NAME

nd − network disk control

SYNOPSIS

/etc/nd [ command ]

DESCRIPTION

The nd command controls the network disk service of the kernel as described in nd(4p). A single command may be given on the command line; if none is given then the standard input is read for a list of commands. Typically, the file /etc/nd.local is used for input. Lines beginning with ‘#’ are considered to be comments.

The available commands are:

user hostname hisunit mydev myoff mysize mylunit
For the client hostname transform incoming requests for hisunit into server device mydev at offset myoff and size mysize sectors.  /dev/ndlmylunit provides a local name for this disk "subpartition".  If mysize is "-1", then this user unit is equivalent to the entire filesystem partition mydev (no "subpartioning" is done.)  If mylunit is "-1" then no local name is needed for this user unit;  this is usually the case with a swap unit, or a unit represented by an entire filesystem.  If hostname is a numeric zero, hisunit refers to a public unit. 

ether hostname ether_addr [ maxpacks ]
The ether command associates an Ethernet address ether_addr with the client hostname.  This information is required in order for a client to learn his Internet address when it boots -- nd provides the Internet address for hostname based on the Ethernet address received in a boot request.  The Ethernet address is given as size hex bytes separated by colons, e.g., 8:0:20:1:1:a3.  At least one previous user command must have been issued for the client.  The maxpacks option may be given to set the maximum number of packets that the server will send to the client before requesting an acknowledge.  The default is 6; it should suffice unless the client Ethernet interface is very slow. 

version versionnumber
The version command gives the level of configuration of the server.  Occasionally the need arises to reorganize or reload the diskless partitions.  Since the clients will rewrite locally cached blocks, they must be kept from writing their filesystems until they reboot.  Before such a reorganization occurs, the system manager should warn diskless users to save files and halt their machines.  Modification of the partitions should occur with the disk server off.  After modification is complete, versionnumber should be incremented to force users to reboot. 

son
Starts the network disk server.   This command should be issued after all user, ether, and version commands. 

soff
Stops the disk server until a subsequent son command. 

clear
Stops the disk server and clears all user and ether information. 

serverat hostname
Systems with disks may use the serverat command to specify a disk server if they wish to user a network disk in addition to their locally attached disk.  Even then, this command is only necessary if they wish to use a public network disk or if they wish to change network disk servers. 

FILES

/etc/nd.local

SEE ALSO

nd(4p)

BUGS

No sanity checking of disk partitions is done. 

Sun Release 2.0  —  Last change: 1 February 1985