Part I Overall Planning of Any Solaris Installation or Upgrade

This part guides you through planning the installation or upgrade of the Solaris operating system when using any installation program.

Chapter 1 What's New in Solaris Installation

This chapter describes new features in the Solaris installation programs. To view features for all of the Solaris OS, see Solaris 10 What’s New.

• What's New in the Solaris 10 1/06 Release For Solaris Installation

• What's New in the Solaris 10 3/05 Release For Solaris Installation

What's New in the Solaris 10 1/06 Release For Solaris Installation

This section describes the following new installation features in the Solaris 10 1/06 release.

Upgrading the Solaris OS When Non-Global Zones Are Installed

Solaris Zones partitioning technology provides the ability to configure non-global zones in a single instance of Solaris, the global zone. A non-global zone is an application execution environment in which processes are isolated from all other zones. Starting with the Solaris 10 1/06 release and if you are running a system with non-global zones installed, you can use standard Solaris upgrade programs to upgrade. You can use either the Solaris interactive installation program or custom JumpStart to upgrade. There are some limitations to upgrading with non-global zones installed.

• A limited number of custom JumpStart keywords are supported. For a list of supported custom JumpStart keywords, see Solaris 10 6/06 Installation Guide: Custom JumpStart and Advanced Installations.

• CD-ROMs are not distributed, but you can upgrade with a DVD-ROM or a network installation image.

• On a system with non-global zones installed, do not use Solaris Live Upgrade to upgrade your system. While you can create a boot environment with the lucreate command, the luupgrade command cannot upgrade a boot environment that has non-global zones installed. In that case, the upgrade fails and an error message is displayed.

For details on using the Solaris interactive installation program, see Solaris 10 6/06 Installation Guide: Basic Installations

x86: GRUB Based Booting

Starting with the Solaris 10 1/06 release, the open source GNU GRand Unified Boot Loader (GRUB) has been adopted in the Solaris OS for x86 based systems. GRUB is responsible for loading a boot archive into the system's memory. A boot archive is a collection of critical files that is needed during system startup before the root (/) file system is mounted. The boot archive is used to boot the Solaris OS.

The most notable change is the replacement of the Solaris Device Configuration Assistant with the GRUB menu. The GRUB menu facilitates booting the different operating systems that are installed on your system. The GRUB menu is displayed when you boot an x86 based system. From the GRUB menu, you can select an OS instance to install by using the arrow keys. If you do not make a selection, the default OS instance is booted.

The GRUB based boot feature provides the following improvements:

• Faster boot times

• Installation from USB CD or DVD drives

• Ability to boot from USB storage devices

• Simplified DHCP setup for PXE boot (no vendor-specific options)

• Elimination of all realmode drivers

• Ability to use Solaris Live Upgrade and the GRUB menu to quickly activate and fall back to boot environments

For more information about GRUB refer to the following sections.

GNU is a recursive acronym for “GNU's Not UNIX.” For more information, go to http://www.gnu.org.

Upgrade Support Changes for Solaris Releases

Starting with the Solaris 10 1/06 release, you can upgrade the Solaris OS from the Solaris 8, 9, or 10 releases. Upgrades from the Solaris 7 release are not supported.

What's New in the Solaris 10 3/05 Release For Solaris Installation

This section describes the following new installation features in the Solaris 10 3/05 release.

Solaris Installation Changes Including Installation Unification

Starting with the Solaris 10 3/05 release, several changes in the installation of the Solaris OS provide a more simplified and unified installation experience.

The changes include the following:

• This release has one installation DVD and several installation CDs. The Solaris Operating System DVD includes the content of all the installation CDs.

  • Solaris Software 1 – This CD is the only bootable CD. From this CD, you can access both the Solaris installation graphical user interface (GUI) and the console-based installation. This CD also enables you to install selected software products from both the GUI and the console-based installation.

  • Other Solaris Operating System CDs – These CDs contain the following:

    • Solaris packages that the software prompts you to install if necessary

    • ExtraValue software that includes supported and unsupported software

    • Installers

    • Localized interface software and documentation

• The Solaris Installation CD no longer exists.

• For both CD and DVD media, the GUI installation is the default (if your system has enough memory). However, you can specify a console-based installation with the text boot option.

• The installation process has been simplified, enabling you to select the language support at boot time, but select locales later.

The (noninteractive) Solaris custom JumpStart^TM installation method has not changed.

To install the OS, simply insert the Solaris Software - 1 CD or the Solaris Operating System DVD and type one of the following commands.

• For the default GUI installation (if system memory permits), type boot cdrom.

• For the console-based installation, type boot cdrom - text.

Accessing the GUI or Console-based Installations

Starting with the Solaris 10 3/05 release, you can choose to install the software with a GUI or with or without a windowing environment. If the memory is sufficient, the GUI is displayed by default. If the memory is insufficient for the GUI, other environments are displayed by default. You can override defaults with the nowin or text boot options. However, you are limited by the amount of memory in your system or by installing remotely. Also, if the Solaris installation program does not detect a video adapter, the program is automatically displayed in a console-based environment.

For specific memory requirements, see System Requirements and Recommendations.

Custom JumpStart Installation Package and Patch Enhancements

Starting with the Solaris 10 3/05 release, when you install and upgrade the Solaris OS by using the custom JumpStart installation method, new customizations enable the following:

• A Solaris Flash installation with additional packages

  The custom JumpStart profile package keyword has been enhanced to enable installing a Solaris Flash archive with additional packages. For example, you can install the same base archive on two machines, but add a different set of packages to each machine. These packages do not have to be a part of the Solaris OS distribution.

• An installation with additional packages that might not be part of the Solaris distribution

  The package keyword has also been enhanced to enable an installation with a package that is not part of the Solaris distribution. You no longer need to write a postinstallation script to add extra packages.

• An installation with the ability to install Solaris OS patches

  The new custom JumpStart profile patch keyword enables the installation of Solaris OS patches. This feature allows the installation of a list of patches that are specified in a patch file.

For further information, see Solaris 10 6/06 Installation Guide: Custom JumpStart and Advanced Installations.

Configuring Multiple Network Interfaces During Installation

Starting with the Solaris 10 3/05 release, the Solaris installation programs enable you to configure multiple interfaces during your installation. You can preconfigure these interfaces in the sysidcfg file for your system. Or you can configure multiple interfaces during the installation. For more information, see the following documents:

• Solaris 10 6/06 Installation Guide: Network-Based Installations

• sysidtool(1M)

• sysidcfg(4)

SPARC: 64-bit Package Changes

In previous Solaris releases, the Solaris software was delivered in separate packages for 32-bit components and 64-bit components. Starting with the Solaris 10 3/05 release, packaging has been simplified with the delivery of most 32-bit components and 64-bit components in a single package. The combined packages retain the names of the original 32-bit packages, and the 64-bit packages are no longer delivered.

The removal of the 64-bit packages simplifies installation and increases performance:

• Reduces the number of packages, which simplifies Custom JumpStart scripts that contain lists of packages

• Simplifies the packaging system with only one package that groups software functions

• Reduces installation time because fewer packages are installed

The 64-bit packages are renamed with the following conventions:

• If a 64-bit package has a 32-bit counterpart, the 64-bit package is named with the 32-bit package name. For example, a 64-bit library such as /usr/lib/sparcv9/libc.so.1 previously would have been delivered in SUNWcslx, but now is delivered in SUNWcsl. The 64-bit SUNWcslx package is no longer delivered.

• If a package does not have a 32-bit counterpart, the “x” suffix is removed from the name. For example, SUNW1394x becomes SUNW1394.

This change means that you might need to modify your custom JumpStart script or other package installation scripts to remove references to the 64-bit packages.

Custom JumpStart Installation Method Creates New Boot Environment

Starting with the Solaris 10 3/05 release, you can now use the JumpStart installation method to create an empty boot environment when you install the Solaris Operating System. The empty boot environment can then be populated with a Solaris Flash archive for later use.

For further information, see Chapter 11, Custom JumpStart (Reference).

Reduced Networking Software Group

Starting with the Solaris 10 3/05 release, you can now create a more secure system with fewer enabled network services by selecting or specifying the Reduced Networking software group (SUNWCrnet) during your installation. The Reduced Networking software group provides system administration utilities and a multiuser text-based console. SUNWCrnet enables the system to recognize network interfaces. During the installation, you can customize your system's configuration by adding software packages and by activating network services as needed.

For further information, see Solaris 10 6/06 Installation Guide: Custom JumpStart and Advanced Installations.

Modifying Disk Partition Tables by Using a Virtual Table of Contents

Starting with the Solaris 10 3/05 release, the Solaris installation program now enables you to load existing slices from the virtual table of contents (VTOC.) You can now preserve and use the system's existing disk slice tables during your installation, rather than use the installer's default disk layout.

x86: Change in Default Boot-Disk Partition Layout

Starting with the Solaris 10 3/05 release, a new feature in the Solaris installation program is a boot-disk partition layout. This layout, by default, accommodates the Service partition on Sun x86 based systems. This installation program enables you to preserve an existing Service partition.

The new default includes the following partitions.

• First partition – Service partition (existing size on system)

• Second partition – x86 boot partition (approximately 11 Mbytes)

• Third partition – Solaris Operating System partition (remaining space on the boot disk)

If you want to use this default layout, select Default when the Solaris installation program asks you to choose a boot-disk layout.

If you install the Solaris OS for x86 based systems on a system that does not currently include a Service partition, the Solaris installation program does not create a new Service partition. If you want to create a Service partition on your system, first use your system's diagnostic CD to create the Service partition. After the Service partition is created, then install the Solaris Operating System.

For information about how to create the Service partition, see your hardware documentation.

For more information, see Solaris 10 6/06 Installation Guide: Custom JumpStart and Advanced Installations.

Chapter 2 Solaris Installation and Upgrade (Roadmap)

This chapter provides you with information about decisions you need to make before you install or upgrade the Solaris Operating System (Solaris OS). This chapter contains the following sections:

• Task Map: Installing or Upgrading the Solaris Software

• Installing From the Network or From DVD or CDs?

• Initial Installation, or Upgrade?

• Choosing a Solaris Installation Method

• Sun Java System Application Server Platform Edition 8

This book uses the term slice, but some Solaris documentation and programs might refer to a slice as a partition.

x86: To avoid confusion, this book distinguishes between x86 fdisk partitions and the divisions within the Solaris fdisk partition. The x86 fdisk divisions are called partitions. The divisions within the Solaris fdisk partition are called slices.

Task Map: Installing or Upgrading the Solaris Software

The following task map is an overview of the steps necessary to install or upgrade the Solaris OS when using any installation program. Use this task map to identify all of the decisions that you need to make to complete the most efficient installation for your environment.

Installing From the Network or From DVD or CDs?

The Solaris software is distributed on DVD or CD media so that you can install or upgrade systems that have access to a DVD-ROM or CD-ROM drive.

You can set up the systems to install from the network with remote DVD or CD images. You might want to set up systems this way for the following reasons:

• If you have systems that do not have local DVD-ROM or CD-ROM drives

• If you are installing several systems and do not want to insert the discs into every local drive to install the Solaris software

You can use all of the Solaris installation methods to install a system from the network. However, by installing systems from the network with the Solaris Flash installation feature or with a custom JumpStart installation, you can centralize and automate the installation process in a large enterprise. For more details about the different installation methods, refer to Choosing a Solaris Installation Method.

Installing the Solaris software from the network requires initial setup. For information about preparing to install from the network, choose one of the following options.

Initial Installation, or Upgrade?

You can choose to perform an initial installation or, if your system is already running the Solaris OS, you can upgrade your system.

Initial Installation

An initial installation overwrites the system's disk with the new version of the Solaris OS. If your system is not running the Solaris OS, you must perform an initial installation.

If the system is already running the Solaris OS, you can choose to perform an initial installation. If you want to preserve any local modifications, before you install, you must back up the local modifications. After you complete the installation, you can restore the local modifications.

You can use any of the Solaris installation methods to perform an initial installation. For detailed information about the different Solaris installation methods, refer to Choosing a Solaris Installation Method.

Upgrade

You can upgrade the Solaris OS by using two upgrade methods: standard and Solaris Live Upgrade. A standard upgrade maintains as many existing configuration parameters as possible of the current Solaris OS. Solaris Live Upgrade creates a copy of the current system. This copy can be upgraded with a standard upgrade. The upgraded Solaris OS can then be switched to become the current system by a simple reboot. If a failure occurs, you can switch back to the original Solaris OS with a reboot. Solaris Live Upgrade enables you to keep your system running while you upgrade and enables you to switch back and forth between Solaris OS releases.

For more information about upgrading and the list of upgrade methods, see Upgrade Planning.

Choosing a Solaris Installation Method

The Solaris OS provides several programs for installation or upgrade. Each installation technology offers different features that are designed for specific installation requirements and environments. Use the following table to help you decide which installation method to use.

Sun Java System Application Server Platform Edition 8

The Sun Java System Application Server Platform Edition 8 provides for broad deployment of application services and web services. This software is automatically installed with the Solaris OS. You can find documentation for the server in the following areas:

Chapter 3 Solaris Installation and Upgrade (Planning)

This chapter describes system requirements to install or upgrade to the Solaris OS. General guidelines for planning the disk space and default swap space allocation are also provided. This chapter contains the following sections:

• System Requirements and Recommendations

• Allocating Disk and Swap Space

• Upgrade Planning

• How to Find the Version of the Solaris OS That Your System Is Running

• Locale Values

• Platform Names and Groups

• Upgrading When Solaris Zones are Installed on a System

• x86: Partitioning Recommendations

System Requirements and Recommendations

You can choose to install the software with a GUI or with or without a windowing environment. If there is sufficient memory, the GUI is displayed by default. Other environments are displayed by default if memory is insufficient for the GUI. You can override defaults with the nowin or text boot options. But, you are limited by the amount of memory in your system or by installing remotely. Also if the Solaris installation program does not detect a video adapter, it automatically displays in a console-based environment. Table 3–2 describes these environments and lists minimal memory requirements for displaying them.

Allocating Disk and Swap Space

Before you install the Solaris software, you can determine if your system has enough disk space by doing some high-level planning.

General Disk Space Planning and Recommendations

Planning disk space is different for everyone. Consider allocating space for the following conditions, depending on your needs.

Disk Space Recommendations for Software Groups

The Solaris software groups are collections of Solaris packages. Each software group includes support for different functions and hardware drivers.

• For an initial installation, you select the software group to install, based on the functions that you want to perform on the system.

• For an upgrade, you must upgrade to a software group that is installed on the system. For example, if you previously installed the End User Solaris Software Group on your system, you cannot use the upgrade option to upgrade to the Developer Solaris Software Group. However, during the upgrade you can add software to the system that is not part of the currently installed software group.

When you are installing the Solaris software, you can choose to add or remove packages from the Solaris software group that you selected. When you are selecting which packages to add or remove, you need to know about software dependencies and how the Solaris software is packaged.

The following figure shows the grouping of software packages. Reduced Network Support contains the minimal number of packages and Entire Solaris Software Group Plus OEM Support contains all the packages.

Figure 3–1 Solaris Software Groups

Table 3–4 lists the Solaris software groups and the recommended amount of disk space that you need to install each group.

The disk space recommendations in Table 3–4 include space for the following items.

• Swap space

• Patches

• Additional software packages

You might find that the software groups require less disk space than the amount that is listed in this table.

Upgrade Planning

You can upgrade a system by using one of three different upgrade methods: Solaris Live Upgrade, the Solaris installation program, and custom JumpStart.

Upgrade Limitations

Upgrade Programs

You can perform a standard interactive upgrade with the Solaris installation program or an unattended upgrade with the custom JumpStart installation method. Solaris Live Upgrade enables you to upgrade a running system.

Installing a Solaris Flash Archive Instead of Upgrading

The Solaris Flash installation feature provides a method of creating a copy of the whole installation from a master system that can be replicated on many clone systems. This copy is called a Solaris Flash archive. You can install an archive by using any installation program.

A Solaris Flash archive cannot be properly created when a non-global zone is installed. The Solaris Flash feature is not compatible with Solaris Zones partitioning technology. If you create a Solaris Flash archive, the resulting archive is not installed properly when the archive is deployed under these conditions:

• The archive is created in a non-global zone

• The archive is created in a global zone that has non-global zones installed

Upgrading With Disk Space Reallocation

The upgrade option in the Solaris installation program and the upgrade keyword in the custom JumpStart program provide the ability to reallocate disk space. This reallocation automatically changes the sizes of the disk slices. You can reallocate disk space if the current file systems do not have enough space for the upgrade. For example, file systems might need more space for the upgrade for the following reasons:

• The Solaris software group that is currently installed on the system contains new software in the new release. Any new software that is included in a software group is automatically selected to be installed during the upgrade.

• The size of the existing software on the system has increased in the new release.

The auto-layout feature attempts to reallocate the disk space to accommodate the new size requirements of the file system. Initially, auto-layout attempts to reallocate space, based on a set of default constraints. If auto-layout cannot reallocate space, you must change the constraints on the file systems.

Auto-layout does not have the ability to “grow” file systems. Auto-layout reallocates space by the following process:

1. Backing up required files on the file systems that need to change.

2. Repartitioning the disks on the basis of the file system changes.

3. Restoring the backup files before the upgrade happens.

• If you are using the Solaris installation program, and auto-layout cannot determine how to reallocate the disk space, you must use the custom JumpStart program to upgrade.

• If you are using the custom JumpStart method to upgrade and you create an upgrade profile, disk space might be a concern. If the current file systems do not contain enough disk space for the upgrade, you can use the backup_media and layout_constraint keywords to reallocate disk space. For an example of how to use the backup_media and layout_constraint keywords in a profile, refer to Profile Examples.

Using the Patch Analyzer When Upgrading

The Patch Analyzer performs an analysis on your system if you want to upgrade to one of these releases that follow the initial Solaris 10 3/05 release.

• Solaris 10 1/06 release

• Solaris 10 6/06 release

If you are already running the Solaris OS and have installed individual patches, upgrading to a subsequent Solaris 10 release causes the following:

• Any patches that were supplied as part of one of the releases noted above are reapplied to your system. You cannot back out these patches.

• Any patches that were previously installed on your system and are not included in one of the releases noted above are removed.

You can use the Patch Analyzer to determine which patches, if any, will be removed. For detailed instructions about using the Patch Analyzer, refer to Appendix C, Using the Patch Analyzer When Upgrading (Tasks), in Solaris 10 6/06 Installation Guide: Solaris Live Upgrade and Upgrade Planning.

Backing Up Systems Before Upgrading

Backing up your existing file systems before you upgrade to the Solaris OS is highly recommended. If you copy file systems to removable media, such as tape, you can safeguard against data loss, damage, or corruption.

• For detailed instructions to back up your system, refer to Chapter 24, Backing Up and Restoring File Systems (Overview), in System Administration Guide: Devices and File Systems.

• To backup your system when non-global zones are installed, see Chapter 25, Solaris Zones Administration (Overview), in System Administration Guide: Solaris Containers-Resource Management and Solaris Zones.

How to Find the Version of the Solaris OS That Your System Is Running

To see the version of Solaris software that is running on your system, type either of the following commands.

$ uname -a

The cat command provides more detailed information.

$ cat /etc/release

Locale Values

As a part of your installation, you can preconfigure the locale that you want the system to use. A locale determines how online information is displayed in a specific language and specific region. A language might also include more than one locale to accommodate regional differences, such as differences in the format of date and time, numeric and monetary conventions, and spelling.

You can preconfigure the system locale in a custom JumpStart profile or in the sysidcfg file.

Platform Names and Groups

When you are adding clients for a network installation, you must know your system architecture (platform group). If you are writing a custom JumpStart installation rules file, you need to know the platform name.

Some examples of platform names and groups follow. For a full list of SPARC based systems, see Solaris Sun Hardware Platform Guide at http://docs.sun.com/.

On a running system, you can also use the uname -i command to determine a system's platform name or the uname -m command to determine a system's platform group.

Upgrading When Solaris Zones are Installed on a System

This section provides a brief overview of Solaris Zones partitioning technology, an upgrading with non-global zones overview, and disk space planning guidelines.

For complete information on overview, planning, creating and configuring zones, see Chapter 16, Introduction to Solaris Zones, in System Administration Guide: Solaris Containers-Resource Management and Solaris Zones.

The Solaris Zones partitioning technology is used to virtualize operating system services and provide an isolated and secure environment for running applications. A non-global zone is a virtualized operating system environment created within a single instance of the Solaris OS. When you create a non-global zone, you produce an application execution environment in which processes are isolated from the rest of the system. This isolation prevents processes that are running in one non-global zone from monitoring or affecting processes that are running in other non-global zones. Even a process running with superuser credentials cannot view or affect activity in other zones. A non-global zone also provides an abstract layer that separates applications from the physical attributes of the machine on which they are deployed. Examples of these attributes include physical device paths.

Every Solaris system contains a global zone. The global zone has a dual function. The global zone is both the default zone for the system and the zone used for system-wide administrative control. All processes run in the global zone if no non-global zones are created by the global administrator. The global zone is the only zone from which a non-global zone can be configured, installed, managed, or uninstalled. Only the global zone is bootable from the system hardware. Administration of the system infrastructure, such as physical devices, routing, or dynamic reconfiguration (DR), is only possible in the global zone. Appropriately privileged processes running in the global zone can access objects associated with the non-global zones.

Upgrading With Non-Global Zones

After the Solaris OS is installed, you can install and configure non-global zones. When you are ready to upgrade the Solaris OS, you can upgrade a system that has non-global zones installed. The Solaris interactive installation program and custom JumpStart programs enable an upgrade.

• With the Solaris interactive installation program, you can upgrade a system with non-global zones by selecting the Upgrade Install on the Select Upgrade or Initial Install panel. The installation program then analyzes your system to determine if your system is upgradable, and provides you a summary of the analysis. The installation program then prompts you to continue the upgrade. You can use this program with the following limitations:

  • You cannot customize your upgrade. For example, you cannot install additional software products, install additional locale packages, or modify the disk layout.

  • You must use the Solaris Operating System DVD or a DVD-created network installation image. You cannot use the Solaris Software CDs to upgrade a system. For more information about installing with this program, see Chapter 2, Installing With the Solaris Installation Program (Tasks), in Solaris 10 6/06 Installation Guide: Basic Installations.

• With the custom JumpStart installation program, you can upgrade by using only the install_type and root_device keywords.

  Because some keywords affect non-global zones, some keywords cannot be included in a profile. For example, using keywords that add packages, reallocate disk space, or add locales would affect non-global zones. If you use these keywords, they are ignored or cause the JumpStart upgrade to fail. For a list of these keywords, see Limiting Profile Keywords When Upgrading With Non-Global Zones.

Backing Up Your System Before Performing an Upgrade With Zones

You should back up the global and non-global zones on your Solaris system before you perform the upgrade. For information about backing up a system with zones installed, see Chapter 25, Solaris Zones Administration (Overview), in System Administration Guide: Solaris Containers-Resource Management and Solaris Zones.

Disk Space Requirements for Non-Global Zones

When installing the global zone, be sure to reserve enough disk space for all of the zones you might create. Each non-global zone might have unique disk space requirements.

No limits are placed on how much disk space can be consumed by a zone. The global zone administrator is responsible for space restriction. Even a small uniprocessor system can support a number of zones running simultaneously. The characteristics of the packages installed in the global zone affect the space requirements of the non-global zones that are created. The number of packages and space requirements are factors.

For complete planning requirements and recommendations, see Chapter 18, Planning and Configuring Non-Global Zones (Tasks), in System Administration Guide: Solaris Containers-Resource Management and Solaris Zones.

x86: Partitioning Recommendations

When using the Solaris OS on x86 based systems, follow these guidelines for partitioning your system.

The Solaris installation program uses a default boot-disk partition layout. These partitions are called fdisk partitions. An fdisk partition is a logical partition of a disk drive that is dedicated to a particular operating system on x86 based systems. To install the Solaris software, you must set up at least one Solaris fdisk partition on an x86 based system. x86 based systems allow up to four different fdisk partitions on a disk. These partitions can be used to hold individual operating systems. Each operating system must be located on a unique fdisk partition. A system can only have one Solaris fdisk partition per disk.

Default Boot-Disk Partition Layout Preserves the Service Partition

The Solaris installation program uses a default boot-disk partition layout to accommodate the diagnostic or Service partition. If your system currently includes a diagnostic or Service partition, the default boot-disk partition layout enables you to preserve this partition.

If you install the Solaris OS on an x86 based system that does not currently include a diagnostic or Service partition, the installation program does not create a new diagnostic or Service partition by default. If you want to create a diagnostic or Service partition on your system, see your hardware documentation.

Chapter 4 x86: GRUB Based Booting For Solaris Installation

This chapter describes the GRUB based booting on x86 based systems that relates to Solaris installation. This chapter contains the following sections:

• x86: GRUB Based Booting (Overview)

• x86: GRUB Based Booting (Planning)

• x86: Locating the GRUB Menu's menu.lst File (Tasks)

x86: GRUB Based Booting (Overview)

GRUB, the open source boot loader, has been adopted as the default boot loader in the Solaris OS.

GRUB based booting is not available on SPARC based systems.

The boot loader is the first software program that runs after you power on a system. After you power on an x86 based system, the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) initializes the CPU, the memory, and the platform hardware. When the initialization phase has completed, the BIOS loads the boot loader from the configured boot device, and then transfers control of the system to the boot loader.

GRUB is an open source boot loader with a simple menu interface that includes boot options that are predefined in a configuration file. GRUB also has a command-line interface that is accessible from the menu interface for performing various boot commands. In the Solaris OS, the GRUB implementation is compliant with the Multiboot Specification. The specification is described in detail at http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/grub.html.

Because the Solaris kernel is fully compliant with the Multiboot Specification, you can boot a Solaris x86 based system by using GRUB. With GRUB, you can more easily boot and install various operating systems. For example, on one system, you could individually boot the following operating systems:

• Solaris OS

• Microsoft Windows

  ---

  Note –

  GRUB detects Microsoft Windows partitions but does not verify that the OS can be booted.

  ---

A key benefit of GRUB is that it is intuitive about file systems and kernel executable formats, which enables you to load an operating system without recording the physical position of the kernel on the disk. With GRUB based booting, the kernel is loaded by specifying its file name, and the drive, and the partition where the kernel resides. GRUB based booting replaces the Solaris Device Configuration Assistant and simplifies the booting process with a GRUB menu.

x86: How GRUB Based Booting Works

After GRUB gains control of the system, a menu is displayed on the console. In the GRUB menu, you can do the following:

• Select an entry to boot your system

• Modify a boot entry by using the built-in GRUB edit menu

• Manually load an OS kernel from the command line

A configurable timeout is available to boot the default OS entry. Pressing any key aborts the default OS entry boot.

To view an example of a GRUB menu, see Description of the GRUB Main Menu.

x86: GRUB Device Naming Conventions

The device naming conventions that GRUB uses are slightly different from previous Solaris OS versions. Understanding the GRUB device naming conventions can assist you in correctly specifying drive and partition information when you configure GRUB on your system.

The following table describes the GRUB device naming conventions.

All GRUB device names must be enclosed in parentheses. Partition numbers are counted from 0 (zero), not from 1.

For more information about fdisk partitions, see Guidelines for Creating an fdisk Partition in System Administration Guide: Devices and File Systems.

x86: Where to Find Information About GRUB Based Installations

For more information about these changes, see the following references.

x86: GRUB Based Booting (Planning)

This section describes the basics of GRUB based booting and describes the GRUB menu.

When you install the Solaris OS, two GRUB menu entries are installed on the system by default. The first entry is the Solaris OS entry. The second entry is the failsafe boot archive, which is to be used for system recovery. The Solaris GRUB menu entries are installed and updated automatically as part of the Solaris software installation and upgrade process. These entries are directly managed by the OS and should not be manually edited.

During a standard Solaris OS installation, GRUB is installed on the Solaris fdisk partition without modifying the system BIOS setting. If the OS is not on the BIOS boot disk, you need to do one of the following:

• Modify the BIOS setting.

• Use a boot manager to bootstrap to the Solaris partition. For more details, see your boot manager.

The preferred method is to install the Solaris OS on the boot disk. If multiple operating systems are installed on the machine, you can add entries to the menu.lst file. These entries are then displayed in the GRUB menu the next time you boot the system.

For additional information on multiple operating systems, see How Multiple Operating Systems Are Supported in the GRUB Boot Environment in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.

x86: Performing a GRUB Based Installation From the Network

Performing a GRUB based network boot requires a DHCP server that is configured for PXE clients and an install server that provides tftp service. The DHCP server must be able to respond to the DHCP classes, PXEClient and GRUBClient. The DHCP response must contain the following information:

• IP address of the file server

• Name of the boot file (pxegrub)

rpc.bootparamd, which is usually a requirement on the server side for performing a network boot, is not required for a GRUB based network boot.

If no PXE or DHCP server is available, you can load GRUB from CD-ROM or local disk. You can then manually configure the network in GRUB and download the multiboot program and the boot archive from the file server.

For more information, see Overview of Booting and Installing Over the Network With PXE in Solaris 10 6/06 Installation Guide: Network-Based Installations.

Description of the GRUB Main Menu

When you boot an x86 based system, the GRUB menu is displayed. This menu provides a list of boot entries to choose from. A boot entry is an OS instance that is installed on your system. The GRUB menu is based on the menu.lst file, which is a configuration file. The menu.lst file is created by the Solaris installation program and can be modified after installation. The menu.lst file dictates the list of OS instances that are shown in the GRUB menu.

• If you install or upgrade the Solaris OS, the GRUB menu is automatically updated. The Solaris OS is then displayed as a new boot entry.

• If you install an OS other than the Solaris OS, you must modify the menu.lst configuration file to include the new OS instance. Adding the new OS instance enables the new boot entry to appear in the GRUB menu the next time that you boot the system.

Example 4–1 GRUB Main Menu

In the following example, the GRUB main menu shows the Solaris and Microsoft Windows operating systems. A Solaris Live Upgrade boot environment is also listed that is named second_disk. See the following for descriptions of each menu item.

GNU GRUB version 0.95 (616K lower / 4127168K upper memory)
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Solaris                                                            |
|Solaris failsafe                                                   |
|second_disk                                                        |
|second_disk failsafe                                               |
|Windows                                                            |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
Use the ^ and v keys to select which entry is highlighted. Press
enter to boot the selected OS, 'e' to edit the commands before
booting, or 'c' for a command-line.

Solaris

Specifies the Solaris OS.

Solaris failsafe

Specifies a boot archive that can be used for recovery if the Solaris OS is damaged.

second_disk

Specifies a Solaris Live Upgrade boot environment. The second_disk boot environment was created as a copy of the Solaris OS. It was upgraded and activated with the luactivate command. The boot environment is available for booting.

Windows

Specifies the Microsoft Windows OS. GRUB detects these partitions but does not verify that the OS can be booted.

Description of GRUB menu.lst File

The GRUB menu.lst file lists the contents of the GRUB main menu. The GRUB main menu lists boot entries for all the OS instances that are installed on your system, including Solaris Live Upgrade boot environments. The Solaris software upgrade process preserves any changes that you make to this file.

Any revisions made to the menu.lst file are displayed on the GRUB main menu, along with the Solaris Live Upgrade entries. Any changes that you make to the file become effective at the next system reboot. You can revise this file for the following reasons:

• To add to the GRUB menu entries for operating systems other than Solaris

• To customize booting behavior such as specifying the default OS on the GRUB menu

Do not use the GRUB menu.lst file to modify Solaris Live Upgrade entries. Modifications could cause Solaris Live Upgrade to fail.

Although you can use the menu.lst file to customize booting behavior such as booting with the kernel debugger, the preferred method for customization is to use the eeprom command. If you use the menu.lst file to customize, the Solaris OS entries might be modified during a software upgrade. Changes to the file would then be lost.

For information about how to use the eeprom command, see How to Set Solaris Boot Parameters by Using the eeprom Command in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.

Example 4–2 Menu.lst File

Here is a sample of a menu.lst file:

default 0
timeout 10
title Solaris
  root (hd0,0,a)
  kernel /platform/i86pc/multiboot -B console=ttya
  module /platform/i86pc/boot_archive
title Solaris failsafe
  root (hd0,0,a)
  kernel /boot/multiboot -B console=ttya -s
  module /boot/x86.miniroot.safe
#----- second_disk - ADDED BY LIVE UPGRADE - DO NOT EDIT  -----
title second_disk
  root (hd0,1,a)
  kernel /platform/i86pc/multiboot
  module /platform/i86pc/boot_archive
title second_disk failsafe
  root (hd0,1,a)
  kernel /boot/multiboot kernel/unix -s
  module /boot/x86.miniroot-safe
#----- second_disk -------------- END LIVE UPGRADE ------------
title Windows
  root (hd0,0)
  chainloader -1

default

Specifies which item to boot if the timeout expires. To change the default, you can specify another item in the list by changing the number. The count begins with zero for the first title. For example, change the default to 2 to boot automatically to the second_disk boot environment.

timeout

Specifies the number of seconds to wait for user input before booting the default entry. If no timeout is specified, you are required to choose an entry.

title OS name

Specifies the name of the operating system.

• If this is a Solaris Live Upgrade boot environment, OS name is the name you gave the new boot environment when it was created. In the previous example, the Solaris Live Upgrade boot environment is named second_disk.

• If this is a failsafe boot archive, this boot archive is used for recovery when the primary OS is damaged. In the previous example, Solaris failsafe and second_disk failsafe are the recovery boot archives for the Solaris and second_disk operating systems.

root (hd0,0,a)

Specifies on which disk, partition, and slice to load files. GRUB automatically detects the file system type.

kernel /platform/i86pc/multiboot

Specifies the multiboot program. The kernel command must always be followed by the multiboot program. The string after multiboot is passed to the Solaris OS without interpretation.

For a complete description of multiple operating systems, see How Multiple Operating Systems Are Supported in the GRUB Boot Environment in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.

Locating the menu.lst File To Change the GRUB Menu

You must always use the bootadm command to locate the GRUB menu's menu.lst file. The list-menu subcommand finds the active GRUB menu. The menu.lst file lists all the operating systems that are installed on a system. The contents of this file dictate the list of operating systems that is displayed on the GRUB menu. If you want to make changes to this file, see x86: Locating the GRUB Menu's menu.lst File (Tasks).

x86: Locating the GRUB Menu's menu.lst File (Tasks)

The GRUB menu can be updated. For example, you might want to change the default time for how fast the default OS is booted. Or, you might want to add another OS to the GRUB menu.

Typically, the active GRUB menu's menu.lst file is located at /boot/grub/menu.lst. In some situations, the GRUB menu.lst file resides elsewhere. For example, in a system that uses Solaris Live Upgrade, the GRUB menu.lst file might be on a boot environment that is not the currently running boot environment. Or if you have upgraded a system with an x86 boot partition, the menu.lst file might reside in the /stubboot directory. Only the active GRUB menu.lst file is used to boot the system. In order to modify the GRUB menu that is displayed when you boot the system, the active GRUB menu.lst file must be modified. Changing any other GRUB menu.lst file has no effect on the menu that is displayed when you boot the system. To determine the location of the active GRUB menu.lst file, use the bootadm command. The list-menu subcommand displays the location of the active GRUB menu. The following procedures determine the location of the GRUB menu's menu.lst file.

For more information about the bootadm command, see bootadm(1M) man page.

Locating the GRUB Menu's menu.lst file

In the following procedure, the system contains two operating systems: Solaris and a Solaris Live Upgrade boot environment, second_disk. The Solaris OS has been booted and contains the GRUB menu.

Steps

1. Become superuser or assume an equivalent role.

   Roles contain authorizations and privileged commands. For more information about roles, see Configuring RBAC (Task Map) in System Administration Guide: Security Services.

2. To locate the menu.lst file, type:

   # /sbin/bootadm list-menu

   The location and contents of the file are displayed.

   The location for the active GRUB menu is: /boot/grub/menu.lst default 0 timeout 10 0 Solaris 1 Solaris failsafe 2 second_disk 3 second_disk failsafe

Locating the GRUB Menu's menu.lst File When the active menu.lst file is in Another Boot Environment

In the following procedure, the system contains two operating systems: Solaris and a Solaris Live Upgrade boot environment, second_disk. In this example, the menu.lst file does not exist in the currently running boot environment. The second_disk boot environment has been booted. The Solaris boot environment contains the GRUB menu. The Solaris boot environment is not mounted.

Steps

1. Become superuser or assume an equivalent role.

   Roles contain authorizations and privileged commands. For more information about roles, see Configuring RBAC (Task Map) in System Administration Guide: Security Services.

2. To locate the menu.lst file, type:

   # /sbin/bootadm list-menu

   The location and contents of the file are displayed.

   The location for the active GRUB menu is: /dev/dsk/device_name(not mounted) The filesystem type of the menu device is <ufs> default 0 timeout 10 0 Solaris 1 Solaris failsafe 2 second_disk 3 second_disk failsafe

3. Because the file system containing the menu.lst file is not mounted, mount the file system. Specify the UFS file system and the device name.

   # /usr/sbin/mount -F ufs /dev/dsk/device_name /mnt

   Where device_name specifies the location of the root (/) file system on the disk device of the boot environment that you want to mount. The device name is entered in the form of /dev/dsk/cwtxdysz. For example:

   # /usr/sbin/mount -F ufs /dev/dsk/c0t1d0s0 /mnt

   You can access the GRUB menu at /mnt/boot/grub/menu.lst

4. Unmount the filesystem

   # /usr/sbin/umount /mnt

   ---

   Note –

   If you mount a boot environment or a file system of a boot environment, ensure that the file system or file systems are unmounted after use. If these file systems are not unmounted, future Solaris Live Upgrade operations on that boot environment might fail.

   ---

Locating the GRUB Menu's menu.lst File When a Solaris Live Upgrade Boot Environment is Mounted

In the following procedure, the system contains two operating systems: Solaris and a Solaris Live Upgrade boot environment, second_disk. The second_disk boot environment has been booted. The Solaris boot environment contains the GRUB menu. The Solaris boot environment is mounted at /.alt.Solaris.

Steps

1. Become superuser or assume an equivalent role.

   Roles contain authorizations and privileged commands. For more information about roles, see Configuring RBAC (Task Map) in System Administration Guide: Security Services.

2. To locate the menu.lst file, type:

   # /sbin/bootadm list-menu

   The location and contents of the file are displayed.

   The location for the active GRUB menu is: /.alt.Solaris/boot/grub/menu.lst default 0 timeout 10 0 Solaris 1 Solaris failsafe 2 second_disk 3 second_disk failsafe

   Since the boot environment containing the GRUB menu is already mounted, then you can access the menu.lst file at /.alt.Solaris/boot/grub/menu.lst.

Locating the GRUB Menu's menu.lst File When Your System Has an x86 Boot Partition

In the following procedure, the system contains two operating systems: Solaris and a Solaris Live Upgrade boot environment, second_disk. The second_disk boot environment has been booted. Your system has been upgraded and an x86 boot partition remains. The boot partition is mounted at /stubboot and contains the GRUB menu. For an explanation of x86 boot partitions, see x86: Partitioning Recommendations.

Steps

1. Become superuser or assume an equivalent role.

   Roles contain authorizations and privileged commands. For more information about roles, see Configuring RBAC (Task Map) in System Administration Guide: Security Services.

2. To locate the menu.lst file, type:

   # /sbin/bootadm list-menu

   The location and contents of the file are displayed.

   The location for the active GRUB menu is: /stubboot/boot/grub/menu.lst default 0 timeout 10 0 Solaris 1 Solaris failsafe 2 second_disk 3 second_disk failsafe

   You can access the menu.lst file at /stubboot/boot/grub/menu.lst.