| Solaris 9 9/05 Sun Hardware Platform Guide |    
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| Solaris 9 9/05 Sun Hardware Platform Guide |
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| C H A P T E R 1 |
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Installing Software From the Solaris Disk |
This chapter covers the following topics:
Upgrading Firmware on Sun Fire and Netra Servers Before Installation (Bug ID 4747307, 4799331)
32-Bit Kernel--Default on 200MHz or Lower UltraSPARC Systems
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Note - For initial instructions on installing this Solaris release, see the Start Here card provided with the discs. For more detailed instructions, see the Solaris 9 Installation Guide. |
To install the Solaris 9 9/05 operating environment on specific Sun Fire and Netra
servers, you must first update the firmware on the server. If you do not update the firmware before you install the Solaris 9 9/05 software, the server panics. This problem affects the following servers:
Sun Fire 3800 server
Sun Fire 4800 server
Sun Fire 4810 server
Sun Fire 6800 server
Sun Fire V1280 server
Netra 1280 server
If this problem occurs, the following error message is displayed:
For Sun Fire 3800, 4800, 4810, or 6800 servers, apply the most current version of the firmware patches available, for example, firmware update 5.15.4 or 5.15.3.
For Sun Fire V1280 or Netra servers, apply the most current version of the firmware patch available, for example, 5.13.0014.
Firmware update patches are available at:
Be sure to download and apply the most current version of the patch.
Other than the firmware note listed in the previous section, the Sun hardware listed in TABLE 1-1 requires no special installation or upgrade instructions for the Solaris 9 9/05 release. If you plan to perform an automatic installation of the Solaris 9 9/05 operating environment on your Sun hardware, refer to the Solaris 9 Installation Guide for all your installation needs.
You need to know your system architecture (platform group) if you are performing one of the following tasks:
Setting up a boot server on a subnet
Adding clients for network installation (standalone, servers, dataless, diskless)
If you are writing a custom JumpStart installation rules file, you need to know the platform name.
TABLE 1-1 lists and categorizes the supported platform names and platform groups of various Sun hardware systems for the Solaris 9 9/05 release.
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32-Bit Only[1] |
32- & 64-Bit[2] |
64-Bit Only[3] |
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For information on supported x86-based systems, refer to the Solaris Hardware Compatibility List, found online at:
http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/hcl
Refer to the Solaris 9 Installation Guide for further information on platform groups for all other systems.
On UltraSPARC systems with 200 MHz or lower processors, it is possible for a user to run a 64-bit program designed to exploit a problem that could cause a processor to stall. Since 64-bit programs cannot run on the Solaris 32-bit kernel, the Solaris 32-bit kernel is booted by default on these systems.
The code sequence that exploits the problem is very unusual, and is not likely to be generated by a compiler. Assembler code had to be specifically written to demonstrate the problem. It is highly unlikely that a legitimate handwritten assembler routine would use this code sequence.
Users willing to assume the risk that a user might accidentally or deliberately run a program that was designed to cause a processor to stall may choose to run the Solaris 64-bit kernel on these systems.
You can determine the speed of your processor(s) by typing:
You can change the default kernel from 32-bit on a system by modifying the boot policy file. Edit the /platform/platform-name/boot.conf file so that it contains an uncommented line with the variable named ALLOW_64BIT_KERNEL_ON_UltraSPARC_1_CPU set to the value true as shown in the example that follows:
ALLOW_64BIT_KERNEL_ON_UltraSPARC_1_CPU=true
See boot(1M) for more information about changing the default kernel.
You may also purchase an upgrade to your system. Contact your Sun representative for details.
All SPARC® systems can run 32-bit applications. Systems using newer SPARC processors (that is, UltraSPARC based systems) can boot and run a full 64-bit kernel, which allows those systems to run 32-bit and 64-bit applications concurrently.
Systems running a 64-bit kernel require 64-bit versions of drivers and other software modules that load directly into the kernel. A small number of applications might be dependent on such components and thus would require versions of these components specific to a 32-bit or 64-bit kernel. Also, 32-bit applications cannot link to 64-bit libraries and vice versa. (The Solaris 9 9/05 Operating System includes both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of system libraries.)
TABLE 1-1 indicates which systems can run 64-bit as well as 32-bit applications and which systems can boot a 32-bit kernel, a 64-bit kernel, or both.
The Sun Graphics Platform Matrix lists the graphics accelerators and the Sun hardware and software platforms supported by each.
You can access all graphics accelerator documentation, including the Sun Graphics Platform Matrix, at:
http://www.sun.com/desktop/products/graphics
See the Solaris Handbook for Sun Frame Buffers for information on previously released cards.
| Solaris 9 9/05 Sun Hardware Platform Guide | 819-2946-10 |
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Copyright © 2005, Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.