Booting the FAS200 series appliances

Boot options for the FAS200 series appliances  

The FAS200 series (FAS250, FAS270, and FAS270c) appliances automatically boot Data ONTAP from a PC CompactFlash card. They do not boot from a set of floppy diskettes or from disk. The CompactFlash card ships with the most current Data ONTAP release and a diagnostic kernel in a single FAT partition. The CompactFlash card contains sufficient space for an upgrade kernel.

Note
FAS200 series appliances can be upgraded to the most recent Data ONTAP release. When you install new software, the download command copies a boot kernel to the CompactFlash card, not to a boot block on disk, as in other filer models. For more information, see the Data ONTAP Upgrade Guide.

You can also enter one of the following boot options at the CFE (Common Firmware Environment) prompt:

• boot_ontap

  Boots the current Data ONTAP software release stored on the CompactFlash card. By default, the filer automatically boots this release if you do not select another option from the basic menu.

• boot_primary

  Boots the Data ONTAP release stored on the CompactFlash card as the primary kernel. This option overrides the firmware AUTOBOOT_FROM environment variable if it is set to a value other than PRIMARY. By default, the boot_ontap and boot_primary commands load the same kernel.

• boot_backup

  Boots the backup Data ONTAP release from the CompactFlash card. The backup release is created during the first software upgrade to preserve the kernel that shipped with the filer. It provides a "known good" release from which you can boot the filer if it fails to automatically boot the primary image.

• netboot

  Boots from a Data ONTAP version stored on a remote HTTP or TFTP server. Netboot enables you to

  • Boot an alternative kernel if the CompactFlash card becomes damaged
  • Upgrade the boot kernel for several devices from a single server

  To enable Netboot, you must configure networking for the FAS2x0 series appliance (using DHCP or static IP address) and place the boot image on a configured server.

  Note
  Network Appliance recommends that to protect against data loss in the event of PC CompactFlash card corruption you enable Netboot immediately for your FAS200 system by placing a boot image on a local server. For more information, see Preparing an FAS200 series filer for Netboot startup.

• boot_diags

  Boots a Data ONTAP diagnostic kernel. For more information, see the NetApp Hardware Diagnostics Guide.

  Note
  Other boot options should be used only under the direction of Network Appliance technical staff.

Booting Data ONTAP at the firmware prompt  

To boot the current release of Data ONTAP or the backup release at the firmware prompt, complete the following steps.

halt

Note
For more information about CFE commands, enter help at the firmware prompt for a list of commands or help command for command details.

Checking available Data ONTAP versions  

By default, an FAS200 series filer boots the current Data ONTAP release from the primary kernel. You might need to check the current booted kernel and other kernels available on the CompactFlash card if the system was netboot started from an unfamiliar system, if an upgrade was unsuccessful, or if you need to run kernel diagnostics.

version

version -b

For more information, see the na_version(1) manual page.

Preparing an FAS200 series filer for Netboot startup  

To use the Netboot option to start your FAS200 series filer, you must have

• An HTTP or TFTP server available on your network.
• A boot image on a server. The boot image can be copied from the filer boot directory, /etc/boot/netapp-mips, or downloaded from the NOW site.
• Networking configured in the FAS200 series firmware environment. You can use a DHCP server to obtain an IP address, or you can configure the network connection manually.

  Note
  Network interfaces configured in the firmware environment are not persistent across system halts and reboots. You must configure the network interface each time you use the Netboot option.
  
  Two network interfaces, e0a and e0b, are available in the firmware environment. Only one can be configured at a time.

Starting the FAS200 series filers through the netboot option  

To boot Data ONTAP from a remote image, complete the following steps.

halt

ifconfig e0a -auto

ifconfig e0a -addr=filer_addr 

-mask=netmask -gw=gateway -dns=dns_addr 
-domain=dns_domain

netboot http://myserver/bootimages/netapp/netapp-mips

netboot tftp://myserver/bootimages/netapp/netapp-mips

Copyright © 1994-2003, Network Appliance, Inc. All rights reserved.
Part No. 210-00472
File: appb4.htm
Last updated: 11/17/03 16:58:07