To Activate a Boot Environment and Synchronize Files (Command-Line Interface)

The first time you boot from a newly created boot environment, Solaris Live Upgrade software synchronizes the new boot environment with the boot environment that was last active. The active boot environment is not necessarily the boot environment that was the source for the newly created boot environment. "Synchronize" here means that certain system files and directories are copied from the last-active boot environment to the boot environment being booted. Solaris Live Upgrade does not perform this synchronization after this initial boot, unless you use the luactivate with the -s option.

If you force a synchronization with the -s option, luactivate checks for conflicts between files that are subject to synchronization. When the new boot environment is booted and a conflict is detected, a warning is issued and the files are not synchronized. Activation can complete successfully, in spite of such a conflict. A conflict can occur if you, for example, do the following:

• Upgrade the current boot environment to a new operating system

• Upgrade an inactive boot environment to a new operating system and modify files on the original boot environment

• Modify system files such as /etc/passwd on both the boot environments

Use this option with great care, because you might not be aware or in control of changes that might have occurred in the last-active boot environment. For example, if you were running Solaris 9 software on your current boot environment and booted back to a Solaris 2.6 release with a forced synchronization, files could be changed on the 2.6 release. Because files are dependent on the release of the operating environment, the boot to the Solaris 2.6 release could fail because the Solaris 9 files might not be compatible with the Solaris 2.6 files.

1. Log in as superuser.

2. To activate the boot environment, type:

   # /usr/sbin/luactivate -s BE_name

   BE_name

   Specifies the name of the boot environment that is to be activated.

   -s

   Causes synchronization of files between the last-active boot environment and the new boot environment.   The -s option is used to synchronize files after the first activation of a boot environment. The first time a boot environment is activated, the files between the boot environment are synchronized, but with subsequent activations, the files are not synchronized. Use this option with great caution, because you might not be aware or in control of changes that might have occurred in the last-active boot environment.

3. Reboot.

   # init 6

Example 33-5 Activating a Boot Environment (Command-Line Interface)

In this example, the second_disk boot environment is activated at the next reboot and the files are synchronized.

# /usr/sbin/luactivate -s second_disk
# init 6