Installation is supported from several media types, including: DOS floppies Tape Remote NFS partition FTP rsh & restore No matter which installation medium you choose, you'll need to have two floppy disks (either 1.2M or 1.44 will work, though both should be the same type). On the first, you'll put the kernel-copy image that's appropriate for your system. On the second, you'll put the install or upgrade floppy image, depending on whether you're installing OpenBSD for the first time, or upgrading a previous installation. If you are using a UN*X-like system to write the floppy images to disks, you should use the "dd" command to copy the file system images (.fs files) directly to the raw floppy disks. 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 DOS to write the floppy images to disks, you should use the "rawrite" utility, provided in the "i386/utilities" directory of the OpenBSD distribution. It will write the file system images (.fs files) to disks. Note that, when installing, the kernel-copy floppy can be write-protected (i.e. read-only), but the install floppy MUST not be write-protected. The install program needs to write some temporary files, and if the disk is write-protected, it can't. If you're upgrading your system, both the kernel-copy and upgrade floppies may be write-protected. 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 are outlined below. To install or upgrade OpenBSD using DOS floppies, you need to do the following: Count the number of "set_name.xx" files that make up the distribution sets you want to install or upgrade. You will need one fifth that number of 1.2M floppies, or one sixth that number of 1.44M floppies. You should only use one size of floppy for the install or upgrade procedure; you can't use some 1.2M floppies and some 1.44M floppies. Format all of the floppies with DOS. DO NOT make any of them bootable DOS floppies, i.e. don't use "format/s" to format them. (If the floppies are bootable, then the DOS system files that make them bootable will take up some space, and you won't be able to fit as many distribution set parts per disk.) If you're using floppies that are formatted for DOS by their manufacturers, they probably aren't bootable, and you can use them out of the box. Place all of the "set_name.xx" files on the DOS disks, five per disk if you're using 1.2M disks, six per disk if you're using 1.44M disks. How you do this is up to you; there are many possibilities. You could, for instance, use a DOS terminal program to download them on to the floppies, or use a UN*X-like system capable of reading and writing DOS file systems (either with "mtools" or a real DOS file system) to place them on the disk. Once you have the files on DOS disks, 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 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 where "" 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, "" are the distribution sets' directories, for the distribution sets you wish to place on the tape. For instance, to put the "base20" and "etc20" distributions on tape (in order to do the absolute minimum installation to a new disk), you would do the following: cd .../1.2 # the top of the tree cd i386/ tar cf base20 etc20 (Note that you still need to fill in "" 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 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. To install or upgrade OpenBSD by using FTP to get the installation sets, 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. The preparations for this installation/upgrade method are easy; all you make sure that there's some FTP site from which you can retrieve the OpenBSD distribution when you're about to install or upgrade. You need to know the numeric IP address of that site, and, if it's 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 you have this information, 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 "base20" 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.