Solaris Transition Guide

Shutting Down

Use the shutdown(1M) command when shutting down a system with multiple users. The command sends a warning to all logged-in users and, after 60 seconds, shuts the system down to single-user state.

See System Administration Guide, Volume I for detailed descriptions of shutdown procedures.

In the SunOS release 5.7 software, the shutdown command is the preferred way to halt or shut down a system. shutdown and init use rc scripts to kill running processes. While the halt command is available in the SunOS release 5.7 software, it stops the system quickly without shutting down services in an orderly way. Table 8-4 shows the SunOS release 5.7 commands that replace those in the SunOS release 4 system.

Table 8-4 SunOS Release 5.7 Replacements for halt and fasthalt

SunOS Release 4 Command 

SunOS Release 5.7 Command Replacement 

halt

shutdown -i 0, init 0

fasthalt

shutdown -i 0, init 0

The shutdown and init commands accept a numerical "run-level" argument that controls the shutdown sequence. See the shutdown and init man pages for information about the run-level numbers.

Changes to the shutdown Command

The SunOS release 5.7 shutdown command includes only the options in Table 8-5. This command and its options are described in System Administration Guide, Volume I.

Table 8-5 SunOS Release 5.7 shutdown Command Options

Option 

Description 

-g

Selects "grace" period before shutdown begins.

-i [init state]

Specifies an initial run level (see Table 8-3).

-y

Runs shutdown without asking confirmation questions.

Assumes a "yes" response to all questions. 

-message

Specifies user-supported message. If more than one word, use quotes around the message. 

By default, the SunOS release 5.7 shutdown command asks you to confirm before an actual shutdown begins. You can use the -y option to run it without operator intervention.

The shutdown options are available only in BSD source compatibility mode on Solaris 7 systems.

See Appendix A, Commands Reference Table, for a summary of changes. See shutdown(1M) for information about how the command works.

Using the fasthalt and fastboot Commands

The SunOS release 4 fastboot and fasthalt commands are available if you are running the SunOS/BSD Source Compatibility Package on Solaris 7 systems. The file-system checking features of these commands are not appropriate to a Solaris 7 system.

Using the halt and reboot Commands

The halt and reboot commands do not run the rc scripts in /sbin, so they are not recommended. Since the halt and reboot commands in SunOS release 5.7 systems are not available on other AT&T SVR4 systems, both commands have shutdown and init equivalents.