Issues You Need to Know About Before Installing Solaris 9 12/02 Software

SPARC: Booting From the Solaris 9 12/02 DVD

The Solaris 9 12/02 operating environment is now available on DVD. To install or upgrade from DVD, insert the Solaris 9 12/02 DVD into the DVD-ROM drive and boot the system from the ok prompt with the following command.

ok boot cdrom

IA: Solaris 9 12/02 Installation CD Partition Issue

If the Solaris Web Start 3.0 program on the Solaris 9 12/02 Installation CD is unable to locate a Solaris fdisk partition on a system, you must create a Solaris fdisk partition on your root disk.

If you change the size of an existing fdisk partition, all data on that partition is automatically deleted. Back up your data before you create a Solaris fdisk partition.

The Solaris Web Start 3.0 program requires two fdisk partitions to perform an installation.

• Solaris fdisk partition

  This is the typical Solaris fdisk partition.

• x86 boot fdisk partition

  This is a 10–Mbyte fdisk partition that enables x86-based systems to boot the miniroot that is placed on the newly created swap slice. The swap slice is located on the Solaris fdisk partition.

The installation program on the Solaris 9 12/02 Installation CD creates the x86 boot partition, removing 10 Mbytes from the Solaris fdisk partition. This removal prevents any existing fdisk partitions from being altered.

This partition should not be created manually.

This requirement also prevents you from using the Solaris 9 12/02 Installation CD to upgrade from the Solaris 2.6 or Solaris 7 releases to the Solaris 9 12/02 operating environment. For more information, refer to Upgrade Issues.

IA: Change in Default Boot-Disk Partition Layout

In the Solaris 9 12/02 operating environment, the Solaris Web Start installation program uses, by default, a new boot-disk partition layout to accommodate the Service partition on Sun LX50 systems. This installation program enables you to preserve an existing Service partition.

The new default includes the following partitions.

• First partition – Service partition (existing size on system)

• Second partition – x86 boot partition (approximately 11 Mbytes)

• Third partition – Solaris partition (remaining space on the boot disk)

If you want to use this default layout, select Default when the Solaris Web Start program asks you to choose a boot-disk layout.

If you install the Solaris 9 12/02 (x86 Platform Edition) operating environment on a system that does not currently include a Service partition, the Solaris Web Start program does not create a new Service partition by default. If you want to create a Service partition on your system, first use the Sun LX50 Diagnostics CD to create the Service partition, then install the Solaris 9 12/02 operating environment. For information on how to create the Service partition, see the Sun LX50 Server User's Manual at http://www.sun.com.

You can also choose to manually edit the disk partition layout by using the fdisk utility. You might want to manually edit the boot-disk partitions under the following conditions.

• You want to preserve an existing Sun Linux partition on the system.

• You need to create a Solaris partition, but want to preserve other existing partitions on the disk.

If your system contains an upgradable version of the Solaris operating environment, but does not contain an x86 boot partition, you might not be able to upgrade by using the Solaris Installation CD. To upgrade a system with no x86 boot partition to the Solaris 9 12/02 operating environment, use the suninstall installation program on the Solaris 9 12/02 Software 1 of 2 CD.

SPARC: Default Solaris JumpStart Profile Might Not Install Multiple Locales on Small Disks

If you use the default Solaris JumpStart^TM profile on the Solaris 9 12/02 media to install multiple locales on a system with a small disk, the installation might fail. This problem might occur under the following conditions.

• You use the default Solaris JumpStart profile to install any locale other than the C locale on a system with a 2.1-Gbyte disk.

• You use the default Solaris JumpStart profile to install two or more locales on a system with a 4-Gbyte disk.

IA: Service Partition Not Created by Default on Systems With No Existing Service Partition

If you install the Solaris 9 12/02 operating environment on a system that does not currently include a Service partition, the installation program might not create a Service partition by default. If you are including a Service partition on the same disk as the Solaris partition, you must re-create the Service partition before you install the operating environment.

If you installed the Solaris 8 2/02 operating environment on a Sun LX50 system, the installation program might not have preserved the Service partition. If you did not manually edit the fdisk boot-partition layout to preserve the Service partition, the installation program deleted the Service partition during the installation.

If you did not specifically preserve the Service partition when you installed the Solaris 8 2/02 operating environment, you cannot re-create the Service partition and upgrade to the Solaris 9 12/02 operating environment. You must perform an initial installation of the operating environment.

Workaround: If you are including a Service partition on the disk that contains the Solaris partition, choose one of the following workarounds.

• To use the Solaris Web Start installation program to install from the Solaris 9 12/02 Installation CD, follow these steps.

  1. Delete the contents of the disk.

  2. Before you install, create the Service partition by using the Sun LX50 Diagnostics CD.

     For information on how to create the Service partition, see the Sun LX50 Server User's Manual and the Sun LX50 Knowledge Base at http://cobalt-knowledge.sun.com.

  3. Insert the Solaris 9 12/02 Installation CD in the CD-ROM drive.

  4. Begin installing the Solaris 9 12/02 operating environment.

     When the installation program detects the Service partition, the following message is displayed.

     The default layout for the bootdisk is one x86 Boot partition and a Solaris partition on the remaining space. The Service fdisk partition, if one exists, is also preserved by default. Select one of the following to continue: 1) Use the default layout 2) Run fdisk to manually edit the disk 3) Exit Please make a selection: [?]

  5. Type 1 to use the default layout.

     The installation program preserves the Service partition and creates the x86 boot partition and the Solaris partition.

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     Note -

     The Solaris Web Start installation program creates the x86 boot partition by removing 10 Mbytes from the Solaris fdisk partition. This utility prevents any existing fdisk partitions from being altered. Do not create this partition manually.

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  6. Complete the installation.

• To install from a network installation image or from the Solaris 9 12/02 DVD over the network, follow these steps.

  1. Delete the contents of the disk.

  2. Before you install, create the Service partition by using the Sun LX50 Diagnostics CD.

     For information on how to create the Service partition, see the Sun LX50 Server User's Manual and the Sun LX50 Knowledge Base at http://cobalt-knowledge.sun.com.

  3. Boot the system from the network.

     The Customize fdisk Partitions screen is displayed.

  4. To load the default boot-disk partition layout, click Default.

     The installation program preserves the Service partition and creates the x86 boot partition and the Solaris partition.

     For more information on booting from the network, see the Solaris 9 Installation Guide.

• To use the suninstall program to install from the Solaris 9 12/02 Software 1 of 2 CD or from a network installation image on a boot server, follow these steps.

  1. Delete the contents of the disk.

  2. Before you install, create the Service partition by using the Sun LX50 Diagnostics CD.

     For information on how to create the Service partition, see the Sun LX50 Server User's Manual and the Sun LX50 Knowledge Base at http://cobalt-knowledge.sun.com.

  3. Boot the system.

     The installation program prompts you to choose a method for creating the Solaris partition.

  4. Select the Use rest of disk for Solaris partition option.

     The installation program preserves the Service partition and creates the Solaris partition.

  5. Complete the installation.

     For more information on booting from the network, see the Solaris 9 Installation Guide.

IA: Solaris Device Configuration Assistant Boot Diskette Is Not Available

The Solaris 9 Device Configuration Assistant is not delivered as a boot diskette in the Solaris 9 12/02 release. To boot the Device Configuration Assistant, choose one of the following options.

• If your system's BIOS supports CD booting, boot from the Solaris 9 12/02 (x86 Platform Edition) Installation CD, the Solaris 9 12/02 Software (x86 Platform Edition) 1 of 2 CD, or the Solaris 9 12/02 Software (x86 Platform Edition) DVD.

• Create a boot diskette by copying the boot-diskette image to a diskette. The boot-diskette image is available at the following locations.

  • Solaris 9 12/02 Software (x86 Platform Edition) 2 of 2 CD

  • The Solaris Developer Connection Web site at http://soldc.sun.com/support/drivers/dca_diskettes

  Copy the image to a diskette, then boot the system from the diskette.

• If your system supports Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) booting and an install image is available on the network, boot from the network.

  Enable the system to use PXE by using the system's BIOS setup tool or the network adapter's configuration setup tool.

For more information, see the Solaris 9 Installation Guide.

IA: Update the DPT PM2144UW Controller BIOS to the Latest Revision Before Upgrading to the Solaris 9 12/02 Operating Environment

The Solaris 9 12/02 operating environment includes a feature that enables you to install large partitions. The DPT PM2144UW controller's BIOS must support logical block addressing (LBA). The latest revision of the BIOS fully supports LBA access. You might need to update other DPT controller models to support LBA.

Workaround: Prior to upgrading your system to the Solaris 9 12/02 operating environment, ensure that the DPT PM2144UW controller's BIOS is the latest available version from DPT.

To determine if your system has a DPT controller, perform the following steps:

1. Run the prtconf -D.

2. If the name dpt is displayed, run the card's configuration utility to obtain information about the model and BIOS revision.

3. Upgrade DPT PM2144UW controllers by flashing the BIOS or by installing the latest BIOS EPROM that you have obtained from DPT. See http://www.dpt.com for the latest BIOS images for all DPT controllers.

You can now upgrade the system to the Solaris 9 12/02 operating environment.

IA: Do Not Upgrade Hewlett-Packard (HP) Vectra XU Series Systems With BIOS Version GG.06.13

The Solaris 9 12/02 operating environment includes a feature that enables you to install large partitions. The system BIOS must support logical block addressing (LBA). BIOS Version GG.06.13 does not support LBA access. The Solaris boot programs cannot manage this conflict. This issue can also affect other HP Vectra systems.

If you perform this upgrade, your HP system can no longer boot. Only a blank black screen with a flashing underscore cursor is displayed.

Workaround: Do not upgrade HP Vectra XU Series systems with the latest BIOS Version GG.06.13 to the Solaris 9 12/02 operating environment because it no longer supports these systems.

You can still boot your system by using the boot diskette or boot CD because the boot paths do not use the hard disk code. Then select the hard disk as your bootable device instead of the network or CD-ROM drive.