Jeff,
There is an existing RFE for this capability - the RFE # is 20166. The description is not yet available on the NOW site... you can track this RFE using BugWatcher.
For those that are not familiar with BugWatcher: Go to the NOW site http://now.netapp.com/ Click on Knowledge Center Click on Access Software Bug Tools Click on Bug Finder and put in the id 20166 Then at the bottom of the next page you will be able to select BugWatcher You will be notified when the bug is fixed (or if the RFE is completed) by e-mail.
I've added your description to the RFE as well...
Thank you!
:-----Original Message----- :From: Jeffrey Krueger [mailto:jkrueger@qualcomm.com] :Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2000 2:11 PM :To: toasters@mathworks.com :Subject: RFE: Network boot capavility in NetApp firmware : : :I'd like to propose an RFE and see what everyone else things :about it. If everyone would just add their comments on, that would be :great. I suppose this is an RFC for an RFE. =) : :Once we all feel comfortable with the RFE, it would be great :if we could all forward it up our sales/support channels. Something tells :me we aren't the only customer who would like to see this feature. =) : :-- Jeff : : :*************************************************************** :************** :RFE: Network boot capability in NetApp firmware : :WHAT: :===== :Add the ability to boot the OS from the network using a command such :as "boot net" from the filer firmware "ok>" prompt. : :WHY: :==== :Current booting options are from floppy disk or from SCSI/FC-AL primary :storage. Adding the ability to do this over the network from :a BOOTP/TFTP :server would allow: : : 1) Quicker/easier ONTAP upgrades and repairs : 2) Ease of use in a lab environment : :Quicker/easier ONTAP upgrades and repairs: :------------------------------------------ :Currently, upgrading between some major OS releases requires booting at :least once from floppies. Considering that with ONTAP 6.0 :three floppies :are necessary, it is extremely difficult for one person to :simultaneously :upgrade many machines in one physical location and impossible :to upgrade :machines in different physical locations. Additionally, when :a NetApp has :a non-bootable root volume due to corruption or less than n-1 disks :visible, the only option is to boot with a floppy. This means downtime :until someone can build the correct boot disks to resolve the :problem and :physically reach the machine with those floppies. Even in a single :building this process can take several minutes. On a large :campus, a trip :to the filer could take up to an hour, and for remote sites it could be :days. : :With network booting, the new OS image could be put into place :and several :machines in any location can be upgraded in lockstep simply by :accessing :the serial console and executing "boot net" on each one. :NetApp advertises :5 minute downtime for upgrades which is true in the single-filer :environment. Any customer with 30+ filers in more than one :location knows :that a full production upgrade can take much longer. :Repairing a machine :would be much easier with Network boot since disks would not have to be :built, yet the filer could be booted from any image necessary without :anyone physically traveling to the machine. Network booting :also removes :the risk of having built a bad floppy which occurs frequently. : :Ease of use in a lab environment: :--------------------------------- :Our lab environment is also difficult to manage with the current set of :boot options. We run several variants of ONTAP in the lab :including one or :two versions that are currently in production for testing new :hardware and :configuration changes and many new versions for testing new :hardware and :new features. To manage this, we do a boot from floppy and :menu choice #4, :initialize all disks, to two NetApp hard drives for each OS. :This approach :has many disadvantages including a massive consumption of hard :drives in :our lab, the tedious and time consuming process of initialize :and setting :up a new filer, and the maintenance of configuration across several :different OS's on the same machine. : :With network booting we would not have to waste a pair of :disks ONTAP for :each new ONTAP version we test - a single pair will do. The disk :initialization process would only have to be executed once :instead of once :per ONTAP version. Finally, we could manage one set of :configuration files :for all different versions. : :Granted, some major OS versions have incompatible WAFL formats and :configuration files; however, maintaining a different set of :disks between :major releases is much easier than doing it between each :release, no matter :how minor. : :HOW: :==== :We'll leave the implementation up to Network Appliance; :however, we suggest :that they use standards based ways of doing this. Filer IP resolution :could be done using RARP/BOOTP and/or DHCP. The former are :probably easier :and are fairly standard for "in-firmware" address resolution. DHCP is :probably more code to write, but might be necessary for :NT-only customers. :For boot-file transmition, TFTP would work just fine and servers are :available for both UNIX and NT. :