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CHAPTER 12 TCP/IP CONFIGURATION
12-9
Using BOOTP to Configure the IP
Address
BOOTP is an alternative to rarp that has the advantage of allowing configuration of
the subnet mask and gateway. In order to use BOOTP to configure the IP address
make sure that BOOTP is installed and running on your host computer (it should
appear in the /etc/services file on your host as a real service; type man bootpd or refer
to your system documentation for information). BOOTP is usually started up via the
/etc/inetd.conf file, so you may need to enable it by removing the "#" in front of the
bootp entry in that file. For example, a typical bootp entry in the /etc/inetd.conf file
would be:
#bootp dgram udp wait /usr/etc/bootpd bootpd -i
Depending on the system, this entry might be called "bootps" instead of "bootp".
In order to enable BOOTP, simply use an editor to delete the "#" (if there is no "#",
then BOOTP is already enabled). Then edit the BOOTP configuration file (usually
/etc/bootptab) and enter the name, network type (1 for Ethernet), Ethernet address
and the IP address, subnet mask and gateway of the print server. Unfortunately, the
exact format for doing this is not standardized, so you will need to refer to your
system documentation to determine how to enter this information (many UNIX
systems also have template examples in the bootptab file that you can use for
reference). Some examples of typical /etc/bootptab entries include:
BRN_310107 1 00:80:77:31:01:07 192.189.207.3
and:
BRN_310107:ht=ethernet:ha=008077310107:\
ip=192.189.207.3:
Certain BOOTP host software implementations will not respond to BOOTP requests
if you have not included a download filename in the configuration file; if this is the
case, simply create a null file on the host and specify the name of this file and its path
in the configuration file.
As with rarp, the print server will load its IP address from the BOOTP server when
the printer is powered on.