Implementation of the Boot Archives on SPARC

The boot archives, previously only available on the x86 platform, are now an integral part of the SPARC boot architecture.

The bootadm command has been modified for use on the SPARC platform. This command functions the same as it does on the x86 platform. The bootadm command handles the details of archive update and verification. On the x86 platform the bootadm command updates the GRUB menu during an installation or system upgrade. You can also use the bootadm command to manually manage the boot archives.

The boot archive service is managed by the Service Management Facility (SMF). The service instance for the boot archive is svc:/system/boot-archive:default. To enable, disable, or refresh this service use the svcadm command. For information about managing services by using SMF, see Chapter 18, Managing Services (Overview).

On supported Solaris releases, for both SPARC and x86 based systems, there are two kinds of boot archives:

• Primary boot archive

• Failsafe boot archive

The files that are included in the SPARC boot archives are located in the /platform directory.

The contents of the /platform directory is divided into two groups of files:

• Files that are required for a sun4u boot archive

• Files that are required for sun4v boot archive

For information about managing the boot archives, see Managing the Oracle Solaris Boot Archives (Task Map).