boot(8) - NetBSD Manual Pages

BOOT(8)              NetBSD/mac68k System Manager's Manual             BOOT(8)


NAME

     boot -- system bootstrapping procedures


DESCRIPTION

   Power fail and crash recovery
     Normally, the NetBSD kernel on the mac68k architecture is booted from the
     native operating system by means of an application program.  When the
     kernel takes over, it initializes itself and proceeds to boot the system.
     An automatic consistency check of the file systems takes place, and
     unless this fails, the system comes up to multi-user operations.  The
     proper way to shut the system down is with the shutdown(8) command.

     If the system crashes, it will enter the kernel debugger, ddb(4), if it
     is configured in the kernel.  If the debugger is not present, or the
     debugger is exited, the system will attempt a dump to the configured dump
     device (which will be automatically recovered with savecore(8) during the
     next boot cycle).  After the dump is complete (successful or not), the
     system will attempt a reboot.

     On most mac68k machines with "soft-power" after the IIcx, the power
     switch can be physically rotated and locked in the 'on' position.  The
     native OS can be configured to automatically start the NetBSD boot pro-
     gram.  Additionally, the NetBSD boot program can be configured to boot
     NetBSD without intervention.  When a system is so configured, it can
     crash or lose power and reboot back to a fully multi-user state without
     any intervention.

   The boot application
     The boot application runs in the native OS on the system.  It has a dia-
     log where booting preferences may be changed and an option whereby these
     options may be saved.  The preferences are stored in the program itself,
     not in a preferences folder--thus allowing two separate copies of the
     program to be configured differently (e.g. to boot different netbsd or
     netbsd.test, or to boot from two different drives).

     One option that may be specified is a boot to single-user mode.  This
     stops the boot process very early on and allows system maintenance.  If
     one wishes to provide some security at this phase of the boot, remove the
     `secure' option from ttye0 in the ttys(5) file.

     Another useful option that may be specified is the "serial console"
     option.  This will allow a serial device (terminal or computer) to act as
     a console for the system.  This device must be configured to use 9600
     baud, eight bits, no parity, and one stop bit (9600-N81).  Either the
     printer port or the modem port (tty01 and tty00, respectively) may be
     used for this.

     It is sometimes useful to boot a kernel that resides in a folder in
     native OS rather than from the usual location in the NetBSD file system.
     A radio button is supplied for this purpose.  Note that some programs
     will not run properly if the kernel is not found as /netbsd within the
     NetBSD file system.


FILES

     /netbsd  system kernel


SEE ALSO

     ddb(4), ttys(5), savecore(8), shutdown(8)

NetBSD 9.1                       July 1, 1995                       NetBSD 9.1