SeanBruno/NetInstall9 - FreeBSD Wiki

Assuming that you have a working FreeBSD DHCP/NFS server on 192.168.1.10 already configured and that your network is 192.168.1.0/255.255.255.0

I also assume that you can access the serial console of the machine to be netbooted from the host via tip(1), conserver-com, etc.

DHCP configuration

           host testbox {
                fixed-address 192.168.1.101;
                hardware ethernet 00:16:3e:00:00:04;
                next-server 192.168.1.10;
                filename "pxeboot.9";
                option root-path "192.168.1.10:/pxeroot/9.0-RELEASE/";
           }

PXE/TFTP inetd.conf
- copy /boot/pxeboot from the ISO to /tftpboot/pxeboot.9

tftp    dgram   udp     wait    root    /usr/libexec/tftpd      tftpd -l -s /tftpboot

NFS Dir
- mkdir /pxeroot/9.0-RELEASE
- mdconfig -f [9.0 DVD ISO]
- mkdir /tmp/iso
- mount -t cd9660 /dev/md0 /tmp/iso
- cp -r /tmp/iso/* /pxeroot/9.0-RELEASE
- umount /tmp/iso
- mdconfig -d -u 0
- cd /pxeroot/9.0-RELEASE
- Edit for serial console in netboot environment
  - /pxeroot/9.0-RELEASE/boot.config
    - -Dh
  - /pxeroot/9.0-RELEASE/boot/loader.conf
    - console="comconsole"
  - /pxeroot/9.0-RELEASE/etc/ttys
    - change ttyu0 entry to

ttyu0   "/usr/libexec/getty std.9600"   vt100   on secure

/etc/fstab

#/dev/iso9660/FREEBSD_INSTALL / cd9660 ro 0 0
192.168.1.10:/pxeroot/9.0-RELEASE/ / nfs ro 0 0

NFS server /etc/exports
- /pxeroot/9.0-RELEASE -alldirs -maproot=0 -network 192.168.1.0 -mask 255.255.255.0
- restart nfs server /etc/rc.d/nfsserver restart
Access the console of the host to be installed via netboot(tip, conserver, minicom, etc...)
Power the host on and verify that the host pxeboot's into the installer and follow the instructions from there.
Change the entry in your dhcpd.conf to something like the following:

           host testbox {
                fixed-address 192.168.1.101;
                hardware ethernet 00:16:3e:00:00:04;
                #next-server 192.168.1.10;
                #filename "pxeboot.9";
                #option root-path "192.168.1.10:/pxeroot/9.0-RELEASE/";
           }

Before rebooting after the install is complete, you must setup your serial console manually at this time
At the last menu, drop to a chroot'd shell on the freshly installed system
- /etc/ttys
  - change ttyu0 entry to

ttyu0   "/usr/libexec/getty std.9600"   vt100   on secure

/boot.config
- -Dh
/boot/loader.conf
- console="comconsole"