Re: [9fans] Netbooting from Qemu

[Jerome Ibanes <jibanes@eskimo.com>]

As it appears, the (net)boot configuration, meaning the 'plan9.ini'
located in /cfg/pxe/xxxxxxxxxxxx, where 'xxxxxxxxxxxx' is the netbooted
host ethernet address, was missing nvram parameters, preventing the cpu
kernel (9pccpu) to proceed with the boot sequence.

If this parameter (nvram or nvr) is present, but incorrectly set, the
netbooted host will prompt for the machine's hostowner's key. If this
parameter is missing, the boot sequence halts.

Therefore I would like to ask the 9fans community what are the best
practices to host the nvram key in a diskless environment, in either a
qemu virtualized machine or physical hardware.

I am aware of serial Eeproms connecting to parallel ports to store the
nvram data ( http://rs-rlab.narod.ru/9nvram.html ), I find it a good
solution, but unfortunately, most "modern" hardware doesn't necessarly
include a parallel port anymore, or even a floppy disk.

I assume (perhaps incorrectly) that the netbooted host can not use a nvram
store located on kfs. Please share with the list if you are aware, or use
a different method to store your nvram data, either in virtualized
machines or physical hardware. Preferably without the use of disk/floppy
storage.


Sincerely,
  Jerome