Comments RFC951, RFC1048, RFC1084, Assigned Numbers