BootManage® TFTP Server

User and Reference Manual

®
Boot Manage
TFTP Server
 BootManage® TFTP Server

User and Reference Manual

Copyright © 2000 bootix Technology GmbH, Geranienstrasse 19, D-41466 Neuss

Copyright:
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prior written permission of the copyright owner.

Trademarks:
BootManage is a registered trademark of bootix Technology GmbH, D-41466
Neuss. All other company and product names are trademarks of the company or
manufacturer, respectively.

Colophon:
This document was produced using FrameMaker 5.5 on Windows NT worksta-
tions. Page proofs were printed on a 1200 dpi PostScript Level II printer, and final
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Revision history:
January 2000, first version

Project team: Ralf Büttner, Dirk Köppen

Printed in Germany.
 Table of Contents

Introduction ...............................................................................7
The TFTP Standard ............................................................................... 7
The BootManage® TFTP Server ........................................................... 8
A Word About Licensing .......................................................................................8

TFTPD32 ......................................................................................9
TFTPD32 Features ................................................................................. 9
Installing TFTPD32 ................................................................................ 9
Installation As a Service ...................................................................................... 10
TFTPD32 Commandline Options ....................................................... 10
Controlling Server and Network Load ............................................... 11
Limit Number Of Concurrent TFTP Transfers (-c) ............................................. 11
Enable Read-Ahead Buffers (-h) ......................................................................... 11
Terminate TFTP Server After Inactivity Period (-i) ............................................ 12
Set TFTP Transmission Keepalive Time (-k) ...................................................... 12
Security Related Options .................................................................... 12
Set TFTP Server Root Directory (-d) ................................................................... 12
Restrict TFTP Access To Directory (-r) ............................................................... 12
Enable TFTP Write Access (-w) .......................................................................... 12
Allow Creation of Files (-x) ................................................................................ 13
Logging ................................................................................................ 13
Log TFTP Server Activity (-l) ............................................................................... 13
Set Verbosity Level (-v) ....................................................................................... 13
Multicast TFTP Operation ................................................................... 13
Enable Multicast TFTP (MTFTP) Operation (-m) ............................................... 13

5
6

Set Number Of Unicast Packets In MTFTP Mode (-u) ...................................... 14

Large Block TFTP Operation .............................................................. 14
Enable Large Block TFTP (LTFTP) Operation (-s) ............................................. 14
Custom Settings ................................................................................... 14
Specify TFTP Server Listen Port (-p) .................................................................. 14
Using Mapped Filenames ................................................................... 15
Enable Mapped Filenames (-a) ........................................................................... 15
Example Using Mapped Filenames 16
 1Introduction

The TFTP Standard

The Trivial File Transfer Protocol TFTP is a simple protocol to transfer files,
designed to to be small and easy to implement. Therefore, it lacks most of the fea-
tures of a regular file transfer protocol. The only thing it can do is read and write
files from/to a remote server, where each packet is acknowledged separately.
The TFTP protocol is especially useful in remote boot / remote installation environments
where a client PC needs to download a boot image file over the network from a boot server.
The TFTP protocol is an open and vendor-independent internet standard defined
by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in a number of Request For Com-
ments (RFC) documents*:

Document Title
RFC 1350 The TFTP Protocol (Revision 2)
RFC 1785 TFTP Option Negotiation Analysis
RFC 2347 TFTP Option Extension
RFC 2348 TFTP Blocksize Option
RFC 2349 TFTP Timeout Interval and Transfer Size Options

Most UNIX operating systems already contain a TFTP server as part of the operat-
ing system distribution, however this TFTP server may not always be full-featured.
Other server operating systems like Windows NT, NetWare, and OS/2 do not pro-
vide a TFTP server.

* There are more RFC documents on TFTP available, but most of them have been obsoleted by the doc-
uments shown in our table. For more information about the IETF and RFC documents, point your web
browser to http://www.ietf.org.

7
8

The BootManage® TFTP Server

The BootManage® TFTP Server is a standards-conforming server implementation
of the TFTP protocol as defined in the IETF RFC document 1350. More, the Boot-
Manage® TFTP Server provides a number of custom enhancements which provide
extended functionality, especially in combination with the BootManage® TCP/IP
BOOT-PROM and the BootManage® PXE Toolkit.
Implementations are available for the following operating system platforms*:
• Windows 2000 Professional and Server (in preparation)
• Windows NT 3.x and 4.0 (Workstation and Server)
• Windows 98 and 95
• Windows 3.x, Windows for Workgroups 3.1x
• NetWare 3.x, 4.x, 5.x
• OS/2

A Word About Licensing

The BootManage® TFTP Server is not free software, and you need a license to use
it. However, the BootManage® TCP/IP BOOT-PROM, the BootManage® PXE
PROM, and the BootManage® PXE Toolkit already contain a license for the Boot-
Manage® TFTP Server. If you purchased one of these products, you do not need a
separate license for the BootManage® TFTP Server.

* Support for custom enhancements varies for the different implementations.

 2TFTPD32

TFTPD32 is a 32-Bit TFTP server that runs on Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, Win-
dows NT Workstation and Server, and Windows 2000* Professional and Server
machines. On Windows NT, TFTPD32 can be run as a Win32 application or
installed as a Windows NT service.

TFTPD32 Features
TFTPD32 adds several features which are not available in standard TFTP imple-
mentations:
• Allows restricted file access for security.
• Provides several means of controlling server and network load.
• Allows larger TFTP segment sizes (LTFTP) for higher throughput and fewer
network transactions.
• Supports multicast file transfer (MTFTP) for faster concurrent booting of multi-
ple clients.
• Supports filename mapping (in combination with the BPBOOT bootstrap
loader from the BootManage® TCP/IP BOOT-PROM distribution).

Installing TFTPD32
First, copy the file tftpd32.exe to the local hard disk of a Windows 95/98, Win-
dows NT Workstation/Server, or Windows 2000 Professional/Server machine.
C:\> copy a:\tftpd32.exe %WINDIR% (on Windows 95/98)
C:\> copy a:\tftpd32.exe %SystemRoot%\system32 (on Windows NT)

* Support for Windows 2000 is in preparation and not yet available at this time.

9
10

TFTPD32 will look up the port number for the tftp port in the file %SystemRoot%\
system32\drivers\etc\services. If this entry is not present, TFTPD32 will use the fol-
lowing default:
tftp 69/udp

If you want to start TFTPD32 as a Win32 application, simply invoke it from the
commandline using the -cmd option and any other options which suit your needs,
e. g.:
C:\> tftpd32 -cmd -v 2

If you do not specify any options on the commandline, TFTPD32 will read the
options from the text file c:\etc\tftpd.cnf. For a detailed list of all supported
options, please see “TFTPD32 Commandline Options” on page 10.

If TFTPD32 should operate as a standard TFTP Server, it is not neces-

sary to specify any options on the commandline beyond -cmd. How-
ever, to activate one or more of the advanced features TFTPD32 pro-
vides, you must specify the corresponding option(s).

Installation As a Service
If you want to install TFTPD32 as a Windows NT service, use the -install
option:
C:\> tftpd32 -install

Please note that when using -install, you cannot specify any other options on
the commandline. Therefore, be sure to place any desired options in the text file,
c:\etc\tftpd.cnf, where TFTPD32 will read them.
When installed as a service, TFTPD32 will automatically start at every Windows NT
system startup. Like any other service, you can start and stop TFTPD32 using the
Windows NT Service Control Manager. In addtion, you can control TFTPD32 from
the commandline:
C:\> net start tftpd (start TFTPD32 service)
C:\> net stop tftpd (stop TFTPD32 service)

TFTPD32 Commandline Options

The following arguments can be given to the TFTPD32 server:
tftpd32 -cmd options (run as Win32 application)
tftpd32 -install (install as Windows NT service)
tftpd32 -remove (remove service)
Controlling Server and Network Load 11

tftpd32 -? (display command line syntax)

With the -cmd argument, the following options are provided:

Option Description
-a [file] Read table of mapped filenames from file
-b num Limit TFTP bandwidth to approximately num KBytes/s
-c num Number of concurrent TFTP transfers (max. 64)
-d [path] Restrict TFTP access to directory path and its subdirectories.
-h Enable read-ahead buffer.
-i num Exit after num seconds of inactivity.
-k num Set TFTP transmission keep-alive time.
-l [file] Log all messages to a file.
-m file port MTFTP configuration file and listen port.
-p num Set TFTP listen port.
-r Restrict file access to current directory.
-s num port Set TFTP segment size and listen port.
-t num Set Multicast Time-to-live value to num seconds
-u num Number of MTFTP unicasts to be sent (default: 4).
-v level Set level of verbosity (0, 1, or 2).
-w Enable writing to existing files on the TFTP server
-x If -w is also set, allow creation of files on the TFTP server

Controlling Server and Network Load

The following options allow to control performance related parameters of
TFTPD32.

Limit Number Of Concurrent TFTP Transfers (-c)

The number of concurrent TFTP transfers can be limited by using the -c option.
The following example limits the number of concurrent TFTP transfers to 4:
tftpd32 -c 4

Enable Read-Ahead Buffers (-h)

This option enables read-ahead buffers for the TFTP file transfer. That is, TFTPD32
reads more data than is needed and buffers the additional data for later use. In
some environments, the transfer speed increases by enabling the -h option. By
default, TFTPD32 does not read-ahead.
12

Terminate TFTP Server After Inactivity Period (-i)

TFTPD32 can be automatically terminated by using the -i option. If there is no
TFTP activity for the number of seconds specified, TFTPD32 terminates. The fol-
lowing example aborts TFTPD32 after 45 seconds of inactivity:
tftpd32 -i 45

Set TFTP Transmission Keepalive Time (-k)

TFTPD32 retains all information from a TFTP transfer for a specified amount of
time so that a client can repeat a prior transfer. The -k option allows one to
change the default time of 15 seconds.

Security Related Options

Security related options control in what way TFTP clients can access files on the
TFTP server.

Set TFTP Server Root Directory (-d)

A default path can be added to each request issued by a TFTP client. This way,
TFTPD32 restricts access to files below a certain directory on the server. If the -d
option is given without a directory, this defaults to c:\tftpboot. The following
examples restrict TFTP access to both files and subdirectories below c:\tftpboot:
tftpd32 -d /tftpboot
tftpd32 -d

Restrict TFTP Access To Directory (-r)

The -r option restricts all file access to the current directory and its subdirecto-
ries. That is, no files from any other locations may be transmitted. The current
directory can be changed using the -d option.
The following example limits all file transmissions to the directory /tftpboot and its
subdirectories:
tftpd32 -d c:\tftpboot -r

Enable TFTP Write Access (-w)

Normally, TFTPD32 only permits read operations, i.e. a TFTP client can only read a
file, not write one to a TFTP server. The -w option enables TFTP write access so
that a TFTP client can write to existing files on the TFTP server. Unless the -x
Multicast TFTP Operation 13

option is also specified, a TFTP client can only write to existing files and cannot
create new files.

Allow Creation of Files (-x)

Together with the -w option, the -x option allows a TFTP client to create new files
on the TFTP server.

Logging
TFTPD32 can log its activity to the application window on the screen, to the Win-
dows NT event log and/or to a log file.

Log TFTP Server Activity (-l)

All output of TFTPD32 can also be logged to a file. The -l option enables logging
and allows one to specify a filename. If no filename is specified, then the default
is c:\tftpboot\tftpd.log. The following example enables full debugging and logs all
output to c:\tmp\tftpd.log:
tftpd32 -v 2 -l c:\tmp\tftpd.log

Set Verbosity Level (-v)

The debugging and activity output of TFTPD32 can be changed by the -v option.
The default is 1, and increasing the number generates more output. A value of 0
does not create any output, and a value of 4 displays very detailed information.

Multicast TFTP Operation

Enable Multicast TFTP (MTFTP) Operation (-m)
The -m option enables the TFTPD32 multicast file transfer support (MTFTP). Two
arguments are passed to the -m option: The first argument specifies a configura-
tion file, the second argument specifies the UDP port number where TFTPD32 lis-
tens for MTFTP file transfer requests. The following example uses port number 75
for MTFTP requests:
tftpd32 -m c:\etc\mtftptab 75

The configuration file has the following format:

c:\tftpboot\pcnfs.X 225.0.0.1 76
c:\tftpboot\ramd.X 225.0.0.2 76
14

Since there are no reserved port numbers for multicast TFTP, it cannot be guaran-
teed that the default ports of 75 and 76 will be available on all systems.
The first column holds the filename to be transmitted. If TFTPD32 receives an
MTFTP request for that filename on the specified MTFTP server port (75 in the
above example), then it sends the MTFTP packets to the IP address specified in
the second column (225.0.0.1). The third column holds the MTFTP client port
number where all data is sent.

Set Number Of Unicast Packets In MTFTP Mode (-u)

The -u option is used in conjunction with multicast file transfer (MTFTP). The -u
option specifies the number of unicast packets that TFTPD32 sends to the MTFTP
client after a transmission has been initiated.
The default is 4 packets and should not be changed.

Large Block TFTP Operation

Enable Large Block TFTP (LTFTP) Operation (-s)
This option allows one to set the TFTP segment size. The standard TFTP protocol
specifies a segment size of 512 bytes. By increasing the segment size, fewer net-
work transactions are needed and, therefore, faster file transfer can be achieved.
Increasing the TFTP segment size makes the TFTP transmission incompatible with
standard TFTP clients and the RFC specification. Therefore, TFTPD32 only sends
larger packets to clients which open the TFTP transmission at the specified UDP
port:
tftpd32 -s 1408 59

This adds support for larger TFTP packets (here 1408 bytes) if the connection is
opened at UDP port 59 instead of the standard TFTP port 69. Opening a TFTP
transmission at the standard TFTP port 69 lets TFTPD32 send 512 byte packets.
Opening a TFTP transmission at the non-standard UDP port 59 allows TFTPD32 to
send up to 1408 bytes in TFTP packets.

Custom Settings
Specify TFTP Server Listen Port (-p)
By default, TFTPD32 uses UDP port number 69 to listen for TFTP file transfer
requests. This can be overridden by using the -p option. TFTPD32 can also be
Using Mapped Filenames 15

used together with an existing TFTP server. In this case, TFTPD32 is used only for
extended features.
To disable the standard TFTP functionality of TFTPD32, bind the TFTP UDP port
number to an unused UDP port, e.g.:
tftpd32 -s 1408 59 -m c:\etc\mtftptab 75 -v 1 -h -p 21435

Using Mapped Filenames

Enable Mapped Filenames (-a)
The -a option enables the TFTPD32 filename mapping feature. As an argument to
the -a option, the filename of a map configuration file must be passed. The pur-
pose of the map configuration file is to substitute a requested filename with a
mapped filename using the following format:
<requested-filename-1> <mapped-filename-1>
<requested-filename-2> <mapped-filename-2>
<requested-filename-3> <mapped-filename-3>
...
$DEFAULT$ <default-filename>

Whenever TFTPD32 receives a TFTP request for a file/pathname which starts with
the character string $MAP$, it strips the $MAP$ prefix and looks up the remaining
file/pathname in the left-hand side of the map configuration file.
If a matching file/pathname is found, TFTPD32 replaces the requested file/path-
name with the corresponding (mapped) file/pathname listed in the right-hand side
of the map configuration file. Then, TFTPD32 sends the mapped file (instread of
the requested file) to the TFTP client.
If a matching file/pathname is not found, TFTPD32 checks if a $DEFAULT$ entry is
present at the end of the map configuration file. If it finds one, TFTPD32 uses the
mapped file/pathname associated with the $DEFAULT$ entry.
If a matching file/pathname is not found, and TFTPD32 also does not find a
$DEFAULT$ entry at the end of the map configuration file, it simply uses the (origi-
nal) requested file/pathname, but without the $MAP$ prefix.

TFTPD32 will only try to perform filename mapping if the requested

filename starts with the string $MAP$. TFTPD32 will not perform any
filename mapping for files that do not start with the string $MAP$.
Files in the left-hand side of the map file must be specified without
the leading $MAP$ string.
16

The filename mapping feature is especially useful in combination with the BPBOOT
bootstrap loader which is part of the BootManage® TCP/IP BOOT-PROM distribu-
tion. BPBOOT can generate individual filenames using the client’s MAC address.
This allows to easily define “boot image groups” for PC clients in a DHCP environ-
ment without the need of specifying individual boot images in the DHCP server’s
configuration.

Example Using Mapped Filenames

The following example illustrates the filename mapping feature. Let us assume that
the map file c:\etc\tftpd.map contains the following information:
c:\tftpboot\112233445566.X c:\tftpboot\winnt40.X
c:\tftpboot\445566778899.X c:\tftpboot\winnt40.X
c:\tftpboot\778899aabbcc.X c:\tftpboot\win95.X
c:\tftpboot\aabbccddeeff.X c:\tftpboot\win98.X
$DEFAULT$ c:\tftpboot\bootfile.X

To enable filename mapping, TFTPD32 must be invoked as follows:

C:\> tftpd32 -cmd -a c:\etc\tftpd.map -v 2

The commandline option -v is not needed for mapped filename operation, but it
is very useful for locating problems.
When receiving a TFTP read request for file $MAP$c:\tftpboot\778899aabbcc.X,
TFTPD32 strips the leading $MAP$ and looks up the remaining filename c:\tftp-
boot\778899aabbcc.X in the left-hand side of the map file c:\etc\tftpd.map. The
filename is found in the third row, so TFTPD32 substitutes it with the correspond-
ing entry c:\tftpboot\win95.X on the right-hand side and sends this file back to the
client. Likewise, when a TFTP client requests $MAP$c:\tftpboot\aabbccddeeff.X,
TFTPD32 sends c:\tftpboot\win98.X instead.
The first two rows of the map file c:\etc\tftpd.map demonstrate how to group
boot image files. Clients request different files ($MAP$c:\tftpboot\112233445566.X
and $MAP$c:\tftpboot\445566778899.X), but both are substituted by the same file
(c:\tftpboot\winnt40.X).
To demonstrate the $DEFAULT$ entry, let us assume that TFTPD32 receives a read
request for a file named $MAP$c:\tftpboot\123456789abc.X. This file is lot listed
in our sample map file, but it starts with the string $MAP$. In this case, TFTPD32
looks for a $DEFAULT$ entry on the left-hand side at the end of the map file. In
our map file, a $DEFAULT$ entry is present, so TFTPD32 uses this for substitution
and sends the file c:\tftpboot\bootfile.X back to the client. If there were no
$DEFAULT$ entry, TFTPD32 simply strips the $MAP$ prefix and sends the file c:\
tftpboot\123456789abc.X back to the client instead.