System administrators typically use the PROM level to boot a system. Occasionally, however, you might need to change the way the system works, such as resetting which device to boot from or running hardware diagnostics, before the system is brought to a multiuser state.
Changing the default boot device is necessary to add a new drive to the system either permanently or temporarily, change the network boot strategy, or if you want to temporarily boot a standalone system from the network.
See monitor(1M) or eeprom(1M) for a complete list of PROM commands.
When the system is halted, the PROM monitor prompt is either the greater than sign (>) or ok.
Switch from the > prompt to the ok prompt on SPARC based systems by typing the following command.
> n ok |
All examples in this section use the ok prompt.
Display a system's PROM release level with the banner command.
ok banner Sun Ultra 5/10 UPA/PCI (UltraSPARC-IIi 333MHz), No Keyboard OpenBoot 3.15, 128 MB memory installed, Serial #nnnnnnnn. Ethernet address 8:0:20:a5:d1:3b, Host ID: nnnnnnnn. |
Hardware configuration information, including the release number of the PROM, is displayed. The PROM release level is indicated by the ROM Rev. number.
Become superuser.
Halt the system by using the init(1M) command.
# init 0 |
If the > PROM prompt is displayed, type n and press Return.
> n ok |
The ok PROM prompt is displayed.
Change the boot-device setting by using the setenv command.
ok setenv boot-device device[n] |
boot-device |
Identifies the parameter for setting the device from which to boot. |
device[n] |
Identifies the boot-device value such as a disk or the network. The n can be specified as the disk number. |
Use the probe-scsi-all command if you need help identifying the disk number.
Verify the default boot device change by using the printenv command.
ok printenv boot-device |
Save the new boot-device value by using the reset command.
ok reset |
The new boot-device setting is written to the PROM.
In this example, the default boot device is set to disk.
# init 0 # INIT: New run level: 0 . . . The system is down. syncing file systems... done Program terminated ok setenv boot-device disk boot-device = disk ok printenv boot-device boot-device disk disk ok reset Sun Ultra 5/10 UPA/PCI (UltraSPARC-IIi 333MHz), No Keyboard OpenBoot 3.15, 128 MB memory installed, Serial #nnnnnnnn. Ethernet address 8:0:20:a5:d3:4b, Host ID: nnnnnnnn. Boot device: disk File and args: SunOS Release 5.8 Version 64-bit . . . pluto console login: |
In this example the default boot device is set to the network.
# init 0 # INIT: New run level: 0 . . . The system is down. syncing file systems... done Program terminated ok setenv boot-device net boot-device = net ok printenv boot-device boot-device net disk ok reset Sun Ultra 5/10 UPA/PCI (UltraSPARC-IIi 333MHz), No Keyboard OpenBoot 3.15, 128 MB memory installed, Serial #nnnnnnnn. Ethernet address 8:0:20:a3:d54:4b, Host ID: nnnnnnnn. Boot device: net File and args: . . . pluto console login: |
Run the reset command from the ok prompt.
ok reset |
The self-test program, which runs diagnostic tests on the hardware, is executed and the system is rebooted.