System Administration Guide: Basic Administration

x86: GRUB Terminology

To thoroughly grasp GRUB concepts, an understanding of the following terms is essential.


Note –

Some of the terms that are described in this list are not exclusive to GRUB based booting.


boot archive

A collection of critical files that is used to boot the Oracle Solaris OS. These files are needed during system startup before the root file system is mounted. Multiple boot archives are maintained on a system:

  • A primary boot archive is used to boot the Oracle Solaris OS on an x86 based system.

  • A failsafe boot archive that is used for recovery when a primary boot archive is damaged. This boot archive starts the system without mounting the root file system. On the GRUB menu, this boot archive is called failsafe. The archive's primary purpose is to regenerate the primary boot archives, which are usually used to boot the system.

boot loader

The first software program that runs after you power on a system. This program begins the booting process.

failsafe archive

See boot archive.

GRUB

GNU GRand Unified Bootloader (GRUB) is an open-source boot loader with a menu interface. The menu displays a list of the operating systems that are installed on a system. GRUB enables you to easily boot these various operating systems, such as the Oracle Solaris OS, Linux, or Windows.

GRUB main menu

A boot menu that lists the operating systems that are installed on a system. From this menu, you can easily boot an operating system without modifying the BIOS or fdisk partition settings.

GRUB edit menu

A submenu of the GRUB main menu. GRUB commands are displayed on this submenu. These commands can be edited to change boot behavior.

menu.lst file

A configuration file that 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 in the GRUB menu. From the GRUB menu, you can easily boot an operating system without modifying the BIOS or fdisk partition settings.

miniroot

A minimal, bootable root (/) file system that resides on the Solaris installation media. A miniroot consists of the Solaris software that is required to install and upgrade systems. On x86 based systems, the miniroot is copied to the system to be used as the failsafe boot archive. See boot archive for details about the failsafe boot archive.

primary boot archive

See boot archive.