Configuring and Managing MPE/iX Internet Services (August 2002)

Chapter 4

BOOTP Service

Troubleshooting bootpd

The BOOTPQRY program is a diagnostic tool used to check the configuration of bootpd. It uses the supplied

parameters to construct a boot request to send to a BOOTP server. It prints the contents of the boot reply,

including the client’s Internet address, the name of a boot file, and the name and address of the server that

sent the reply. BOOTPQRY formats and prints RFC1048 or CMU-style vendor information included in the reply.

The boot request packet is broadcast on the BOOTP server port. Responding servers return a bootreply packet

on the BOOTP client port. BOOTPQRY can only display bootreply packets when the BOOTP server broadcasts the

reply on the client port or when the hardware address and IP address supplied in the boot request are those of

the host on which BOOTPQRY is run.

To use the BOOTPQRY program to troubleshoot bootpd, do the following:

1. Open the bootpd configuration file and look for the entry describing the network device you want to test.

2. When you find the entry, add the ba tag to it. This will force bootpd to broadcast the reply so that

BOOTPQRY can display it.

3. Run the BOOTPQRY program by entering the BOOTPQRY command followed by the hardware address of the

network you are testing, expressed in hexadecimal notation. For example, at the CI prompt you would

enter:

:BOOTPQRY.NET.SYS 08000902CA00

Or, from the POSIX shell, you would enter:

$/etc/bootpquery 08000902CA00

Diagnostic Options

The following options provide the information for the boot request:

Option Purpose

haddr The hardware address of the BOOTP client to use in the boot request. A BOOTP server

responds if it has configuration information for a host with this link level address.

htype The type of address specified as haddr, which may be ether or ieee802. The default

address type is ether.

-i<ipaddr> The Internet address of the BOOTP client <ipaddr> to use in the boot request. If the BOOTP

client doesn’t know its IP address, the BOOTP server supplies it in the bootreply. Otherwise,

the server returns the bootreply directly to ipaddr.

-s<server> The name of the BOOTP server <server> to which the boot request should be sent directly.

When the BOOTP server is known, the boot request is not broadcast.

-v<vendor> Request vendor information for <vendor>. The vendor can be specified as rfc1048 or CMU.

For any other vendor specification, the first four characters of the parameter are used as the

vendor magic cookie.

-f<bootfile> Specify a boot file needed by the BOOTP client. If a boot file is specified in the boot request,

the BOOTP server responds only if the server host can make the file available via TFTP.

Sample Diagnostic Results

Here is an example of BOOTPQRY output: