PS3 NFS Root File System HOWTO
2011.04.14
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ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT
This note describes how to setup your PS3 to load the second stage kernel from a
TFTP server and how to setup an NFS mounted root file system.
You can always find the latest version of this document, and some other useful
technical documents here:
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/geoff/cell/
Please send comments to <geoff@infradead.org>.
PS3 NFS ROOT HOWTO
1) Setup DHCP Server
Setup the DHCP server on your host machine as described in the PS3 Linux
Distributor's Starter Kit document 'How to Enable Your Distro'. See the
man pages for dhcpd and dhcpd.conf, and/or the documentation for the
distribution installed on your host. This discussion uses the following as an
example dhcpd.conf entry:
host ps3
{
hardware ethernet aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff;
fixed-address 192.168.1.50;
option host-name "ps3";
next-server 192.168.1.2;
filename "/ps3/boot/vmlinux";
option root-path "192.168.1.2:/target/ps3";
}
2) Install Linux Distro
Install the distro of your choice onto the PS3 hard disk as normal, checking
that the system boots correctly into Linux.
3) Setup TFTP Server
Setup the TFTP server on your host machine. See the man pages for tftpd and
xinetd, and/or the documentation for the distribution installed on your host.
This discussion uses the following as an example xinetd.d/tftp entry:
service tftp
{
...
server_args = -v -s /target
only_from = 192.168.1.0 localhost
}
Note that this example uses the tftpd -s option, which is not specified in
the default configuration of some distributions. Also, when seting up the
tftp server configuration consider the security implications of your
configuration. To test the TFTP server, copy the second stage kernel image
from the PS3 hard disk onto the TFTP server. The proper location on the
server is dictated by the dhcpd.conf statements next-server and filename, and
the tftp server directory. For the above example dhcpd.conf, the location
would be '192.168.1.2:/target/ps3/boot/vmlinux'.
[@host]# mkdir -p /target/ps3/boot/
[@host]# scp 192.168.1.50:/boot/vmlinux-2.6.xx /target/ps3/boot/vmlinux
This kernel can be test loaded from the petitboot prompt:
ps3-linux: tftp -g -l test -r /ps3/boot/vmlinux 192.168.1.2
Note that if the NFS server has not been configured or if the second stage
kernel has not been built with NFS root file system support the kernel will
panic with the message 'Unable to mount root fs'. This is expected behavior
for this test.
4) Setup NFS Server
Setup the NFS server on your host machine as described in the PS3 Linux
Distributor's Starter Kit document 'How to Enable Your Distro'. See the
man pages for exports and mount, and/or the documentation for the
distribution installed on your host.
Reboot the PS3 and get to the petitboot shell prompt. Execute commands
similar to these:
ps3-linux: killall pb-discover
ps3-linux: mkdir /local
ps3-linux: mount /dev/ps3da1 /local
ps3-linux: mkdir /remote
ps3-linux: mount -o nolock 192.168.1.2:/target /remote
ps3-linux: cp -a /local /remote/ps3
ps3-linux: rm -rf /remote/ps3/lost+found
4a) Fedora, YDL
Several Fedora fixups are needed to the PS3's remote file system to
support NFS use. Edit the file /target/ps3/etc/fstab to use the NFS root
by changing the line
LABEL=/ / ext3 defaults 1 1
to
/dev/nfs / rootfs defaults 0 0
Remove the eth0 config file, since the startup scripts will try to
re-initialize the interface, which then disconnects the root fs.
[@host]# rm /target/ps3/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
Make a node for the console device on the NFS file system.
[@host]# mknod /target/ps3/dev/console c 5 1
4b) Debian, Ubuntu (and other Debian based)
Several Debian fixups are needed to the PS3's remote file system to support
NFS use. Edit the file /target/ps3/etc/fstab to use the NFS root by
changing the line
UUID=xxxxxxxxxxx / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
to
/dev/nfs / rootfs defaults 0 0
Set the eth0 entry in the config file /etc/network/interfaces to manual,
since the startup scripts will try to re-initialize the interface, which
then disconnects the root file system.
# The primary network interface
manual eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp
4c) TODO
Explain changes needed to files on server (fstab, etc.) for other distros.
5) Build Kernel With NFS Root Support
Build and install a kernel with NFS root file system support on the TFTP
server at '192.168.1.2:/target/ps3/boot/vmlinux'. See the file
Documentation/nfsroot.txt in the kernel sources, and documentation for the
Linux distribution you installed on your PS3.