BOOTPTAB(5) Carnegie Mellon University BOOTPTAB(5)NAMEbootptab - Internet Bootstrap Protocol server database
DESCRIPTION
The bootptab file is the configuration database file for bootpd, the
Internet Bootstrap Protocol server. It's 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 sepa‐
rated 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
dl DHCP lease time in seconds
dn Domain name
ds Domain name server address list
ef Extension file
ex York ex option (huh?)
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
ms Message size
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 num‐
bers 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 speci‐
fied 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 speci‐
fied 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 net‐
works, 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 explic‐
itly 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_hton(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 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
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 fol‐
lowing 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. It's presence indicates that the hostname
should be sent to RFC1084 clients. Bootpd attempts to send the entire
hostname (including domain) 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 noth‐
ing 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 oth‐
ers 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 term‐
cap(5) for similar terminals. Note that bootpd allows the tc tag sym‐
bol 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 con‐
figuration 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 appropri‐
ate 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 configura‐
tion 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
The definition file
SEE ALSObootpd(8), tftpd(8),
DARPA Internet Request For Comments RFC951, RFC1048, RFC1084, Assigned
Numbers
4.3 Berkeley Distribution 12 November 1995BOOTPTAB(5)
