Re: Bootp and SNMP?

[Marc David Rovner <mrovner@panix.com>]

On Fri, Jan 29, 1999 at 09:07:34AM -0700, Elfering, David J (Dave) wrote:
> We've been very succesfully using bootp to take care of our ample printer
> fleet. Now our network folks would like us to begin setting some SNMP
> information (community string, etc.) in addition to the regular IP info. 
> 
> I've browsed through the RFC's, but haven't seen anything that describes
> this functionality. Am I ovelooking something (you know... nose on my face
> type stuff), or is bootp even capable of this type of functionality. To me
> this would seem to point toward a DHCP implementation and its more extensive
> capabilities (according to what I'm seeing in the RFC).
> 
> Is there a good reference somewhere on enterprise IP issues? I'd like to
> read how someone else has dealt with this issue. 

For this kind of information, and other printer configuration information, at
least for HP printers, HP's hpnp program set up entries in the /etc/bootptab
file like this:

-------------------------------------------------------------------
zippy:\
        :hn:ht=ether:vm=rfc1048:\
        :ha=abcdef012345:\
        :ip=200.100.400.200:\
        :sm=255.255.255.0:\
        :gw=200.100.400.1:\
        :lg=200.100.400.50:\
        :T144="hpnp/zippy.cfg":
-------------------------------------------------------------------

MAC/IP addrs changed to protect the innocent.  Its that "vm" and "T144" line
that allows one to set additional information.  A file lives in
/tftpboot/<T144string> that is obtained via tftp by the printer/machine in
question containig the necessary information.

For example, in our setup, /tftpboot/hpnp/zippy.cfg contains this:

-------------------------------------------------------------------
idle-timeout: 120
allow: 200.100.400.15 200.100.400.5
banner: 1
get-community-name: public
#
# Place domain name here to avoid overflow of
# the vendor information area in the BOOTP reply.
#
name: zippy.cygnus.com
location: Cygnus Sunnyvale Mail Room
contact: printers@cygnus.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------


Hop some of this info helps.

						- Marc David Rovner

						  Sr. Systems Administrator
						  Cygnus Solutions