How to Use the BOOTP Service

The NetSight BOOTP service (available for Windows only) enables the Inventory Manager workstation to also be a BOOTP server. This allows the workstation to supply devices with firmware images (or other basic identity information) in the event the device's current firmware image becomes corrupt. You may also choose to force a device into a BOOTP state in order to have a new firmware image downloaded from the network.

In order for BOOTP to work, you must have a BOOTP and TFTP service set up on the network, and you need a bootptab file, which provides the basic device information (device name, IP address, and appropriate firmware image) to the BOOTP service when required.

BOOTP requests are broadcast messages. Routers must be configured to forward BOOTP requests to the BOOTP service, a process sometimes called IP Helper Addressing. Refer to your X-Pedition Router's User Reference Manual for information on configuring IP Helper.

  TIP: The BOOTP service monitors BOOTP requests on the network. NetSight Console can be configured to display those requests, which will aid in recovering devices in a BOOTP state.

Creating a Bootptab File

A bootptab file is a simple ASCII text file that contains basic device information (device name, IP address, and appropriate firmware image) for each device on the network that will use the BOOTP service. You can use Inventory Manager to create a bootptab file automatically, or create it yourself manually.

Creating a bootptab file automatically

  1. In the menu bar, select Tools > Create BOOTP Tab.
  2. The Save BOOTP Tab window opens allowing you to save the file in the desired directory.
     NOTE:If you are using the NetSight BOOTP service, you must save the bootptab file to the <install directory>\services directory.
  3. The bootptab file is automatically created in the selected directory. The file has an entry for every device (organized by subnet), using the following format:

    device1:ht=1:ha=00001da0b0c0:ip=192.168.1.2:bf=image1.hex
    device2:ht=1:ha=00001da1b1c1:ip=192.168.1.3:hd=image/path:bf=image2.fls

    Description of bootptab file parameters:
    • Device host name -- If desired, you can replace the devicex parameter with a unique host name or, if your devices are registered in a DNS, with the registered host name from the DNS map.
    • ht= -- Specifies the host network type. The value is an unsigned decimal, octal, or hexadecimal integer, or a symbolic name. The value "1" represents 10Mb Ethernet (based on industry standard BOOTP implementation).
    • ha= -- Specifies the hardware address (MAC address) that Inventory Manager is using.
    • ip= -- Specifies the device's IP address that Inventory Manager is using.
    • hd= -- Specifies the home directory path to the image file. This is an optional parameter and is used when the image file is in a different directory than either the TFTP server's default directory or root directory path. The home directory is either the absolute path or the offset from the TFTP server's root path.
    • bf= -- Specifies the Reference Image for that device (if set), or the last firmware image version downloaded to that device through Inventory Manager.
     NOTE:In a BOOTP situation, you will need to edit the ha parameter in the file to match the MAC address in the requesting message, and supply any missing parameters such as the bf parameter.

Creating a bootptab file manually

Inventory Manager provides a sample bootptab file located in the <install directory>\services directory. Use this file as a template or an example when you create your own bootptab file.

  1. Open the sample bootptab file in a text editor.
  2. Enter a list of devices using the format provided in the examples at the top of the file.
  3. Save the bootptab file in the <install directory>\services directory.
  NOTE: However you create or modify the bootptab file, remember that the filename must not have an extension. This is important because most text editors will append their own default extension on a new file. If you edit an existing bootptab file and do a Save instead of a Save As, then the filename should stay the same.

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