Installation is supported from several media types, including:

	FFS partitions
	Tape
	Remote NFS partition
	CD-ROM
	FTP
	HTTP

If you have the OpenBSD CD-ROM distribution (and a CD-ROM drive)
you can boot from it.  Otherwise, you will need to create a bootable
disk.  This may be a floppy or a hard disk (floppy is simplest).

To boot from CD-ROM:

	At the SRM console enter "show device" to find the device
	ID of your CD-ROM drive (the device ID is in the second
	column and should start with DKA).  If your drive shows up
	with a drive number with trailing zeros, you will want to
	ignore them (unless it is DKA0).  For example, if your
	cdrom is listed as DKA600, you want to use dka6 (device
	ID's are case insensitive).  Insert the OpenBSD/alpha CD
	and enter "boot -fi OSREV/alpha/bsd.rd DEVICE" where DEVICE is
	the dka device.  Note that the argument order is important
	here.  If this does not work, you'll have to create a boot
	floppy or bootable hard disk; follow the directions below.
	(A boot floppy image is included on the CD-ROM as
	OSREV/{:--:}MACHINE/floppy{:--:}OSrev.fs.)

If you have a floppy drive on your alpha:

	If you are using a UN*X-like system to write the floppy
	image to disk, you should use the "dd" command to copy the
	file system image (floppy{:--:}OSrev.fs) directly to the raw floppy
	disk.  It is suggested that you read the dd(1) manual page
	or ask your system administrator to determine the correct
	set of arguments to use; it will be slightly different from
	system to system, and a comprehensive list of the possibilities
	is beyond the scope of this document.

	If you are using a DOS PC to write the floppy image to
	disk, you should use the "rawrite" utility, provided in
	the "OSREV/tools" directory of the OpenBSD distribution.  It
	will write the file system image (floppy{:--:}OSrev.fs) to a disk.
	You can boot it using "boot dva0".

	If you are using a NT to write the floppy image to
	disk, you should use the "ntrw" utility, provided in
	the "OSREV/tools" directory of the OpenBSD distribution, instead.  

	Note that, when installing, the floppy can be write-protected (i.e.
	read-only).

If you don't have a floppy drive on your alpha:

	If you don't have a floppy drive you can copy the floppy
	image onto the hard disk you intend to install OpenBSD on.
	Doing so will overwrite the disk's old contents, however.

	You must use a UN*X-like system to write the floppy image
	to the hard disk you will be using for OpenBSD/alpha.  You
	should use the "dd" command to copy the file system image
	(floppy{:--:}OSrev.fs) directly to the raw 'c' device (whole disk) of
	the target hard disk.  It is suggested that you read the
	dd(1) manual page or ask your system administrator to
	determine the correct set of arguments to use; it will be
	slightly different from system to system, and a comprehensive
	list of the possibilities is beyond the scope of this
	document.

	Please note that this will put a floppy disklabel on your
	disk which will confuse the install script.  To fix this
	you need to answer "n" to the first question when booting
	your disk and do "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/rsd0c count=20"
	assuming your booted from sd0.  After doing this you will
	not be able to boot that disk again unless you complete
	the install.  You can now enter "install" and start the
	actual install process.

The steps necessary to prepare the distribution sets for installation
depend on which method of installation you choose.  Some methods
require a bit of setup first that is explained below.

To install or upgrade OpenBSD using a tape, you need to do the
following:

	To install OpenBSD from a tape, you need to make a tape
	that contains the distribution set files, in "tar" format.
	If you're making the tape on a UN*X-like system, the easiest
	way to do so is probably something like:

		tar cf <tape_device> <dist_directories>

	where "<tape_device>" is the name of the tape device that
	describes the tape drive you're using (possibly /dev/rst0,
	or something similar, but it will vary from system to
	system.  (If you can't figure it out, ask your system
	administrator.) In the above example, "<dist_directories>"
	are the distribution sets' directories, for the distribution
	sets you wish to place on the tape.  For instance, to put
	the "base{:--:}OSrev" and "etc{:--:}OSrev" distributions on tape (in order
	to do the absolute minimum installation to a new disk),
	you would do the following:

		cd .../OSREV		# the top of the tree
		cd MACHINE/
		tar cf <tape_device> base{:--:}OSrev etc{:--:}OSrev

	(Note that you still need to fill in "<tape_device>" in the
	example.)

	Once you have the files on the tape, you can proceed to
	the next step in the installation or upgrade process.  If
	you're installing OpenBSD from scratch, go to the section
	on preparing your hard disk, below.  If you're upgrading
	an existing installation, go directly to the section on
	upgrading.

To install OpenBSD using a remote partition, mounted via
NFS, you must do the following:

	NOTE:	This method of installation is recommended only for
		those already familiar with using BSD network
		configuration and management commands.  If you aren't,
		this documentation should help, but is not intended to
		be all-encompassing.

	Place the OpenBSD distribution sets you wish to install
	into a directory on an NFS server, and make that directory
	mountable by the machine on which you are installing or
	upgrading OpenBSD.  This will probably require modifying
	the /etc/exports file on of the NFS server and resetting
	its mount daemon (mountd).  (Both of these actions will
	probably require superuser privileges on the server.)

	You need to know the the numeric IP address of the NFS
	server, and, if the server is not on a network directly
	connected to the machine on which you're installing or
	upgrading OpenBSD, you need to know the numeric IP address
	of the router closest to the OpenBSD machine.  Finally,
	you need to know the numeric IP address of the OpenBSD
	machine itself.

	Once the NFS server is set up properly and you have the
	information mentioned above, you can proceed to the next
	step in the installation or upgrade process.  If you're
	installing OpenBSD from scratch, go to the section on
	preparing your hard disk, below.  If you're upgrading an
	existing installation, go directly to the section on
	upgrading.

If you are upgrading OpenBSD, you also have the option of installing
OpenBSD by putting the new distribution sets somewhere in your
existing file system, and using them from there.  To do that, you
must do the following:

	Place the distribution sets you wish to upgrade somewhere
	in your current file system tree.  At a bare minimum, you
	must upgrade the "base" binary distribution, and so must
	put the "base{:--:}OSrev" set somewhere in your file system.  If
	you wish, you can do the other sets, as well, but you should
	NOT upgrade the "etc" distribution; the "etc" distribution
	contains system configuration files that you should review
	and update by hand.

	Once you have done this, you can proceed to the next step
	in the upgrade process, actually upgrading your system.