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BOOTP for Alpha firmware from a Linux box? |
brad
Member
Posts: 134
Location: Hopedale, MA USA
Joined: 15.12.05 |
| Posted on February 03 2007 10:44 |
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Hi Folks,
I need to update disk firmware on my PWS433au. I do not have the "proper" CD (since all the newer CD's no longer contain the proper FW update). My only (practical) alternative seems to be a BOOTP-served FW from a UNIX (TRU64?) box.
I'm wondering if the FW can be BOOTP-"served" from a Linux box (has anyone actually done this?)
MOP is not an option, since I have no other VMS gear on my home LAN. I've never used the floppy disk on this circa-1998 system, so I'm not even sure it would work (never mind the fact that I have no blank floppies, nor do I want to purchase them just for this "exercise" . |
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Re: BOOTP for Alpha firmware from a Linux box? |
HobbyistOne
Super Administrator
Posts: 126
Location: Plano, TX
Joined: 20.02.08 |
| Posted on February 05 2007 08:22 |
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[quote:2468c601be="brad"]Hi Folks,
I need to update disk firmware on my PWS433au. I do not have the "proper" CD (since all the newer CD's no longer contain the proper FW update). My only (practical) alternative seems to be a BOOTP-served FW from a UNIX (TRU64?) box.
I'm wondering if the FW can be BOOTP-"served" from a Linux box (has anyone actually done this?)
MOP is not an option, since I have no other VMS gear on my home LAN. I've never used the floppy disk on this circa-1998 system, so I'm not even sure it would work (never mind the fact that I have no blank floppies, nor do I want to purchase them just for this "exercise".[/quote:2468c601be]
This page lists gives some instructions on this, specifically section 5.8.3. Other sections are useful since they provide a dhcpd.conf definition for setting up a BOOTP boot server for an Alpha.
http://www.faqs.org/docs/Linux-HOWTO/SRM-HOWTO.html#DHCP-AND-BOOTPD-SERVER-SETUP |
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brad
Member
Posts: 134
Location: Hopedale, MA USA
Joined: 15.12.05 |
| Posted on February 05 2007 15:56 |
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Thanks, David! |
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Re: BOOTP for Alpha firmware from a Linux box? |
brad
Member
Posts: 134
Location: Hopedale, MA USA
Joined: 15.12.05 |
| Posted on February 10 2007 09:23 |
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[quote:334d13e11f="HobbyistOne"]
[...]
This page lists gives some instructions on this, specifically section 5.8.3. Other sections are useful since they provide a dhcpd.conf definition for setting up a BOOTP boot server for an Alpha.
http://www.faqs.org/docs/Linux-HOWTO/SRM-HOWTO.html#DHCP-AND-BOOTPD-SERVER-SETUP[/quote:334d13e11f]
One final question, for anyone out there -
I've set up bootpd on my Linux laptop as described in the link above, and I "downloaded" the .exe from HP onto my linux laptop via my Firefox web browser.
Do I need to worry about whether or not the file was transferred "correctly", (i.e., as if I did a binary FTP transfer) or am I just a worry-wart? :-) |
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HobbyistOne
Super Administrator
Posts: 126
Location: Plano, TX
Joined: 20.02.08 |
| Posted on February 10 2007 09:52 |
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I think the firmware loader checksums itself, so you should be okay. |
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brad
Member
Posts: 134
Location: Hopedale, MA USA
Joined: 15.12.05 |
| Posted on March 04 2007 14:07 |
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Just an update for those of you who might be considering this method of bootstrapping firmware:
- I needed to add "-p bootp" to the console boot command; otherwise, the boot command assumes MOP as the default protocol.
- The systems connected with each other, and the PWS console "saw" that there was a boot file to be loaded; however, every load request ended with "bootstrap failure". I tried stopping/restarting bootpd, changing file permissions on the firmware executable and /tftpboot - none of these changes made a bit of difference. Perhaps the executable downloaded from HP was somehow bad.
In any case, if anyone has a spare firmware CD, around the V7.2 "timeframe", and could burn a copy for me, I would greatly appreciate it!
bradhamilton -at- comcast net (you know how to fix this address). |
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RE: BOOTP for Alpha firmware from a Linux box? |
Altivo
Member
Posts: 86
Location: Illinois
Joined: 26.05.07 |
| Posted on April 15 2009 11:54 |
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So, has anyone ever gotten this to work? I'm trying to upgrade the firmware in a DS10, which currently has only 6-1. It's easy enough to get the 7-3 files from HP, but finding a way to install them is frustrating.
I've tried setting up BOOTP on a Linux station. The DS10 does contact the Linux host, because inetd starts the bootpd. However, whether I specify the file name to the DS10 console or only in the /etc/bootptab file on Linux, it never gets sent.
So I switched to the floppy disk method. Created and verified the three FAT disks required using a Windows XP workstation. No luck with that either, as LFU on the Alpha just complains that it can't find the file on the DVA0 device. The floppy drive itself seems to be OK, as I can read and write when there is an OS booted up on the machine, but SRM/LFU isn't happy with it for some reason.
CDs are apparently unavailable.
I don't have another VMS system to use MOP with.
And the VMS system disk on the DS10 is formatted in ODS-5, of course, so I can't load the firmware from there. This is a new install of VMS, so I could redo it and format the system disk in ODS-2, but given the experience so far, I'm reluctant to go through all that only to have it fail as well. |
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RE: BOOTP for Alpha firmware from a Linux box? |
Altivo
Member
Posts: 86
Location: Illinois
Joined: 26.05.07 |
| Posted on April 16 2009 00:42 |
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I certainly agree that using a CD is preferable. The problem was that using HP's support site, I couldn't find the downloadable CD image. They even have a detailed page with instructions for each of the other methods I listed above, and each method has a direct link to the downloadable files needed, but they omit the possibility of just burning a CD. They don't even drop a hint that you could use ODS-formatted floppy diskettes in this situation, either.
BOOTP really ought to do the job, but they obviously have left out too many details.
Now that you've provided a path to the necessary CD image, I'll try that route probably this morning.
This does bring up a nagging concern I've had for a while. HP is undoubtedly going to cut off all "official" support for the Alpha hardware before too much longer, yet they have bound up all these needed files and documents with "do not distribute" agreements and licenses like the one attached to this particular CD image. Where does that leave all of us if they just erase this material from their web servers without giving any permission for someone else to archive and distribute it?
A strong hobbyist group can do a lot to preserve and disseminate this information, and your own Hoffman Labs site is a fine example. Another good example is the support for the Tandy/Radio Shack Model 100 and 102 portable laptop computers, which is going strong 25 years after the machines were introduced. But we have to somehow gain the right to preserve and distribute all these supporting files and documents legally. (The Model 100 group succeeded in getting that for much of the Model 100 software, with the result that new peripherals and expansions for those old machines are still being introduced today.)
Edited by Altivo on April 16 2009 00:54 |
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RE: BOOTP for Alpha firmware from a Linux box? |
Altivo
Member
Posts: 86
Location: Illinois
Joined: 26.05.07 |
| Posted on April 16 2009 05:19 |
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Right as usual, and thanks. The CD did the job smoothly and without a hitch. Now VMS 8.3 will quit complaining that the SRM firmware is too old.
I double checked by going to the HP instruction page referred to at the top of your helpful instructions, and it is the same page I was looking at yesterday. It makes no mention at all of updating from a CD, or that you can download the CD image to create a copy for the purpose. Nor does it say that you can use an ODS formatted floppy diskette to boot from and perform the update (though I agree that a CD is probably safer.) |
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RE: BOOTP for Alpha firmware from a Linux box? |
mwheeler
Member
Posts: 4
Joined: 29.05.10 |
| Posted on May 30 2010 23:57 |
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I just acquired 3x Alpha 1000 4/266 boxes and found this page while googling. Thought I'd come back and update this on how I updated the SRM firmware using BOOTP.
Download the BOOTP firmware from HP. Place it in a folder accessible by a TFTP server. I renamed mine as alpha to make it easier.
I followed http://tldp.org/HOWTO/PA-RISC-Linux-Boot-HOWTO/bootnetwork.html on configuring BOOTP on debian. Main point is 4.3.5.2 of that article.
This is the bootptab config I used
aliminium:hd=/:\
:rp=/:\
:ht=ethernet:\
:ha=MAC:\
:ip=172.28.3.9:\
:bf=alpha:\
:sm=255.255.255.0:\
:to=7200:
172.28.3.9 needs to be replaced with the IP you want the Alpha to be, MAC is the MAC address of the alpha and alpha is the file name.
On a Cisco switch/router it is easiest to use below to allow bootp to work over different subnets. IP address is your BOOTP server.
ip helper-address 172.28.1.251
I attempted to setup BOOTP on a Cisco 3550 but appears it has to grab the file off the same address as the BOOTP server.
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