Using BOOTP to configure the IP address- Page 76

Appendix A

68

A

Using BOOTP to configure the IP address

A

BOOTP is an alternative to RARP that has the advantage of allowing configuration of the subnet mask and 
gateway. In order to use BOOTP to configure the IP address make sure that BOOTP is installed and running 
on your host computer (it should appear in the 

/etc/services

 file on your host as a real service; type 

man 

bootpd

 or refer to your system documentation for information). BOOTP is usually started up via the 

/etc/inetd.conf

 file, so you may need to enable it by removing the “#” in front of the bootp entry in that 

file. For example, a typical bootp entry in the /etc/inetd.conf file would be:

#bootp dgram udp wait /usr/etc/bootpd bootpd -i

Depending on the system, this entry might be called “bootps” instead of “bootp”.

Note

In order to enable BOOTP, simply use an editor to delete the “#” (if there is no “#”, then BOOTP is already 
enabled). Then edit the BOOTP configuration file (usually 

/etc/bootptab

) and enter the name, network 

type (1 for Ethernet), Ethernet address (MAC address) and the IP address, subnet mask and gateway of 
the print server. Unfortunately, the exact format for doing this is not standardized, so you will need to refer 
to your system documentation to determine how to enter this information (many UNIX

®

 systems also have 

template examples in the bootptab file that you can use for reference). Some examples of typical 

/etc/bootptab

 entries include:

BRN008077310107 1  00:80:77:31:01:07 192.168.1.2

and:

BRN008077310107:ht=ethernet:ha=008077310107:\
ip=192.168.1.2:

Certain BOOTP host software implementations will not respond to BOOTP requests if you have not included 
a download filename in the configuration file. If this is the case, simply create a null file on the host and specify 
the name of this file and its path in the configuration file.
As with RARP, the print server will load its IP address from the BOOTP server when the printer is powered on.