Testing a Profile

After you create a profile, use the pfinstall(1M) command to test the profile. Test the profile before you use the profile to install or upgrade a system. Testing a profile is especially useful when you are creating upgrade profiles that reallocate disk space.

By looking at the installation output that is generated by pfinstall, you can quickly determine if a profile works as you intended. For example, use the profile to determine if a system has enough disk space to upgrade to a new release of the Oracle Solaris software before you perform the upgrade on that system.

pfinstall enables you to test a profile against the following:

The system's disk configuration where pfinstall is being run.
Other disk configurations. You use a disk configuration file that represents a structure of a disk, for example, a disk's bytes/sector, flags, and slices. Creating disk configuration files is described in Creating Disk Configuration Files and x86: To Create a Disk Configuration File.

Note - You cannot use a disk configuration file to test a profile you intend to use to upgrade a system. Instead, you must test the profile against the system's actual disk configuration and the software that is currently installed on that system.

To Create a Temporary Oracle Solaris Environment to Test a Profile

To test a profile for a particular Oracle Solaris release successfully and accurately, you must test a profile within the Oracle Solaris environment of the same release. For example, if you want to test a Oracle Solaris initial installation profile, run the pfinstall command on a system that is running the Oracle Solaris OS.

You need to create a temporary installation environment if you are testing a profile under one of the following conditions:

You want to test a Oracle Solaris 10 8/11 upgrade profile on a system that is running a previous version of the Oracle Solaris software.
You do not have a Oracle Solaris 10 8/11 system installed yet to test Oracle Solaris 10 8/11 initial installation profiles.

Boot a system from an image of one of the following:
For SPARC based systems:
- Oracle Solaris Operating System for SPARC Platforms DVD
- Oracle Solaris Software for SPARC Platforms - 1 CD
For x86 based systems:
- Oracle Solaris Operating System for x86 Platforms DVD
- Oracle Solaris Software for x86 Platforms - 1 CD
Note - If you want to test an upgrade profile, boot the system that you are upgrading.
Respond to the system identification questions.

To exit from the installation program, type ! at the following prompt.

The Solaris installation program  will assist you in installing software for Solaris.
<Press ENTER to continue> {"!" exits}

Execute the pfinstall command from the shell. For details about using the pfinstall command, see Step 7 in To Test a Profile.

To Test a Profile

x86 only - If you are using the locale keyword, the pfinstall -D command fails to test the profile. For a workaround, see the error message “could not select locale,” in the section, Upgrading the Oracle Solaris OS.

Locate a system on which to test the profile that is the same type of platform, SPARC or x86, for which the profile was created.
If you are testing an upgrade profile, you must test the profile on the actual system that you intend to upgrade.

Use the following decision table to determine what to do next.

Test Scenario	Instructions
Test an initial installation profile and have a system that is running the Oracle Solaris 10 8/11 software.	Become superuser on the system and go to Step 5.
Test an upgrade profile, or you do not have a system that is running Oracle Solaris 10 8/11 to test an initial installation profile.	Create a temporary Oracle Solaris 10 8/11 environment to test the profile. For details, see To Create a Temporary Oracle Solaris Environment to Test a Profile. Then, go to Step 3.

Create a temporary mount point.
```
# mkdir /tmp/mnt
```

Mount the directory that contains the profile or profiles that you want to test.

Mount Scenario	Typing Instructions
Mount a remote NFS file system for systems on the network.	mount -F nfs `server_name`:`path` /tmp/mnt
SPARC: Mount a UFS-formatted diskette.	mount -F ufs /dev/diskette /tmp/mnt
Mount a PCFS-formatted diskette.	mount -F pcfs /dev/diskette /tmp/mnt

To test the profile with a specific system memory size, set SYS_MEMSIZE to the specific memory size in MB.
```
# SYS_MEMSIZE=memory_size
# export SYS_MEMSIZE
```
Did you mount a directory in Step 4?
- If yes, change the directory to /tmp/mnt.
```
# cd /tmp/mnt
```
- If no, change the directory to where the profile is located, which is usually the JumpStart directory.
```
# cd jumpstart_dir_path
```

Test the profile with the pfinstall(1M) command.

# /usr/sbin/install.d/pfinstall -D:-d disk_config_file -c path profile

Caution - You must include the -d or -D option. If you do not include one of these options, pfinstall uses the profile you specify to install the Oracle Solaris software. All of the data on the system is overwritten.

-D

pfinstall uses the current system's disk configuration to test the profile. You must use the -D option to test an upgrade profile.

-d disk_config_file

pfinstall uses the disk configuration file, disk_config_file, to test the profile. If disk_config_file is not located in the directory where pfinstall is run, you must specify the path.

For instructions about how to create a disk configuration file, see Creating Disk Configuration Files.

Note - You cannot use the -d disk_config_file option with an upgrade profile, install_type upgrade. You must always test an upgrade profile against a system's disk configuration, that is, you must use the -D option.

-c path

The path to the Oracle Solaris software image. You use this option, for example, if the system is using Volume Manager to mount the Oracle Solaris Software - 1 CD for your platform.

Note - The -c option is not required if you booted from Oracle Solaris Operating System DVD or a Oracle Solaris Software - 1 CD image for your platform. The DVD or CD image is mounted on /cdrom as part of the booting process.

profile

The name of the profile to test. If profile is not in the directory where pfinstall is being run, you must specify the path.

Profile Test Examples

The following example shows how to use pfinstall to test a profile that is named basic_prof. The profile is tested against the disk configuration on a system on which the Oracle Solaris 10 8/11 software is installed. The basic_prof profile is located in the /jumpstart directory, and the path to the Oracle Solaris Operating System DVD image is specified because Volume Manager is being used.

Example 3-16 Profile Test Using a Oracle Solaris 10 8/11 System

# cd /jumpstart
# /usr/sbin/install.d/pfinstall -D -c /cdrom/pathname basic_prof

The following example shows how to use pfinstall to test the profile that is named basic_prof on a Oracle Solaris 10 8/11 system. The test is performed against the 535_test disk configuration file. The test checks for 64 MB of system memory. This example uses a Oracle Solaris Software for SPARC Platforms - 1 CD or Oracle Solaris Software for x86 Platforms - 1 CD image that is located in the /export/install directory.

Example 3-17 Profile Test Using a Disk Configuration File

# SYS_MEMSIZE=64
# export SYS_MEMSIZE
# /usr/sbin/install.d/pfinstall -d 535_test -c /export/install basic_prof

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