Installation is supported from several media types, including: NFS partitions FTP Tape The steps necessary to prepare the distribution sets for installation depend on which method of installation you choose. The various methods are explained below. To prepare for installing via an NFS partition: Place the OpenBSD software you wish to install into a directory on an NFS server, and make that directory mountable by the machine which you will be installing OpenBSD on. This will probably require modifying the /etc/exports file of the NFS server and resetting mountd, acts which will require superuser privileges. Note the numeric IP address of the NFS server and of the router closest to the the new OpenBSD machine, if the NFS server is not on a network which is directly attached to the OpenBSD machine. If you are using a diskless setup to install OpenBSD on your machine, you can take advantage of the fact that the above has already been done on your machine's server. So, you can conveniently put the OpenBSD filesets in your machine's root filesystem on the server where the install program can find them. Once you have done this, you can proceed to the next step in the installation process, preparing your system for OpenBSD installation. To prepare for installing via FTP: NOTE: this method of installation is recommended only for those already familiar with using the BSD network-manipulation commands and interfaces. If you aren't, this documentation should help, but is not intended to be all-encompassing. The preparations for this method of installation are easy: all you have to do is make sure that there's some FTP site from which you can retrieve the OpenBSD installation when it's time to do the install. You should know the numeric IP address of that site, the numeric IP address of your nearest router if one is necessary Once you have done this, you can proceed to the next step in the installation process, preparing your system for OpenBSD installation. To prepare for installing via a tape: To install OpenBSD from a tape, you need to somehow make a boot tape on the appropriate kind of tape. The files needed for this are: stboot - The Motorola VID block bootst - The bootstrap program bsd.rd.gz - The ramdisk installation kernel If you're making the tape on a UN*X system, the easiest way to do so is: dd obs=512 if=stboot of= dd obs=512 if=bootst of= dd conv=sync obs=512 if=bsd.rd.gz of= where "" is the name of the tape device that describes the tape drive you're using (possibly something like /dev/nrst0, but we make no guarantees 8-). Now you need to get the OpenBSD filesets you wish to install on your system on to the appropriate kind of tape, in tar format. If you're making the tape on a UN*X system, the easiest way to do so is: tar cvf where "" is the name of the tape device that describes the tape drive you're using (possibly something like /dev/nrst0, but again, we make no guarantees 8-). Under SunOS 5.x, this would be something like /dev/rmt/0mbn. Again, your mileage may vary. If you can't figure it out, ask your system administrator. "" are the names of the "set_name.nnn" files which you want to be placed on the tape. Once you have done this, you can proceed to the next step in the installation process, preparing your system for OpenBSD installation.