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Add a section describing how to install FreeBSD on a headless machine.

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Submitted by:	Valentino Vaschetto <logo@osd.bsdi.com>
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Murray Stokely 2001-05-11 21:25:44 +00:00
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commit f91206245e
Notes: svn2git 2020-12-08 03:00:23 +00:00 
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en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/install/chapter.sgml
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<!--
The FreeBSD Documentation Project
$FreeBSD: doc/en_US.ISO_8859-1/books/handbook/install/chapter.sgml,v 1.64 2000/12/15 21:52:35 jim Exp $
$FreeBSD: doc/en_US.ISO_8859-1/books/handbook/install/chapter.sgml,v 1.65 2001/04/09 00:33:51 dd Exp $
-->
<chapter id="install">
@ -1817,6 +1817,172 @@
</qandaset>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="install-advanced">
<title>Advanced Installation Guide</title>
<para><emphasis>Written by &a.logo;, May 2001.</emphasis></para>
<para>This section describes how to install FreeBSD in exceptional
cases.</para>
<sect2 id="headless-install">
<title>Installing FreeBSD on a system without a monitor or
keyboard</title>
<para>This type of installation is called a "headless install",
because the machine that you are trying to install FreeBSD on
either doesnt have a monitor attached to it, or doesnt even
have a VGA output. How is this possible you ask? Using a
serial console. A serial console is basically using another
machine to act as the main display and keyboard for a
system. To do this, just follow these steps:</para>
<procedure>
<step>
<title>Fetch the right boot floppy images</title>
<para>First you will need to get the right disk images so
that you can boot into the install program. The secret
with using a serial console is that you tell the boot
loader to send I/O through a serial port instead of
displaying console output to the VGA device and trying to
read input from a local keyboard. Enough of that now,
let's get back to getting these disk images.</para>
<para>You will need to get <ulink url="ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/i386/&rel.current;-RELEASE/floppies/kern.flp">kern.flp</ulink> and
<ulink url="ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/i386/&rel.current;-RELEASE/floppies/mfsroot.flp">
mfsroot.flp</ulink> from the
<ulink url="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/i386/&rel.current;-RELEASE/floppies/">
floppies directory</ulink>.</para>
</step>
<step>
<title>Write the image files to the floppy disks.</title>
<para>The image files, such as
<filename>kern.flp</filename>, are
<emphasis>not</emphasis> regular files that you copy to
the disk. Instead, they are images of the complete
contents of the disk.</para>
<para>This means that you can <emphasis>not</emphasis> use
commands like DOS' <command>copy</command> to write the
files. Instead, you must use specific tools to write the
images directly to the disk.</para>
<para>If you are creating the floppies on a computer running
DOS then we provide a tool to do this called
<command>fdimage</command>.</para>
<para>If you are using the floppies from the CD-ROM, and
your CD-ROM is the <devicename>E:</devicename> drive then
you would run this:</para>
<screen><prompt>E:\&gt;</prompt> <userinput>tools\fdimage floppies\kern.flp A:</userinput></screen>
<para>Repeat this command for each <filename>.flp</filename>
file, replacing the floppy disk each time. Adjust the
command line as necessary, depending on where you have
placed the <filename>.flp</filename> files. If you do not
have the CD-ROM then <command>fdimage</command> can be
downloaded from the <ulink
url="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/tools/"><filename>tools</filename>
directory</ulink> on the FreeBSD FTP site.</para>
<para>If you are writing the floppies on a Unix system (such
as another FreeBSD system) you can use the &man.dd.1;
command to write the image files directly to disk. On
FreeBSD you would run:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>dd if=kern.flp of=/dev/rfd0</userinput></screen>
<para>On FreeBSD <filename>/dev/rfd0</filename> refers to
the first floppy disk (the <devicename>A:</devicename>
drive). <filename>/dev/rfd1</filename> would be the
<devicename>B:</devicename> drive, and so on. Other Unix
variants might have different names for the floppy disk
devices, and you will need to check the documentation for
the system as necessary.</para>
</step>
<step>
<title>Enabling the boot floppies to boot into a serial
console</title>
<para>If you were to boot into the floppies that you just
made, FreeBSD would boot into its normal install mode. We
want FreeBSD to boot into a serial console for our
install. To do this, you have to mount the
<filename>kern.flp</filename> floppy onto your FreeBSD
system using the &man.mount.8; command.</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>mount /dev/rfd0 /mnt</userinput></screen>
<para>Now that you have the floppy mounted, you must
change into the floppy directory</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>cd /mnt</userinput></screen>
<para>Here is where you must set the floppy to boot into a
serial console. You have to make a file called
<filename>boot.config</filename> containing "/boot/loader
-h". All this does is pass a flag to the bootloader to
boot into a serial console.</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>echo "/boot/loader -h" > boot.config</userinput></screen>
<para>Now that you have your floppy configured correctly,
you must unmount the floppy using the &man.umount.8;
command</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>cd /</userinput>
&prompt.root; <userinput>umount /mnt</userinput></screen>
<para>Now you can remove the floppy from the floppy
drive</para>
</step>
<step>
<title>Connecting your null modem cable</title>
<para>You now need to connect a null modem cable between
the two machines. Just connect the cable to the serial
ports of the 2 machines. <emphasis>A normal serial cable
will not work here</emphasis>, you need a null modem
cable because it has some of the wires inside crossed
over.</para>
</step>
<step>
<title>Booting up for the install</title>
<para>It's now time to go ahead and start the install. Put
the <filename>kern.flp</filename> floppy in the floppy
drive of the machine you're doing the headless install
on, and power on the machine.</para>
</step>
<step>
<title>Connecting to your headless machine</title>
<para>Now you have to connect to that machine with
&man.cu.1;:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>cu -l /dev/cuaa0</userinput></screen>
</step>
</procedure>
<para>That's it! You should be able to control the headless
machine through your cu session now. It will ask you to put
in the <filename>mfsroot.flp</filename>, and then it will come
up with a selection of what kind of terminal to use. Just
select the FreeBSD color console and proceed with your
install!</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
</chapter>
<!--

168
en_US.ISO_8859-1/books/handbook/install/chapter.sgml
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@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
<!--
The FreeBSD Documentation Project
$FreeBSD: doc/en_US.ISO_8859-1/books/handbook/install/chapter.sgml,v 1.64 2000/12/15 21:52:35 jim Exp $
$FreeBSD: doc/en_US.ISO_8859-1/books/handbook/install/chapter.sgml,v 1.65 2001/04/09 00:33:51 dd Exp $
-->
<chapter id="install">
@ -1817,6 +1817,172 @@
</qandaset>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="install-advanced">
<title>Advanced Installation Guide</title>
<para><emphasis>Written by &a.logo;, May 2001.</emphasis></para>
<para>This section describes how to install FreeBSD in exceptional
cases.</para>
<sect2 id="headless-install">
<title>Installing FreeBSD on a system without a monitor or
keyboard</title>
<para>This type of installation is called a "headless install",
because the machine that you are trying to install FreeBSD on
either doesnt have a monitor attached to it, or doesnt even
have a VGA output. How is this possible you ask? Using a
serial console. A serial console is basically using another
machine to act as the main display and keyboard for a
system. To do this, just follow these steps:</para>
<procedure>
<step>
<title>Fetch the right boot floppy images</title>
<para>First you will need to get the right disk images so
that you can boot into the install program. The secret
with using a serial console is that you tell the boot
loader to send I/O through a serial port instead of
displaying console output to the VGA device and trying to
read input from a local keyboard. Enough of that now,
let's get back to getting these disk images.</para>
<para>You will need to get <ulink url="ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/i386/&rel.current;-RELEASE/floppies/kern.flp">kern.flp</ulink> and
<ulink url="ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/i386/&rel.current;-RELEASE/floppies/mfsroot.flp">
mfsroot.flp</ulink> from the
<ulink url="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/i386/&rel.current;-RELEASE/floppies/">
floppies directory</ulink>.</para>
</step>
<step>
<title>Write the image files to the floppy disks.</title>
<para>The image files, such as
<filename>kern.flp</filename>, are
<emphasis>not</emphasis> regular files that you copy to
the disk. Instead, they are images of the complete
contents of the disk.</para>
<para>This means that you can <emphasis>not</emphasis> use
commands like DOS' <command>copy</command> to write the
files. Instead, you must use specific tools to write the
images directly to the disk.</para>
<para>If you are creating the floppies on a computer running
DOS then we provide a tool to do this called
<command>fdimage</command>.</para>
<para>If you are using the floppies from the CD-ROM, and
your CD-ROM is the <devicename>E:</devicename> drive then
you would run this:</para>
<screen><prompt>E:\&gt;</prompt> <userinput>tools\fdimage floppies\kern.flp A:</userinput></screen>
<para>Repeat this command for each <filename>.flp</filename>
file, replacing the floppy disk each time. Adjust the
command line as necessary, depending on where you have
placed the <filename>.flp</filename> files. If you do not
have the CD-ROM then <command>fdimage</command> can be
downloaded from the <ulink
url="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/tools/"><filename>tools</filename>
directory</ulink> on the FreeBSD FTP site.</para>
<para>If you are writing the floppies on a Unix system (such
as another FreeBSD system) you can use the &man.dd.1;
command to write the image files directly to disk. On
FreeBSD you would run:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>dd if=kern.flp of=/dev/rfd0</userinput></screen>
<para>On FreeBSD <filename>/dev/rfd0</filename> refers to
the first floppy disk (the <devicename>A:</devicename>
drive). <filename>/dev/rfd1</filename> would be the
<devicename>B:</devicename> drive, and so on. Other Unix
variants might have different names for the floppy disk
devices, and you will need to check the documentation for
the system as necessary.</para>
</step>
<step>
<title>Enabling the boot floppies to boot into a serial
console</title>
<para>If you were to boot into the floppies that you just
made, FreeBSD would boot into its normal install mode. We
want FreeBSD to boot into a serial console for our
install. To do this, you have to mount the
<filename>kern.flp</filename> floppy onto your FreeBSD
system using the &man.mount.8; command.</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>mount /dev/rfd0 /mnt</userinput></screen>
<para>Now that you have the floppy mounted, you must
change into the floppy directory</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>cd /mnt</userinput></screen>
<para>Here is where you must set the floppy to boot into a
serial console. You have to make a file called
<filename>boot.config</filename> containing "/boot/loader
-h". All this does is pass a flag to the bootloader to
boot into a serial console.</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>echo "/boot/loader -h" > boot.config</userinput></screen>
<para>Now that you have your floppy configured correctly,
you must unmount the floppy using the &man.umount.8;
command</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>cd /</userinput>
&prompt.root; <userinput>umount /mnt</userinput></screen>
<para>Now you can remove the floppy from the floppy
drive</para>
</step>
<step>
<title>Connecting your null modem cable</title>
<para>You now need to connect a null modem cable between
the two machines. Just connect the cable to the serial
ports of the 2 machines. <emphasis>A normal serial cable
will not work here</emphasis>, you need a null modem
cable because it has some of the wires inside crossed
over.</para>
</step>
<step>
<title>Booting up for the install</title>
<para>It's now time to go ahead and start the install. Put
the <filename>kern.flp</filename> floppy in the floppy
drive of the machine you're doing the headless install
on, and power on the machine.</para>
</step>
<step>
<title>Connecting to your headless machine</title>
<para>Now you have to connect to that machine with
&man.cu.1;:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>cu -l /dev/cuaa0</userinput></screen>
</step>
</procedure>
<para>That's it! You should be able to control the headless
machine through your cu session now. It will ask you to put
in the <filename>mfsroot.flp</filename>, and then it will come
up with a selection of what kind of terminal to use. Just
select the FreeBSD color console and proceed with your
install!</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
</chapter>
<!--