6.1 How to set up your network

GRUB requires a file server and optionally a server that will assign an IP address to the machine on which GRUB is running. For the former, only TFTP is supported at the moment. The latter is either BOOTP, DHCP or a RARP server¹. It is not necessary to run both the servers on one computer. How to configure these servers is beyond the scope of this document, so please refer to the manuals specific to those protocols/servers.

If you decided to use a server to assign an IP address, set up the server and run bootp (see bootp), dhcp (see dhcp) or rarp (see rarp) for BOOTP, DHCP or RARP, respectively. Each command will show an assigned IP address, a netmask, an IP address for your TFTP server and a gateway. If any of the addresses is wrong or it causes an error, probably the configuration of your servers isn't set up properly.

Otherwise, run ifconfig, like this:

     grub> ifconfig --address=192.168.110.23 --server=192.168.110.14

You can also use ifconfig in conjuction with bootp, dhcp or rarp (e.g. to reassign the server address manually). See ifconfig, for more details.

Finally, download your OS images from your network. The network can be accessed using the network drive `(nd)'. Everything else is very similar to the normal instructions (see Booting).

Here is an example:

     grub> bootp
     Probing... [NE*000]
     NE2000 base ...
     Address: 192.168.110.23    Netmask: 255.255.255.0
     Server: 192.168.110.14     Gateway: 192.168.110.1
     
     grub> root (nd)
     grub> kernel /tftproot/gnumach.gz root=sd0s1
     grub> module /tftproot/serverboot.gz
     grub> boot