Has anyone tried to use mkinitrd to access a NFS root partition?
It appears that the busybox mount program cannot mount a NFS
drive. Has anyone tried this?

thanks

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In alt.os.linux.slackware, Michael C Schrick dared to utter,
> Has anyone tried to use mkinitrd to access a NFS root partition?

Take a look at the Linux Terminal Server Project. They use tftp boot
roms to download a kernel, then mount a very small NFS root partition.

- --
It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise,
Than for a man to hear the song of fools.
Ecclesiastes 7:5
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+Alan Hicks+ <alan@lizella.network> wrote:
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>
> In alt.os.linux.slackware, Michael C Schrick dared to utter,
> > Has anyone tried to use mkinitrd to access a NFS root partition?
>
> Take a look at the Linux Terminal Server Project. They use tftp boot
> roms to download a kernel, then mount a very small NFS root partition.

Thanks for the response. The Linux Terminal Server Project is a
most excellent reference, and I've already looked there. I'm trying
something a little different. I'm trying to use the generic 2.6.7
kernel which was shipped in the testing directory in Slackware 10
without modification in a diskless client.

When I try to use the stock busybox mount command to mount a NFS
device, it responds with "Invalid argument". I tried downloading
the latest busybox and it responds with the same thing.

I've searched around the internet a little and it seems that others
have encountered this problem also. It may have something to do
with the 2.6.7 headers which I did not install.

In the meantime, I have recompiled the real mount program using
static links and it seems to be working. However, I would like
to use the busybox mount and was wondering if anyone else has seen
this problem, or better yet, got it to work.

thanks again

>
> - --
> It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise,
> Than for a man to hear the song of fools.
> Ecclesiastes 7:5
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> hZcnTsPx4mdAtdu09Ce+l40=
> =oyW+
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In alt.os.linux.slackware, Michael C Schrick dared to utter,
> Thanks for the response. The Linux Terminal Server Project is a
> most excellent reference, and I've already looked there.

Indeed. For diskless booting on linux, that's the first place to look.

> I'm trying
> something a little different. I'm trying to use the generic 2.6.7
> kernel which was shipped in the testing directory in Slackware 10
> without modification in a diskless client.

That may be asking for a bit much. That's a very generic kernel so you
ahve a lot of things to do. You've got to make an initrd with the
modules you need and load those in addition to mounting your root
partition via NFS. I'd recommend creating your own custom kernel with
all the support for everything you need built right in. Tackle this one
problem at a time.

> When I try to use the stock busybox mount command to mount a NFS
> device, it responds with "Invalid argument". I tried downloading
> the latest busybox and it responds with the same thing.
>
> In the meantime, I have recompiled the real mount program using
> static links and it seems to be working. However, I would like
> to use the busybox mount and was wondering if anyone else has seen
> this problem, or better yet, got it to work.

In that case the best place to ask would of course be the busybox
developers. busybox is meant to be a general purpose swiss-army knife
for small installs. It simply may not ahve the ability to mount an NFS
root partition.

- --
It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise,
Than for a man to hear the song of fools.
Ecclesiastes 7:5
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+Alan Hicks+ wrote:

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>
>> When I try to use the stock busybox mount command to mount a NFS
>> device, it responds with "Invalid argument". I tried downloading
>> the latest busybox and it responds with the same thing.
>>
>> In the meantime, I have recompiled the real mount program using
>> static links and it seems to be working. However, I would like
>> to use the busybox mount and was wondering if anyone else has seen
>> this problem, or better yet, got it to work.
>
> In that case the best place to ask would of course be the busybox
> developers. busybox is meant to be a general purpose swiss-army knife
> for small installs. It simply may not ahve the ability to mount an NFS
> root partition.
>
>

If I have correctly understood things, you need to build a root filesystem
usung RAMdisc, then mount the networked filesystem then pivot root to move
across.

No idea if it works with NFS, but I believe it does with AFS.