Installation is supported from several media types, including:

	Local FFS partitions
	Tape
	Remote NFS partition
	FTP
	HTTP

Obviously, the steps necessary to prepare the distribution sets for
installation or upgrade depend on which installation medium you
choose.  The steps for the various media types are outlined 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 hp300
		tar cf <tape_device> base{:--:}OSrev.tgz etc{:--:}OSrev.tgz

	(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 or upgrade 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 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.