Solaris 10 5/08 Installation Guide: Planning for Installation and Upgrade

Upgrade Limitations

The following table lists limitations when you upgrade a system under some conditions.

Issue	Description
Upgrading to a different software group	You cannot upgrade your system to a software group that is not 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.
Upgrading when non-global zones are installed	You can upgrade a system that has non-global zones installed with the Solaris installation program, Solaris Live Upgrade or JumpStart. The following limitations apply: Solaris Live Upgrade is the recommend program to upgrade or patch a system. Other upgrade programs might require extensive upgrade time, because the time required to complete the upgrade increases linearly with the number of installed non-global zones. If you are patching a system with Solaris Live Upgrade, you do not have to take the system to single-user mode and you can maximize your system's uptime. When you use a Solaris Flash archive to install, an archive that contains non-global zones is not properly installed on your system.
Upgrading with Veritas file systems	The Solaris interactive installation and custom JumpStart programs do not present you with the opportunity to upgrade a system when you are using Veritas VxVM file systems under these conditions: If the root file system to be upgraded is under Veritas control. For example, if the root (`/`) file system is mounted on a `/dev/vx/...` device. If any Solaris software is installed on any file system that is under Veritas control. For example, if the `/usr` file system is mounted on a `/dev/vx/...` device. To upgrade when Veritas VxVM is configured, use one of the following methods: Use Solaris Live Upgrade with this procedure, System Panics When Upgrading With Solaris Live Upgrade Running Veritas VxVm in Solaris 10 5/08 Installation Guide: Solaris Live Upgrade and Upgrade Planning. If you have non-global zones installed, you must migrate the affected file systems from VxVM file systems to UFS file systems. You cannot use the Solaris Live Upgrade procedure in the previous procedure.

Issue

Description

Upgrading to a different software group

You cannot upgrade your system to a software group that is not 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.

Upgrading when non-global zones are installed

You can upgrade a system that has non-global zones installed with the Solaris installation program, Solaris Live Upgrade or JumpStart. The following limitations apply:

Solaris Live Upgrade is the recommend program to upgrade or patch a system. Other upgrade programs might require extensive upgrade time, because the time required to complete the upgrade increases linearly with the number of installed non-global zones. If you are patching a system with Solaris Live Upgrade, you do not have to take the system to single-user mode and you can maximize your system's uptime.
When you use a Solaris Flash archive to install, an archive that contains non-global zones is not properly installed on your system.

Upgrading with Veritas file systems

The Solaris interactive installation and custom JumpStart programs do not present you with the opportunity to upgrade a system when you are using Veritas VxVM file systems under these conditions:

If the root file system to be upgraded is under Veritas control. For example, if the root (/) file system is mounted on a /dev/vx/... device.
If any Solaris software is installed on any file system that is under Veritas control. For example, if the /usr file system is mounted on a /dev/vx/... device.

To upgrade when Veritas VxVM is configured, use one of the following methods:

Use Solaris Live Upgrade with this procedure, System Panics When Upgrading With Solaris Live Upgrade Running Veritas VxVm in Solaris 10 5/08 Installation Guide: Solaris Live Upgrade and Upgrade Planning.
If you have non-global zones installed, you must migrate the affected file systems from VxVM file systems to UFS file systems. You cannot use the Solaris Live Upgrade procedure in the previous procedure.