Installing and Administering Internet Services

176 Chapter 5
Configuring TFTP and BOOTP Servers
Adding Client or Relay Information
Adding Client or Relay Information
To allow a client to boot from your local system or to allow a bootrequest
to be relayed to the appropriate boot server, you must add information
about the client in your /etc/bootptab file. bootpd uses the
/etc/bootptab file as the database for two types of entries:
• Client entries that contain information that allows the clients to boot
from your system.
• Relay entries that contain information to relay the bootrequest to one
or more BOOTP servers.
Collecting Client Information
To make an entry for the client in the /etc/bootptab file, you need to
collect the following information about the client:
• Host name—the name of the client’s system.
• Hardware type—the type of network interface.
• Link level address—the client’s hardware address.
• IP address—the client’s assigned internet address.
• Subnet mask—the mask (IP address) that identifies the network
where the client resides.
• Gateway address—the gateway from the client’s local subnet.
• Boot file—the name of the file that the client will retrieve using tftp.
Collecting Relay Information
To make a relay entry for the client in the /etc/bootptab file, you need
to collect the following information about the client:
• Host name—the name of the client’s system.
• Hardware type—the type of network interface (IEEE 802.3 or
Ethernet).
• Link level address—the client’s hardware address.