BOOTP and TFTP

Enable your host BOOTP and TFTP server

• Begin by logging in as root on the host where your configuration files are stored.
• Go to the /etc directory.
• Use a text editor to edit the inetd.conf file.
• Make sure you have only one tftp and one bootps entry without a "#" at the beginning of the line.

       /etc/inetd.conf
    --------------------------------------------------------------
    # Enabling this allows public read files to be accessed via TFTP.
    tftp	dgram	udp	wait	nouser	/etc/tftpd	tftpd
    # This is the more secure method, since only files from /tftpboot can
    # be accessed via TFTP.   This must be root in order to do the chroot
    # to /tftpboot.  /tftpboot must be created by hand.
    #tftp	dgram	udp	wait	root	/etc/tftpd	tftpd -s /tftpboot
    bootps	dgram	udp	wait	root	/etc/bootpd	bootpd
    --------------------------------------------------------------
  

• Save and exit out of the inetd.conf file.
• If you had to make any changes to inetd.conf the you will need to re-start the inetd process by sending it a kill signal e.g.
  • ps -ef | grep inetd, e.g.

    root   392     1  0   Jul-31       ?    00:00:09 /etc/inetd
        

  • kill -1 PID e.g. kill -1 392 in the above example

Bootp -D option

If you seem to be getting no responce from bootp, you can add the debug option (-D) to the command line in /etc/inetd.conf. This will cause various messages to be logged in /usr/adm/syslog. e.g.

  bootps	dgram	udp	wait	root	/etc/bootpd	bootpd -D
  

Verify a working TFTP

The following test will let you know if TFTP is working on your host. The test will copy a file from your /tftpboot directory to your /tmp directory. For step "c", substitute FILENAME for a file in /tftpboot. If the test fails, refer to your hosts UNIX documentation.

Run the following commands:

    
         cd /tmp                    <enter>
         tftp localhost             <enter>
         tftp> get FILENAME         <enter>
         tftp> <Control-d>          <enter>
         ls                         <enter>

Comments and suggestions always welcome - tom@tkrh.demon.co.uk