PNP(3R) — UNIX Programmer’s Manual

NAME

pnp - automatic network installation

PROTOCOL

/usr/include/rpcsvc/pnprpc.x

AVAILABILITY

Sun386i systems only.

DESCRIPTION

pnp() is used during unattended network installation, and routine booting, of Sun386i systems on a Sun386i network. Each network cable (subnetwork or full network) must have at least one pnpd(8C) server running on it to support PNP.

PROGRAMMING

#include <rpcsvc/pnprpc.h>

The following RPC calls are available in version 2 of the PNP protocol:

Finds a
PNP daemon on the local network. Used with clntudp_broadcast(), often to measure network overhead.

Used early in the boot process to acquire network configuration
information about a system, or to determine that a system is not known by the network.

Used to acquire a server willing to
configure a new system after a request fails. This RPC is typically broadcast; any successful reply may be used.

Requests a network configuration from a
PNP daemon that has responded to a previous RPC.

After a
request, if the status is in_progress, the procedure is to wait 20 seconds, and issue a request, and then check the status again. Once the status is success, the system will be configured for the network. Entries in the nis database may be added or old ones deleted, and file storage may be assigned, according to the architecture and boot type.

If the server misses 5 requests, it will assume that the client system crashed and back out of the procedure. Similarly, if the client system does not receive responses from the server for consecutive requests, it should assume the server crashed and begin its PNP sequence again.

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