Network Setup

Now that you have disks to write information on, the installer will prompt you for networking information.

 Enter system hostname (short form, e.g. 'foo'): openbsdtest 

If you've been around networks for any length of time, you've probably seen host names that include a domain name, such as "laptop.BlackHelicopters.org." This is not the style of host name the installer wants to see here! Just enter the machine's name within the domain: For example, this system's full name is "openbsdtest.BlackHelicopters.org" so I enter "openbsdtest."

Even if your system is not on a network, it needs to have a local host name.

 Configure the network? [y] 

If you are installing from CD-ROM and don't want to bother with the network right now, you can hit "n." I recommend that you configure the network while you're in the install program; however, it's much simpler for a new user to do it here than to go back and configure it later.

 If any interface will be configured by DHCP, you should not enter information that will be supplied via DHCP, e.g. the DNS domain name. Enter DNS domain name (e.g. 'bar.com'): [my.domain] BlackHelicopters.org 

If your network has a DHCP server, just hit ENTER here.

 Available interfaces are: fxp0 fxp1. Which one do you wish to initialize? (or done) [fxp0] 

If you only have one network card, just hit ENTER. Multiple network cards require a bit more thought.

If Your System Has Multiple Network Cards

While your driver names and device numbers will vary, if you have two identical network cards you may have difficulty determining which physical card has which interface name. My test computer has two identical network cards. These particular cards use the "fxp" driver and are numbered 0 and 1. There is no way to look at the hardware and identify which is which. If you are installing over the network, you must configure the card that is attached into the network! Trying to install any software over the network is extraordinarily frustrating when you aren't plugged in. It is very difficult to tell which card it is from the information presented within the installer or even on the command line.

This is one place where a shell escape comes in very handy. You can escape to a command shell with CONTROL -C, or run a single shell command by putting an exclamation point in front of it. The "ifconfig -a" command will tell you which network card is hooked up to the network. (We discuss ifconfig at some length in Chapter 8 and Chapter 9, but for right now just run the command as a single shell command. Network interfaces that are not plugged in or that have failed for some other reason will have a "media" line that says "no carrier," while cards that have plugged in and are talking to the network will have a "media" line that says how they are connected.

 !ifconfig -a lo0: flags=8008<LOOPBACK,MULTICAST> mtu 33224 fxp0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500         address: 00:02:b3:63:e4:1d         media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX full-duplex)         status: active 1 fxp1: flags=8802<BROADCAST,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500         address: 00:02:b3:63:e3:ec         media: Ethernet autoselect (none)         status: no carrier 2 

The 1 fxp0 card is connected to the network at 100 megabits full duplex and is active, while the 2 fxp1 card is not connected and hence has "no carrier." You want to configure the fxp0 card, so enter "fxp0."

 IP address for fxp0 (or 'dhcp')? 192.168.1.250 

We have an IP address for this system, but entering "dhcp" will make the system get IP address and domain information from the DHCP server.

 Symbolic (host) name? [openbsdtest] 

We want to use the same host name, so hit ENTER here.

 Netmask? [255.255.255.0] 

If you have a netmask other than 255.255.255.0, enter it here. Otherwise, hit ENTER.

 The default media for fxp0 is         media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX full-duplex) Do you want to change the default media? [n] 

Media options tell a network card how to connect to the network. In this case, the card seems to have picked up the network connection automatically. If you have an older network card, this may not work so seamlessly; you may need to tell your card to use the 10baseT connector instead of the BNC attachment, for example, or to use full-duplex instead of half-duplex. You'll have to look at the OpenBSD manual page for your card. You might think this would be difficult to do before you have OpenBSD installed, but don't forget that the manual pages are available on the OpenBSD website.

You can repeat the process for the other network card or just enter "done" to tell the installer you have finished configuring network cards. The installer will then ask you for the default route on your network and the IP address of your primary nameserver.

 Enter IP address of default route: [none] 192.168.1.1 Enter IP address of primary nameserver: [none] 192.168.1.5 Would you like to use the nameserver now? [y] 

The next question might seem curious — if you have your network configured, why would you need to do more configuration?

 Do you want to do more, manual, network configuration? [n] y 

If you're an experienced network administrator, you've probably seen networks where your could only connect to the Internet if you had a particular secondary route set, or where multiple DNS servers were required. This also gives anyone who wants to install over a network an opportunity to test their network configuration. If you have a problem with network installs, this will make your life simpler.

Testing Network Connectivity

If you take the option to do additional network configuration, you'll be dropped at a command prompt with a small selection of UNIX tools to work with. Even a simple test, such as "ping," will confirm your system is talking to the network. Try to ping the host you plan to install OpenBSD from or your default gateway. While not all the standard UNIX commands are available on the install disk, quite a few basic tools are.

 Type 'exit' to return to install. # ping 192.168.1.1 PING 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.366 ms 64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.171 ms ^C--- 192.168.1.1 ping statistics --- 2 packets transmitted, 2 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max/std-dev = 0.171/0.268/0.366/0.098 ms 

This indicates that the system can ping the default gateway, 192.168.1.1. Hit CONTROL-C to interrupt the ping. If, on the other hand, you issue the command and see nothing for several seconds, you have a connectivity problem.

 # ping 192.168.1.1 PING 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1): 56 data bytes --- 192.168.1.1 ping statistics --- 3 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100% packet loss # 

Again, hit CONTROL-C to interrupt the test.

In this case, confirm your IP address and default gateway are correct. Do you have a link light? Do basic network troubleshooting to identify the problem, and perhaps carefully inspect the output of the ifconfig command to try to identify any problems.

Once you know you're on the network, return to the installer by typing "exit".

 # exit