Installation Enhancements

The following installation features and enhancements have been added to the Solaris 10 8/07 release.

NFSv4 Domain Name Configurable During Installation

The NFS version 4 domain can now be defined during the installation of the Solaris OS. In releases prior to Solaris 10 8/07, the NFS domain name was defined during the first system reboot after installation.

The NFSv4 domain name feature affects installation of the OS as follows:

• The sysidtool command includes an enhanced sysidnfs4 program. The sysidnfs4 program now runs during the installation process to determine whether an NFSv4 domain has been configured for the network.

  During an interactive installation, the user is provided with the default NFSv4 domain name that is automatically derived from the OS. The user can accept this default. Or, the user can specify a different NFSv4 domain.

  For more information, see the sysidtool(1M) and the sysidnfs4(1M) man pages.

• As part of a Solaris JumpStart^TM installation, a new keyword is available in the sysidcfg file. The user can now assign a value for the NFSv4 domain by using the new keyword, nfs4_domain.

  For more information about this new keyword, see the sysidcfg(4) man page. This man page also provides an example of how to use the new nfs4_domain keyword.

  For more information about the NFSv4 domain name configuration, see the System Administration Guide: Network Services.

Solaris Live Upgrade

Starting with this release, Solaris Live Upgrade has been changed with the following enhancements:

• You can upgrade the Solaris OS when non-global zones are installed on a system by using Solaris Live Upgrade.

• A new package, SUNWlucfg, must be installed with the other Solaris Live Upgrade packages SUNWlur and SUNWluu.

  These three packages comprise the software needed to upgrade by using Solaris Live Upgrade. These packages include existing software, new features, and bug fixes. If you do not install these packages on your system before using Solaris Live Upgrade, upgrading to the target release fails.

For more information about upgrading when non-global zones are installed on a system, see Solaris 10 Installation Guide: Solaris Live Upgrade and Upgrade Planning.

Upgrading the Solaris OS When Non-Global Zones Are Installed

Starting with the Solaris 10 8/07 release, you can upgrade the Solaris OS when non-global zones are installed without most of the limitations found in releases prior to Solaris 10 8/07.

The only limitation to upgrading involves a Solaris Flash archive. When you use a Solaris Flash archive to install, an archive that contains non-global zones is not properly installed on your system.

The following changes accommodate systems that have non-global zones installed:

• For the Solaris interactive installation program, you can upgrade or patch a system when non-global zones are installed, with CDs and DVDs. Or you can use a network installation image for either the CDs or DVDs. Previously, you were limited to upgrading with a DVD. The time to upgrade or patch might be extensive, depending on the number of non-global zones that are installed.

• For an automated JumpStart installation, you can upgrade or patch with any keyword that applies to an upgrade or patching. In releases prior to Solaris 10 8/07, only a limited number of keywords could be used. The time to upgrade or patch might be extensive, depending on the number of non-global zones that are installed.

• For Solaris Live Upgrade, you can upgrade or patch a system that contains non-global zones. If you have a system that contains non-global zones, Solaris Live Upgrade is the recommended upgrade program or program to add patches. Other upgrade programs might require extensive upgrade time, because the time required to complete the upgrade increases linearly with the number of installed non-global zones. If you are patching a system with Solaris Live Upgrade, you do not have to take the system to single-user mode and you can maximize your system's uptime.

  The following changes accommodate systems that have non-global zones installed:

  • A new package, SUNWlucfg, must be installed with the other Solaris Live Upgrade packages, SUNWlur and SUNWluu. This package is required for any system, not just a system with non-global zones installed.

    These three packages contain the software needed to upgrade by using Solaris Live Upgrade. These packages include existing software, new features, and bug fixes. If you do not install these packages on your system before using Solaris Live Upgrade, upgrading to the target release fails.

  • Creating a new boot environment from the currently running boot environment remains the same with one exception. You can specify a destination disk slice for a shared file system within a non-global zone.

    The argument to the -m option has a new optional field, zonename. The new zonename field enables creating the new boot environment and specifying zones that contain separate file systems. This argument places the zone's separate file system on a separate slice in the new boot environment.

  • The lumount command provides non-global zones with access to their corresponding file systems that exist on inactive boot environments. When the global zone administrator uses the lumount command to mount an inactive boot environment, the boot environment is also mounted for non-global zones.

  • Listing file systems with the lufslist command is enhanced to display a list of file systems for both the global zone and the non-global zones.

A Solaris system that is configured with Trusted Extensions requires extra steps to upgrade labeled zones. For information on this procedure, see Upgrading a Trusted Extensions System That is Configured with Labeled Zones under Installation Enhancements in Solaris 10 8/07 Release Notes.

Keyboard Configuration Automated

Starting with this release, the sysidkdb tool configures your USB language and its corresponding keyboard layout.

With the new sysidkdb tool, the following procedure occurs:

• If the keyboard is self-identifying, the keyboard language and layout automatically configures during installation.

• If the keyboard is not self-identifying, the sysidkdb tool provides you with a list of supported keyboard layouts during installation, so that you can select a layout for keyboard configuration.

Previously, the USB keyboard assumed a self-identifying value of one during the installation. Therefore, all of the keyboards that were not self-identifying always configured for a U.S. English keyboard layout during installation on SPARC.

PS/2 keyboards are not self-identifying. You will have to select the keyboard layout during the installation.

JumpStart Specifications: If the keyboard is not self-identifying and you want to prevent being prompted during your JumpStart installation, select the keyboard language in your sysidkdb file. For JumpStart installation, the default is for a U.S. English keyboard layout. To select another language and its corresponding keyboard layout, set the keyboard keyword in your sysidkdb file .

For more information, see the Solaris 10 Installation Guide: Network-Based Installations.

Deferred-Activation Patching

Starting with patch 119254-42 and 119255-42, the patch installation utilities, patchadd and patchrm, have been modified to change the way that certain patches delivering features are handled. This modification affects the installation of these patches on any Solaris 10 release. These “deferred-activation” patches handle the large scope of change delivered in feature patches better.

A limited number of patches are designated as a deferred-activation patch. Typically a deferred-activation patch is a kernel patch associated with a Solaris 10 release after the Solaris 10 3/05 release, such as the Solaris 10 8/07 release. Patches are designated a deferred-activation patch if the variable SUNW_PATCH_SAFEMODE is set in the pkginfo file. Patches not designated as deferred-activation patches continue to install as before. For example, previously released patches, such as kernel patches 118833-36 (SPARC) and 118855-36 (x86), do not use the deferred-activation patching utilities to install.

Previously, complex patch scripting was required for these kernel patches. The scripting was required to avoid issues during the patch installation process on an active partition because of inconsistencies between the objects the patch delivers and the running system (active partition). Now, deferred-activation patching uses the loopback file system (lofs) to ensure the stability of the running system. When a patch is applied to the running system, the lofs preserves stability during the patching process. These large kernel patches have always required a reboot, but now the required reboot activates the changes made by the lofs. The patch README provides instructions on which patches require a reboot.

If you are running non-global zones or have lofs disabled, consider these points when installing or removing deferred-activation patches:

• All non-global zones must be in a halted state for this patch operation. You must halt the non-global zone before applying the patch.

• Deferred-activation patching requires the loopback file system (lofs) in order to complete safely. Systems running Sun Cluster 3.1 or Sun Cluster 3.2 are likely to have lofs turned off because of restrictions on HA-NFS functionality when lofs is enabled. Therefore, before a deferred-activation patch is installed, you must re-enable the loopback file system by performing the following steps:

  1. Remove or comment out the following line in the /etc/system file:

     exclude:lofs.

  2. Reboot the system.

  3. Install the patch.

  4. After you have completed the patch installation operation, restore or uncomment the same line from the /etc/system file.

  5. Reboot the system to resume normal operations.

Sun recommends Solaris Live Upgrade to manage patching. Solaris Live Upgrade prevents the problems of patching a running system. Solaris Live Upgrade reduces the amount of downtime involved in patching and reduces risk by providing fallback capability if problems occur. See Solaris 10 Installation Guide: Solaris Live Upgrade and Upgrade Planning.