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Solaris 7 3/99 Release Notes Supplement for Sun Hardware

Chapter 3 Open Issues

Prestoserve 2.4.2 -- Patch Required

The Prestoserve(TM) 2.4.2 release will not function properly with the Solaris 7 3/99 software environment if the workaround below is not implemented. Below is a partial list of some of the platforms and hardware options that may be affected:

If you installed Prestoserve 2.4.2 and are using a platform or hardware option listed above, you must do the following steps to provide compatibility:

  1. Edit the /etc/system file and add the following information: 

    set fas:fas_enable_sbus64 = 0

  2. Reboot your system.

    Caution - Caution -

    Failure to reboot your system can corrupt data.

A Prestoserve patch (#103043-08) that automatically adds the above information to the /etc/system file is available. If you prefer to make this change using the Prestoserve patch, contact your authorized Sun support provider. If you edit the /etc/system file as described above, you do not need the Prestoserve patch.

If you installed Prestoserve 2.4.2 and are using an Ultra 2 platform (200MHz or 300MHz), you must do the following steps to provide compatibility:

  1. Edit the /etc/system file and add the following information: 

    set fas:fas_enable_sbus64 = 0

  2. Reboot your system.

  3. Use pkgadd to add the SUNWprsto package.

  4. Add the Prestoserve patch (103043-08).

    Note -

    If the above steps are not followed, your Ultra 2 system may panic.

Booting From Partitions Greater Than 2-Gbytes (1234177)

Due to PROM limitations, all sun4c, sun4d, and sun4m architectures will not boot from partitions greater than 2-Gbytes. These systems will fail with the following message: 

bootblk: can't find the boot program

Note -

All sun4u architectures support booting from larger partitions.

One related bug (4023466) reports a problem with re-preinstall where the boot image for large disks creates root partitions greater than 2-Gbytes. System Administrators are cautioned not to use re-preinstall on sun4c, sun4d, and sun4m systems with large root disks (4-Gbytes and greater).

SunFDDI Adapters Cannot Boot Sun4d Diskless Clients (4144414)

Sun4d diskless clients cannot be booted using SunFDDI(TM) adapters (FDDI/S 6.0 or FDDI/P 2.0) installed in servers running the Solaris 7 3/99 operating evironment. If you intend using a Sun4d as a diskless client, deploy it in an ethernet section of your network.

Quad Ethernet Controller--Dynamic Reconfiguration Not Supported

The Quad Ethernet (QE) and Quad Ethernet Controller (QEC) must be configured with other non-Dynamic Reconfiguration (DR) boards. DR does not support QE and QEC on Sun Enterprise X000 platforms running the Solaris 7 3/99 operating environment or compatible versions.

Serial Parallel Controller Driver

Serial Parallel Controller Driver Does Not Support Dynamic Reconfiguration (4177805)

Contact your service provider for availability of patch 106827-01. The patch is not available at the time of this release.

ISDN -- Power Management Not Supported

ISDN does not support the Power Management(TM) suspend and resume features.

/usr/ucblib/sparcv9 is Not Available (4114650)

Any application requiring ucblib will not link or run with the 64-bit Solaris operating environment.

Workaround: No workaround is available at this time. Contact your authorized Sun support provider for more information.

SunScreen SKIP 1.1.1 Not Supported in Solaris 7 3/99

If you have SunScreen(TM) SKIP 1.1.1 currently installed on your system, you should remove the SKIP packages before installing or upgrading to Solaris 7. The packages you should remove are:

Solstice SyMON Not Supported in Solaris 7 3/99

If you have Solstice SyMON currently installed on your system, you should remove the SyMON packages before installing or upgrading to Solaris 7. The packages you should remove are:

For information on the availability of Sun Enterprise SyMON 2.0, go to:

http://www.sun.com/servers/symon.html

SunVTS 3.1 Issues

The following issues apply to the SunVTS(TM) 3.1 product.

SunVTS Tests Not Available in 64-Bit Mode

The following SunVTS tests are not available in the 64-bit mode:

cg14test, isdntest, pstest, sxtest, and tcxtest

SunVTS Online Diagnostics through SyMON

The SunVTS 3.1 online diagnostics feature (SUNWodu) is no longer accessible through the SyMON interface.

To start SunVTS to safely run in an online environment, use the vtsui.online command.

Example: 

# /opt/SUNWvts/bin/vtsui.online -h hostname

For more information about running SunVTS in an online or offline environment, refer to the SunVTS 3.1 User's Guide.

The SunVTS User Interface Disappears (4122829)

In some cases, the SunVTS user interface disappears during a SunVTS test session. The SunVTS kernel is still active and the test session may continue to run.

Workaround: Restart the SunVTS user interface.

Example (starting the SunVTS CDE user interface): 

# /opt/SUNWvts/bin/vtsui

The rtvctest is Not Available in SunVTS 3.0 and SunVTS 3.1 (4172722)

The rtvctest verifies the functionality of the SunVideo SBus card.

This test is not supported on SunVTS version 3.0 and version 3.1, even though the test is listed in the SunVTS 3.0 Test Reference manual.

To run rtvctest, run SunVTS version 2.1.3 with the Solaris 2.6 5/98 operating environment.

SunVTS OPEN LOOK User Interface Support

The SunVTS OPEN LOOK user interface may not support the latest SunVTS features. For full feature support, use the SunVTS CDE or TTY interface. The SunVTS OPEN LOOK user interface will be sustained, but not enhanced, as long as OPEN LOOK is supported in the Solaris environment.

Trace Mode Update

When using the physical map view, you can only see one level in the hierarchy (such as one controller on a system board). Therefore, some devices that are several levels down are not available to trace. In this case, use the logical view to select tracing for these devices.

enatest and socaltest Cannot Run at the Same Time (4065417)

When the SunVTS enatest is run concurrently with the socaltest, the enatest may fail.

Workaround: Do not select socaltest when enatest is selected and vice-versa.

socaltest FATAL: Failed ioctl FCIO_DIAG_XRAM (4065420)

When the SunVTS socaltest is run concurrently with enatest and disktest, the socaltest may fail.

Workaround: Do not select enatest when socaltest is selected and vice-versa.

Disk and Floppy Drives Test (disktest) Update

File System Mounting

As of SunVTS 3.0, SunVTS disktest by default does not mount any mountable partitions. To have SunVTS mount all partitions which contain a file system, set the environment variable BYPASS_FS_PROBE to 0 (zero), then start SunVTS as shown below: 

# BYPASS_FS_PROBE=0; export BYPASS_FS_PROBE
# ./sunvts

To return to the SunVTS default behavior so no file systems are mounted, either set the BYPASS_FS_PROBE to a non-zero value, or unset it.

Even if BYPASS_FS_PROBE is set to 0 (zero), the SunVTS disk probe checks for the existence of Sun Enterprise Volume Manager and Solstice Disksuite on the system, and does not mount any partitions if their presence is detected.

If SunVTS is invoked from the Solstice SyMON graphical user interface, SunVTS will not mount any partitions in this case either.

Caution - Caution -

If a power failure occurs while the disktest is running, disk data may be destroyed.

Caution - Caution -

Running the Media subtest on a disk partition in the WriteRead mode may cause data corruption if the same partition is being used by other programs. Only select this mode when the system is offline (not used by any other users or programs).

disktest Option File Note

Loading an option file that was created when BYPASS_FS_PROBE was set to 0 (zero) might not work if the BYPASS_FS_PROBE environment variable no longer set to 0 (zero). Testing may fail with the following error: 

SUNWvts.disktest.8088 07/24/98 15:47:22 disktest c0t0d0
FATAL: "Couldn't get file system information on /distest_c0t0d0s0, statvfs()
system call failure error: No such file or directory.

This error is caused when SunVTS expects to use the predefined mount point names (/disktest_cntndnsn) that are created when BYPASS_FS_PROBE is set to 0 (zero), but these mount points do not exist while BYPASS_FS_PROBE is not set to 0 (zero).

Workaround: Create two separate option files for the two different states of the BYPASS_FS_PROBE environment variable.

Sun Enterprise 10000

This section contains general issues, known bugs, patches, and notes about the Solaris 7 release on the Sun(TM) Enterprise(TM) 10000.

General Issues

Only Alternate Pathing (AP) is supported in the Solaris 7 3/99 release. Dynamic Reconfiguration (DR) and Inter-Domain Networks (IDN) are not supported.

Note -

Before beginning the fresh install or upgrade procedures, you must install the SSP patches described in "Solaris 7 3/99 and the SSP".

Solaris 7 and Boot-Disk Partition Sizes

If you are upgrading the operating environment from Solaris 2.6 to Solaris 7 3/99 and you used the partition layout suggested in the SMCC Hardware Platform Guide Solaris 2.6, the partitions may not be large enough for the upgrade to succeed. For instance, the /usr partition must be at least 653 megabytes. If /usr is smaller than the size needed to perform the upgrade, suninstall uses the Dynamic Space Reallocation (DSR) mode to reallocate the space of the disk partitions.

DSR may calculate a partition layout which is not acceptable for some systems. For instance, DSR may select partitions that appear to DSR as being unused (non-UFS partitions which may contain raw data or other types of file systems). If DSR selects a used partition, data loss may occur. Therefore, you must know the current status of the partitions DSR wants to use before you allow DSR to continue with the reallocation of the disk partitions.

After DSR presents an acceptable layout and you choose to proceed with the reallocation, DSR will adjust the affected file systems, and the upgrade will continue. However, if you cannot constrain the layout so that it is acceptable for your needs, then you may need to manually repartition the boot device, or you may have to perform a fresh install.

Operating Mode

On the Enterprise 10000, you can check whether a domain is running in 32-bit or 64-bit mode by using the following command: 

domain_name# isainfo -k
sparcv9

The returned value, sparcv9, indicates that the domain is running the 64-bit operating mode; otherwise, the domain is running in 32-bit mode.

You can also use another command, isalist, to check the operating mode; however, the return value, sparcv9+vis, differs from the return value of the isainfo -k command. The values are synonymous. They both indicate that the domain is running in 64-bit mode.

Solaris 7 3/99 and the SSP

If you are installing Solaris 7 3/99 on a domain or upgrading a domain's current Solaris operating environment, you must have SSP 3.1 installed on the SSP. SSP 3.0 does not support Solaris 7 3/99 on a domain. In addition, before you perform the Solaris 7 3/99 upgrade on an Enterprise 10000 domain, the SSP must have Patch-ID 105684-04. This patch is on your Sun Computer Systems Supplement CD.

Note -

If the CD contains later versions of the patches, indicated by a higher-numbered suffix, use those patches instead of the patch numbers indicated in these instructions.

Patch-ID 105684-04

Description: OBP/download_helper needs to support 2.7

BugIDs fixed with this patch: 4078459 4083870 4084325 4097230 4102171 4118746 4137422 4146592

SSP Patches

The following patches should be installed on the SSP.

Patch-ID 106281-01

Description: SSP 3.1 sys_id -m doesn't work in year 2000 or after (Y2K bug)

BugIDs fixed with this patch: 4105569

Patch-ID 106282-01

Description: SSP 3.1 Hostview suppresses trap messages after 1999

BugIDs fixed with this patch: 4108443

Fixed Bugs

This section lists important bugs that have been fixed. Minor bugs are not included. Each entry includes a 7-digit BugID assigned by Sun to aid in bug-tracking and a one-line description of the bug.

4110199 - /etc/init.d/cvc Implementation, Packaging Inconsistent

Dynamic Reconfiguration of Sun Enterprise 3x00, 4x00, 5x00, and 6x00 Servers

These release notes provide the latest information on Dynamic Reconfiguration (DR) functionality for Sun(TM) Enterprise 3x00/4x00/5x00/6x00 Servers running Solaris 7 3/99. For complete information on Sun Enterprise Server Dynamic Reconfiguration, please refer to Dynamic Reconfiguration User's Guide For Sun Enterprise 3x00/4x00/5x00/6x00 Systems.

For Solaris 7 3/99 software on Sun Enterprise 3x00/4x00/5x00/6x00 Servers, DR functionality is limited to I/O boards and does not include CPU/Memory boards.

Supported Hardware

Before proceeding, ensure the system has Dynamic Reconfiguration capabilities. If you see the following message on your console or in your console logs, the hardware is of an older design and not suitable for Dynamic Reconfiguration: 

Hot Plug not supported in this system

Supported I/O boards are listed in the "Solaris 7" section on the web site 

http://sunsolve2.sun.com/sunsolve/Enterprise-dr/
:

The supported hardware includes type 1 and 4 Sun Enterprise I/O boards.

Firmware Issues for Dynamic Reconfiguration

FC-AL Disk Arrays or Internal Drives

For Sun StorEdge(TM) A5000 disk arrays or for internal FC-AL disks in the Sun Enterprise 3500, the firmware version must be at least ST19171FC 0413. For more information, refer to the "Solaris 7" section at the DR web site: 

http://sunsolve2.sun.com/sunsolve/Enterprise-dr/

PROM Updates for CPU and I/O Boards

To perform Dynamic Reconfiguration operations your machine may require one or more firmware updates. If an update is needed, the following message will appear during boot: 

Firmware does not support Dynamic Reconfiguration

Your machine must be running at least CPU PROM version 3.2.16. If you updated your firmware from the Solaris 7 3/99 CD for 64-bit operation, you already have version 3.2.16 installed.

To see your current PROM revision, enter .version and banner at the ok prompt. Your display may be similar to the following:

Table 3-1 Determining PROM Revision Level
ok .version
 Board 0: OBP 3.2.16 1998/06/08 16:58 POST 3.9.4 1998/06/09 16:25
 Board 1: FCODE 1.8.3 1997/11/14 12:41 iPOST 3.4.6 1998/04/16 14:22
 Board 2: FCODE 1.8.7 1997/12/08 15:39 iPOST 3.4.6 1998/04/16 14:22
 Board 4: FCODE 1.8.7 1997/12/08 15:39 iPOST 3.4.6 1998/04/16 14:22
 Board 5: FCODE 1.8.3 1997/11/14 12:41 iPOST 3.4.6 1998/04/16 14:22
 Board 6: FCODE 1.8.7 1997/12/08 15:39 iPOST 3.4.6 1998/04/16 14:22
 Board 7: OBP 3.2.16 1998/06/08 16:58 POST 3.9.4 1998/06/09 16:25
{5} ok banner
 8-slot Sun Enterprise 4000/5000, No Keyboard
 OpenBoot 3.2.16, 1024 MB memory installed, Serial #9039599.
 Ethernet address 8:0:xx:xx:xx:xx, Host ID: xxxxxxxx.

For information on how to enable Dynamic Reconfiguration functionality in the PROM, refer to the "Solaris 7" section at this web site. 

http://sunsolve2.sun.com/sunsolve/Enterprise-dr/

If you have not updated to PROM version 3.2.16, the web page also provides information on the following:

Software Issues for Dynamic Reconfiguration

Open Issues for Dynamic Reconfiguration

Bug List on the Internet

For the current list of DR software bugs, refer to the "Solaris 7" section at this web site: 

http://sunsolve2.sun.com/sunsolve/Enterprise-dr/

Cannot unconfigure board in slot 15; operation fails (4101093)

On Sun Enterprise 6000 and 6500 systems, the unconfigure operation fails for an I/O board in slot 15.

Cannot remove central I/O board (4112730)

The "central" I/O board cannot be removed under Dynamic Reconfiguration. On Sun Enterprise x000 and x500 systems the lowest-numbered I/O board is considered a key resource and cannot be removed.

PCI I/O board experiences Privileged Timeout Error during Connect (4122455)

The PCI I/O board (type 3 I/O board) experiences Privileged Timeout Error during connect. The PCI I/O board is therefore not supported at this time.

ShowMe TV 1.2.1 Known Problems

PCMCIA Issues

The following bugs have been filed against PCMCIA:

If the PC ATA, pcata, module is modunloaded the system will appear to hang (4096137)

Description: If there is a PCMCIA I/O card in a slot that has been accessed and the card driver is unloaded (as occurs during modunload -i 0 at the end of multi-user boot) the system will appear to hang. Sometimes removing the card will bring the system back.

Workaround: none

The PCMCIA, pcic nexus, driver, does not support 3.3Volts PC Card (4098998)

Description: The PCMCIA, pcic nexus, driver does not support 3.3V on devices. Cards that are 3.3V and 3.3V/5V will not work properly (seems to hang the system).

Workaround: none

The PC ATA, pcata, disk driver crashes and hangs the system and causes a memory leaks (4106401)

Description: Most attempts to insert/remove and use PCMCIA cards will crash or hang the machine. If it does not crash the machine it can cause memory leaks or create situations where other modules will not load.

Workaround: none

When booting Solaris 7 3/99 initially with 64-bit kernel the device /dev/term/pc0, PC card serial driver, may not get created (4162969)

Description: When booting Solaris 7 3/99 initially with 64-bit kernel, /dev/term/pc0 hardware device node for PC card serial device may not be created.

Workaround: Boot the system up with 32-bit kernel first, then reboot with 64-bit kernel.

The PC ATA, pcata, driver panics the 64-bit kernel (4174177)

Description: Inserting the PC card after system init panics the 64-bit Solaris. Booting the 32-bit Solaris and accessing the card will not panic the system. The PC ATA driver is not a 64-bit driver.

Workaround: none

PC File Viewer Issues

Install in the /opt Directory

The Solaris 7 3/99 Sun Hardware Platform Guide provides installation instructions that may indicate that PC file viewer can be installed in a directory other than the default directory. PC file viewer must be installed in the default (/opt) directory.

Known Bugs

Sun Remote System Control (RSC) Release Notes

Hardware and Software Configurations Supported for RSC

These release notes are applicable to Sun Remote System Control (RSC) Version 1.0, Firmware Version 1.12.

Supported Server

The only supported server is the Sun Enterprise 250 server, running the Solaris 2.6 5/98, Solaris 7, or Solaris 7 3/99 operating environments.

The Sun Enterprise 250 flash PROM must be updated to version 3.7.7 or later before installing the RSC software. Failing to do so may cause server and RSC malfunctions. For update instructions and a downloadable image, see the Sun Enterprise 250 Supplement Web page at http://sunsolve2.Sun.COM/sunsolve/E250/flash.html. If you install RSC from the Solaris 7 3/99 Sun Computer Systems Supplement CD, you can update the flash PROM as part of the installation process.

Supported GUI Clients

Supported CLI Clients

Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)

An American Power Conversion SmartUPS 1000 with PowerChute plus 4.2.2 software was used for testing.

SunVTS

As of Solaris 7 3/99, SunVTS 3.1 supports the diagnostic testing of the RSC with a test called rsctest. The rsctest is automatically installed when SunVTS is installed. For more information on the SunVTS diagnostic, refer to the SunVTS 3.1 User's Guide which is part of the Solaris 7 on Sun Hardware AnswerBook collection. It is also available at http://docs.sun.com.

Paging Support

RSC paging requires that the customer's paging service adhere to the TAP protocol. Paging services in the Americas and Europe generally are TAP-compliant, but this is not necessarily so in other locales.

Testing RSC Paging

Due to the many variables associated with paging, Sun strongly recommends that you test the RSC paging mechanism to insure that your configuration options are set correctly.

The easiest way to test that all the components associated with RSC paging are functioning properly is to use the rscadm send_event -c command. This command can be invoked from a UNIX shell and will initiate an RSC alert. If the RSC page_enabled flag is set to true, this alert will send a page to the recipients specified by the page_info1 and page_info2 environment variables.

If RSC fails to send a page, a message similar to the following will be added to the event log:

THU AUG 27 22:31:09 1998 sst4828: 00060006: "Failed to send page alert for recent event"

If RSC successfully transmits a page, no error message is added to the event log.

RSC can fail to send a page notification for the following reasons:

  1. It failed to communicate with the modem.

  2. It failed to contact the paging service specified by the page_info1 or page_info2 variable.

  3. A failure occurred while RSC was communicating with the paging service TAP server.

When a page fails, check the following:

  1. That your modem dip switch and software configuration variables are set correctly.

  2. That all the RSC page_variables (page_info1 and 2, page_init1 and 2, and page_baud1 and 2) are set correctly and match the settings for your paging service.

  3. Insure that your paging service supports the TAP protocol. Check with the paging service to insure that you have the proper phone number and modem configuration parameters.

  4. Attempt to connect with the paging service manually. Refer to the "Troubleshooting Modem Problems" section in Appendix B of the RSC User's Guide for instructions on manually connecting to a TAP paging service.

Troubleshooting

In some cases, it might be desirable to extend the pause period to allow the modem to recognize the dial tone of the phone line. This can be accomplished on most modems by increasing the value in the S8 register. See documentation that came with your modem for more details.

Known Issues