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This manual page collects the incantations required to bootstrap
Plan 9 and Plan B machines. Some of the information here is specific
to the installation at URJC; some is generic.
If a CPU server is up, PXE using BOOTP/DHCP and TFTP is the preferred
method for booting.; if not, using a floppy to keep the kernel
and minimum configuration may be of help.
Be sure to read boot(8) to understand what happens after the kernel
is loaded.
Plan 9 terminals
To bootstrap a diskless terminal or a CPU server, a file server
must be running. PCs can boot from PXE, a floppy disk, or any
FAT16 partition. On all the terminals, typing two control–T's followed
by a lower–case r reboots the machine; other methods of rebooting
are mentioned for some machines.
Plan B terminals
To bootstrap a Plan B, proceed like on a Plan 9 terminal, but
specify init=/386/bin/bns in plan9.ini to use bns(8) as the init
program. You may need to specify rootspec=main/active (or whatever)
and usrspec=main/active (or something else). It is customary to
set sysname in this file as well,
and to set planb=yes as a safety measure.
PCs
To boot a PC, it is necessary to get /386/9load loaded into memory.
There are many ways to do this. PXE can load /386/9pxeload into
memory and proceed. A Plan 9 boot floppy prepared by format (see
prep(8)) will load 9load when the PC is reset or powered on. Other
methods are described in 9load(8).
9load then locates and loads a Plan 9 kernel, using configuration
information from the file plan9.ini stored in the 9fat configuration
partition or on a DOS file system. See 9load(8) for details.
Once the kernel is booted, it behaves like the others. See boot(8)
for details.
CPU Servers
The Plan 9 CPU servers are multi–user, so they do not request a
user name when booting. On the CPU servers, typing a control–P
on the console reboots the machine.
PC CPU Server
Proceed as for the PC terminal, but load /386/9pccpu or /386/9pccpudisk.
File servers
Fossil is the primary file server. It runs on CPU servers. However,
the old venerable file server kernel is still available. What
follows refers to these distinct systems.
The file servers accept only the commands described in fs(8) on
their consoles.
PC File Server
Boot the PC file server like a regular PC, loading the appropriate
file system kernel.
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