System Boot, Recovery, and Platform Changes

The system boots from a ZFS root file system in Oracle Solaris 11. The ZFS root file system is contained within a ZFS root pool, named rpool, by default. Creating a UFS file system is still supported, but you cannot boot from a UFS or a Solaris Volume Manager root file system in this release.

Review the following information that impacts the way the system is booted for recovery purposes:

If you use a system's service processor (SP) or ILOM to recover from a system problem, accessing a system's SP or ILOM is identical to previous Solaris releases. The differences mostly pertain to how the system is booted after you get to a SPARC based system's ok PROM prompt or to an x86 based system's BIOS.
In Oracle Solaris 10, you use the flash archive features to create a copy of a UFS or ZFS root environment and then restore the flash archive to recover the system environment, in the case of a system or device failure. In Oracle Solaris 11, the system recovery process includes the following steps:
- Archiving the root pool snapshots on a remote system
- Replacing any failed system component or device
- Recreating the root pool and setting the bootfs property
- Restoring the previously archive root pool snapshots
- Manually installing the boot blocks
See Chapter 12, Archiving Snapshots and Root Pool Recovery, in Oracle Solaris Administration: ZFS File Systems.
Booting for system recovery – If the system cannot be booted, but the failure is not because the root pool is unavailable, you can use new boot options from the installation media or from an installation server to resolve the boot problem. See Booting for System Recovery Changes.

Booting for System Recovery Changes

As in previous Oracle Solaris releases, you might need to boot the system for recovery purposes. The following error and recovery scenarios are similar to previous releases:

Boot from the installation media or from an install server on the network to recover from a problem that is preventing the system from booting or to recover from a lost root password.

On SPARC systems, the boot net:dhcp command replaces the boot net command that is used in Oracle Solaris 10 releases.
Boot a system in single-user mode to resolve a minor problem, such as correcting the root shell entry in the /etc/passwd file or changing a NIS server.
Resolving a boot configuration problem generally involves importing the root pool, mounting the BE, and fixing the problem. If a problem with the menu.lst file exists, you do not have to mount the BE, just import the root pool, which automatically mounts the rpool file system that contains the boot-related components.

How to Boot the System For Recovery Purposes

Select the appropriate boot method:
- x86: Live Media – Boot from the installation media and use a GNOME terminal for the recovery procedure.
- SPARC: Text installation – Boot from the install media or from the network, and select option 3 Shell from the text installation screen.
- x86: Text installation – From the GRUB menu, select the Text Installer and command line boot entry, then select the option 3 Shell from the text installation screen.
- SPARC: Automated installation – Use the following command to boot directly from an installation menu that allows you to exit to a shell.
```
ok boot net:dhcp
```
- x86: Automated installation – Booting from an install server on the network requires a PXE boot. Select the Text Installer and command line entry from the GRUB menu. Then, select the option 3 Shell from the text installation screen.
For example, after the system is booted, select option 3 Shell.
```
        1  Install Oracle Solaris
        2  Install Additional Drivers
        3  Shell
        4  Terminal type (currently xterm)
        5  Reboot

Please enter a number [1]: 3
To return to the main menu, exit the shell
#
```

Select the boot recovery problem:

Resolve a bad root shell by booting the system to single-user mode and correcting the shell entry in the /etc/passwd file.

On an x86 based system, edit the selected boot entry in the GRUB menu, then add the -s option to the $kernel line.

For example, on a SPARC system, shut down the system and boot to single-mode. After you log in as root, edit the /etc/passwd file, and fix the root shell entry.

# init 0
ok boot -s

Boot device: /pci@780/pci@0/pci@9/scsi@0/disk@0,0:a File and args: -s
SunOS Release 5.11 Version 11.0 64-bit
Copyright (c) 1983, 2011, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights
reserved.
Booting to milestone "milestone/single-user:default".
Hostname: tardis.central
Requesting System Maintenance Mode
SINGLE USER MODE

Enter user name for system maintenance (control-d to bypass): root
Enter root password (control-d to bypass): xxxxxxx
single-user privilege assigned to root on /dev/console.
Entering System Maintenance Mode

Jan 24 13:23:54 su: 'su root' succeeded for root on /dev/console
Oracle Corporation SunOS 5.11 11.0 November 2011
su: No shell /usr/bin/mybash.  Trying fallback shell /sbin/sh.
root@tardis.central:~# TERM =vt100; export TERM
root@tardis.central:~# vi /etc/passwd
root@tardis.central:~# <Press control-d> 
logout
svc.startd: Returning to milestone all.

Resolve a problem with a menu.lst boot entry.

First, you must boot from media or the network by using one of the boot methods listed in Step 1. Then, import the root pool and fix the menu.lst entry.

x86# zpool import -f rpool
x86# cd /rpool/boot/grub
x86# vi menu.lst
x86# exit
        1  Install Oracle Solaris
        2  Install Additional Drivers
        3  Shell
        4  Terminal type (currently sun-color)
        5  Reboot

Please enter a number [1]: 5

Confirm that the system boots successfully.

Resolve an unknown root password that prevents you from logging into the system.

First, you must boot from media or the network by using one of the boot methods that are listed in Step 1. Then, import the root pool (rpool) and mount the BE to remove the root password entry. This process is identical on SPARC and x86 platforms.

# zpool import -f rpool
# beadm list
be_find_current_be: failed to find current BE name
be_find_current_be: failed to find current BE name
BE                 Active Mountpoint Space  Policy Created          
--                 ------ ---------- -----  ------ -------          
solaris            -      -          11.45M static 2011-10-22 00:30 
solaris-2          R      -          12.69G static 2011-10-21 21:04 
# mkdir /a
# beadm mount solaris-2 /a
# TERM=vt100
# export TERM
# cd /a/etc
# vi shadow 
<Carefully remove the unknown password>
# cd /
# beadm umount solaris-2
# halt

Go to the next step to set the root password.

Set the root password by booting to single-user mode and setting the password.

This step assumes that you have removed an unknown root password in the previous step.

On an x86 based system, edit the selected boot entry in the GRUB menu, then add the -s option to the $kernel line.

On a SPARC system, boot the system to single-user mode, log in as root, and set the root password. For example:

ok boot -s

Boot device: /pci@780/pci@0/pci@9/scsi@0/disk@0,0:a File and args: -s
SunOS Release 5.11 Version 11.0 64-bit
Copyright (c) 1983, 2011, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights
reserved.
Booting to milestone "milestone/single-user:default".
Hostname: tardis.central
Requesting System Maintenance Mode
SINGLE USER MODE

Enter user name for system maintenance (control-d to bypass): root
Enter root password (control-d to bypass): <Press return>
single-user privilege assigned to root on /dev/console.
Entering System Maintenance Mode

Jan 24 13:23:54 su: 'su root' succeeded for root on /dev/console
Oracle Corporation SunOS 5.11 11.0 November 2011
root@tardis.central:~# passwd -r files root
New Password: xxxxxx
Re-enter new Password: xxxxxx
passwd: password successfully changed for root
root@tardis.central:~# <Press control-d> 
logout
svc.startd: Returning to milestone all.

Boot, Platform, and Hardware Changes

Note the following boot, platform, and hardware feature changes in Oracle Solaris 11:

x86 platform support is 64–bit only – Support for booting a 32–bit kernel on x86 platforms has been removed. Systems that have 32-bit hardware must either be upgraded to 64–bit hardware or continue to run Oracle Solaris 10. Note that 32–bit applications are not impacted by this change.
Bitmapped console support – Oracle Solaris 11 includes support for high resolution and color depth consoles. By default, your machine will boot with a 1024x768x16-bit console, unless your video card does not support this setting. In which case, the setting will fall back to 800x600, then finally to 640x480. The console type (and also the older VGA TEXT 640x480 console) can be controlled through both kernel parameters and through options that you specify by editing the GRUB menu at boot time, as follows:
```
-B console={text|graphics|force-text}
```
Fast Reboot support on SPARC and x86 platforms – For SPARC based systems that support Fast Reboot, the boot process is accelerated by skipping certain POST tests. On x86 platforms, Fast Reboot implements an in-kernel boot loader that loads the kernel into memory and then switches to that kernel. To initiate a fast reboot of a SPARC based system, use the -f option with the reboot command. Because Fast Reboot is the default behavior on x86 platforms, the -f option is not required. Fast Reboot is managed through SMF properties that can be enabled or disabled, as required. See Accelerating the Reboot Process in Oracle Solaris Administration: Common Tasks.
Removal of support for the SPARC sun4u architecture – With the exception of the M-series (OPL) hardware, you cannot boot Oracle Solaris 11 on the sun4u architecture. If you attempt to boot Oracle Solaris 11 on one of these systems, the following error message is displayed:
```
Rebooting with command: boot
Error: 'cpu:SUNW,UltraSPARC-IV+' is not supported by this release of Solaris.
NOTICE: f_client_exit: Program terminated!
```

Skip Navigation Links
Exit Print View
	Transitioning From Oracle Solaris 10 to Oracle Solaris 11 Oracle Solaris 11 Information Library