# Boot Protocol

# Boot Protocol Simulator

## Protocol Description

BOOTP (Boot Protocol) is a simple connection-less protocol, typically used by a discless workstation to discover its Internet address and/or the name of its bootstrap file. BOOTP operates over UDP (User Datagram Protocol). BOOTP simply discovers the parameters needed for the bootstrap procedure. Typically, TFTP (Trivial File Transfer Protocol) is used to download the bootstrap file itself.

A boot client supplies a transaction identifier and its hardware address. The client may optionally supply its network address; the server will allocate a unique network address if required. The client may optionally supply the name of the boot file; the server will supply the full path name if this file is given, or will determine the boot file the client needs. Addresses and the boot file are given symbolic names in the simulation.

## Protocol Parameters

This simulation has no parameters.

## Protocol Simulation

The protocol simulation shows a time-sequence diagram with client and server protocol entities, and a communications medium that carries messages. The client sends a REQUEST message containing an (arbitrary) transaction identifier and its hardware address (hw). The client may optionally supply its network address if it knows it (e.g. net.43 for some subnetwork net). The client may additionally ask for the location of a particular bootstrap file (boot). The server reply starts with the original parameters. A network address is allocated to the client if it did not know it. The full filestore path to a boot file is returned if the client did not know which file to use. If the client named a boot file, the full path to this is returned. If a REQUEST or REPLY message is lost, the client must time out and send it again.

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