Bootstrap Protocol
RFC 951, “Bootstrap Protocol”, is a Draft Standard document published in September 1985 by W.J. Croft, J. Gilmore. It has since been updated by RFC 1395, RFC 1497, RFC 1532, RFC 1542, RFC 5494. The canonical text is published by the RFC Editor.
Abstract
This RFC describes an IP/UDP bootstrap protocol (BOOTP) which allows a diskless client machine to discover its own IP address, the address of a server host, and the name of a file to be loaded into memory and executed. The bootstrap operation can be thought of as consisting of TWO PHASES. This RFC describes the first phase, which could be labeled `address determination and bootfile selection'. After this address and filename information is obtained, control passes to the second phase of the bootstrap where a file transfer occurs. The file transfer will typically use the TFTP protocol, since it is intended that both phases reside in PROM on the client. However BOOTP could also work with other protocols such as SFTP or FTP. This RFC suggests a proposed protocol for the ARPA-Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements.
What “Draft Standard” means
A historical maturity level (retired in 2011) that sat between Proposed Standard and Internet Standard and required multiple interoperable implementations.
The canonical text of RFC 951 is hosted at rfc-editor.org. Available in TXT,HTML.
- RFC 950 Internet Standard Subnetting Procedure
- RFC 952 DoD Internet host table specification
- RFC 949 FTP unique-named store command
- RFC 953 Hostname Server
- RFC 948 Two methods for the transmission of IP datagrams over IEEE 802.3 networks
- RFC 954 NICNAME/WHOIS
- RFC 947 Multi-network broadcasting within the Internet
- RFC 955 Towards a transport service for transaction processing applications