rarpd — answer RARP REQUESTs
Listens RARP requests from clients. Provided MAC address of client
is found in /etc/ethers
database and
obtained host name is resolvable to an IP address appropriate
for attached network, rarpd answers to client with RARPD
reply carrying an IP address.
To allow multiple boot servers on the network rarpd
optionally checks for presence Sun-like bootable image in TFTP directory.
It should have form Hexadecimal_IP.ARCH, f.e. to load
sparc 193.233.7.98 C1E90762.SUN4M is linked to
an image appropriate for SUM4M in directory /etc/tftpboot
.
This facility is deeply obsoleted by BOOTP and later DHCP protocols. However, some clients really still need this to boot.
-a
¶Listen on all the interfaces. Currently it is an internal option, its function is overridden with interface argument. It should not be used.
-A
¶Listen not only RARP but also ARP messages, some rare clients use ARP by some unknown reason.
-v
¶Be verbose.
-d
¶Debug mode. Do not go to background.
-e
¶Do not check for presence of a boot image, reply if MAC address
resolves to a valid IP address using /etc/ethers
database and DNS.
-b
bootdir¶TFTP boot directory. Default is /etc/tftpboot
rarpd requires CAP_NET_RAW capability to listen and send RARP and ARP packets. It also needs CAP_NET_ADMIN to give to kernel hint for ARP resolution; this is not strictly required, but some (most of, to be more exact) clients are so badly broken that are not able to answer ARP before they are finally booted. This is not wonderful taking into account that clients using RARPD in 2002 are all unsupported relic creatures of 90's and even earlier.