Upgrade Planning
You can upgrade a system by using one of three different upgrade methods: Solaris Live Upgrade, the Solaris installation program, and custom JumpStart.
Table 3–5 Solaris Upgrade Methods
Upgrade Limitations
|
Issue |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Upgrading to a different software group |
You cannot upgrade your system to a software group that is not installed on the system. For example, if you previously installed the End User Solaris Software Group on your system, you cannot use the upgrade option to upgrade to the Developer Solaris Software Group. However, during the upgrade you can add software to the system that is not part of the currently installed software group. |
|
Upgrading when non-global zones are installed |
When you are upgrading the Solaris OS, you can upgrade a system that has non-global zones installed. The Solaris interactive installation program and custom JumpStart programs enable an upgrade. For limitations when upgrading, see Upgrading When Solaris Zones are Installed on a System. |
|
Upgrading with Veritas file systems |
The Solaris interactive installation and custom JumpStart programs do not present you with the opportunity to upgrade a system when you are using Veritas VxVM file systems under these conditions:
To upgrade when Veritas VxVM is configured, use one of the following methods:
|
Upgrade Programs
You can perform a standard interactive upgrade with the Solaris installation program or an unattended upgrade with the custom JumpStart installation method. Solaris Live Upgrade enables you to upgrade a running system.
|
Upgrade Program |
Description |
For More Information |
|---|---|---|
|
Solaris Live Upgrade |
Enables you to create a copy of the currently running system. The copy can be upgraded and then a reboot switches the upgraded copy to become the currently running system. Using Solaris Live Upgrade reduces the downtime that is required to upgrade the Solaris OS. Also, Solaris Live Upgrade can prevent problems with upgrading. An example is the ability to recover from an upgrade if the power fails, because the copy being upgraded is not the currently running system. |
To plan for disk space allocation when using Solaris Live Upgrade, see Solaris Live Upgrade Requirements in Solaris 10 6/06 Installation Guide: Solaris Live Upgrade and Upgrade Planning. |
|
The Solaris installation program |
Guides you through an upgrade with an interactive GUI. | |
|
Custom JumpStart program |
Provides an automated upgrade. A profile file and optional preinstallation and postinstallation scripts provide the information required. When creating a custom JumpStart profile for an upgrade, specify install_type upgrade. You must test the custom JumpStart profile against the system's disk configuration and currently installed software before you upgrade. Use the pfinstall -D command on the system that you are upgrading to test the profile. You cannot test an upgrade profile by using a disk configuration file. |
|
Installing a Solaris Flash Archive Instead of Upgrading
The Solaris Flash installation feature provides a method of creating a copy of the whole installation from a master system that can be replicated on many clone systems. This copy is called a Solaris Flash archive. You can install an archive by using any installation program.
Caution – A Solaris Flash archive cannot be properly created when a non-global zone is installed. The Solaris Flash feature is not compatible with Solaris Zones partitioning technology. If you create a Solaris Flash archive, the resulting archive is not installed properly when the archive is deployed under these conditions:
-
The archive is created in a non-global zone
-
The archive is created in a global zone that has non-global zones installed
Upgrading With Disk Space Reallocation
The upgrade option in the Solaris installation program and the upgrade keyword in the custom JumpStart program provide the ability to reallocate disk space. This reallocation automatically changes the sizes of the disk slices. You can reallocate disk space if the current file systems do not have enough space for the upgrade. For example, file systems might need more space for the upgrade for the following reasons:
-
The Solaris software group that is currently installed on the system contains new software in the new release. Any new software that is included in a software group is automatically selected to be installed during the upgrade.
-
The size of the existing software on the system has increased in the new release.
The auto-layout feature attempts to reallocate the disk space to accommodate the new size requirements of the file system. Initially, auto-layout attempts to reallocate space, based on a set of default constraints. If auto-layout cannot reallocate space, you must change the constraints on the file systems.
Note –
Auto-layout does not have the ability to “grow” file systems. Auto-layout reallocates space by the following process:
-
Backing up required files on the file systems that need to change.
-
Repartitioning the disks on the basis of the file system changes.
-
Restoring the backup files before the upgrade happens.
-
If you are using the Solaris installation program, and auto-layout cannot determine how to reallocate the disk space, you must use the custom JumpStart program to upgrade.
-
If you are using the custom JumpStart method to upgrade and you create an upgrade profile, disk space might be a concern. If the current file systems do not contain enough disk space for the upgrade, you can use the backup_media and layout_constraint keywords to reallocate disk space. For an example of how to use the backup_media and layout_constraint keywords in a profile, refer to Profile Examples in Solaris 10 6/06 Installation Guide: Custom JumpStart and Advanced Installations.
Using the Patch Analyzer When Upgrading
The Patch Analyzer performs an analysis on your system if you want to upgrade to one of these releases that follow the initial Solaris 10 3/05 release.
-
Solaris 10 1/06 release
-
Solaris 10 6/06 release
If you are already running the Solaris OS and have installed individual patches, upgrading to a subsequent Solaris 10 release causes the following:
-
Any patches that were supplied as part of one of the releases noted above are reapplied to your system. You cannot back out these patches.
-
Any patches that were previously installed on your system and are not included in one of the releases noted above are removed.
You can use the Patch Analyzer to determine which patches, if any, will be removed. For detailed instructions about using the Patch Analyzer, refer to Appendix C, Using the Patch Analyzer When Upgrading (Tasks), in Solaris 10 6/06 Installation Guide: Solaris Live Upgrade and Upgrade Planning.
Backing Up Systems Before Upgrading
Backing up your existing file systems before you upgrade to the Solaris OS is highly recommended. If you copy file systems to removable media, such as tape, you can safeguard against data loss, damage, or corruption.
-
For detailed instructions to back up your system, refer to Chapter 24, Backing Up and Restoring File Systems (Overview), in System Administration Guide: Devices and File Systems.
-
To backup your system when non-global zones are installed, see Chapter 25, Solaris Zones Administration (Overview), in System Administration Guide: Solaris Containers-Resource Management and Solaris Zones.
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