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Solaris 10 5/09 Release Notes

System Administration

This section describes system administration bugs in Solaris 10 OS.

SPARC: Solaris Volume Manager GUI Fails to Start (6671736)

The Solaris Volume Manager GUI fails to start successfully. However, no system panic is detected.

Workaround: Remove the following lines from the /var/sadm/smc/toolboxes/smc/smc.tbx file.


<ToolBoxURL>
   <URL>file:/var/sadm/smc/toolboxes/tsol_files/tsol_files.tbx</URL>
</ToolBoxURL>
<ToolBoxURL>
   <URL>file:/var/sadm/smc/toolboxed/tsol_ldap/tsol_ldap.tbx</URL>
</ToolBoxURL>

SPARC: FKU 137137-xx Does Not Support Third-Party Volume Manager Software

The FKU 137137-xx patch does not support third-party Volume Manager software, with some exceptions. This lack of support is due to prepatch, postpatch, and postbackout implementation. If users use unsupported third-party Volume Manager software, they cannot apply the FKU patch. The following error message is displayed during patch installation:


unsupported root slice type xxxxx

However, the Fujitsu and Veritas Volume Manager software is supported.

Workaround: None.

Do Not Use patchadd -M to Install Patches on a System With Non-Global Zones

On a system with non-global zones, it is recommended not to use the patchadd -M option. The current implementation of patchadd -M applies all the patches to the global zone first, and only then to the non-global zones. This is sub-optimal, because if an issue occurs after a number of patches have been applied to the global zone but not to the non-global zone, the zones may be significantly out of sync with each other, making the situation potentially difficult to recover.

Workaround: patchadd -a -M can be used to construct a valid install sequence for a set of patches and to ensure that the patches should install without an issue.

For more information, see the Best Practices article on the BigAdmin Patching Hub, at http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/features/articles/patch_management.jsp.

::findleaks Command Fails (6720107)

The mdb debugger ::findleaks command fails on the Solaris 10 5/09 OS. The following error message is displayed:


mdb: couldn't walk 'modctl': unknown walk name

Workaround: Before using the ::findleaks command, type the ::load krtld command.

Solaris 10 5/09 DVD Media Might Not be Automatically Mounted by vold (6712352)

The Solaris 10 5/09 DVD does not mount by default during runtime. No error message is displayed.

Workaround: Perform the following steps:

  1. Become superuser.

  2. Disable vold:

    • On Solaris 10 Systems:


      # svcadm disable -t volfs

    • On Solaris 8 and Solaris 9 systems:


      /etc/init.d/volmgt stop

  3. Mount the media manually by using the # mount -F hsfs path to block device path to mount point command. For example:


    # mount -F hsfs /dev/rdsk/c0t2d0s2 /mnt

Cannot Log In to Solaris Management Console After Enabling Solaris Trusted Extensions (6639493)

The SolarisTM Management Console hangs and does not allow root login to the Solaris Management Console after enabling Solaris Trusted Extensions. The following error message might be displayed the Solaris Management Console hangs:


Configuring the Management Server...

Workaround: Perform the following steps:

  1. Configure Solaris Trusted Extensions and start the Solaris Management Console.

  2. Choose Open ToolBox from the Console menu.

  3. Select localhost if it is listed.

  4. If localhost is not listed, then type localhost.

  5. Choose the Policy=TSOL toolbox.

  6. Log in again to the Solaris Management Console as root.

  7. (Optional) If the second login to the Solaris Management Console fails, repeat steps 1 through 5 by typing 127.0.0.1 instead of localhost in step 3.

zoneadm attach Command Might Fail (6550154)

When you attach a zone, if the original host and the new host have packages at the same patch level but at different intermediate patch histories, the zone attach might fail. Various error messages are displayed. The error message depends on the patch histories of the two hosts.

Workaround: Ensure that the original host and the new host machines have had the same sequence of patch versions applied for each patch.

Solaris is Unable to Handle Mode Switches Between Legacy and AHCI Modes for the SATA Controller (6520224)

In systems which have an AHCI compliant SATA controller, the BIOS setup typically enables the controller to be set in either AHCI, legacy, or RAID modes. Solaris supports AHCI and legacy modes.

The SATA mode setting in BIOS must not be changed after an initial Solaris installation. The SATA mode setting must also not be changed before or after a Solaris upgrade. If the SATA mode BIOS setting is modified after installing Solaris, the system will reset and fail to boot without indicating what led to the failure.

Workaround: If boot failure is encountered as a result of changing the BIOS setting, revert back to the original setting in order to boot Solaris.

Deferred Activation Patching (6486471)

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 new features or existing files that are incompatible with the running system are handled. This utilities modification affects the installation of these patches on any Solaris 10 release. These “deferred-activation” patches handle the large scope of change delivered in Kernel patches better.

In deferred Activation patching, a loopback file system, lofs, is used to create a copy of the root file system. The original files being patched are copied to a safe location and the lofs copy of the root file system is patched. Then the original file is lofs mounted back over the new file as it is patched. This means the running system remains consistent over the duration of patching, new features are not active and any incompatible change is hidden until the user reboots.

Users must reboot as soon as possible after applying a Deferred Activation Patch, but they do not have to reboot immediately, they can still add further patches then reboot.

The patch README provides instructions on which patches require a reboot.

Note –

Sun strongly recommends that patch operations are carried out in a single-user mode, especially when this is recommended by the patch README.

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

No error message is displayed.

Workaround: 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. For more information, see Solaris 10 5/09 Installation Guide: Solaris Live Upgrade and Upgrade Planning.

Possible Error With 32-bit Applications Getting File System State on Large File Systems (6468905)

When run on large file systems, for example ZFS, applications using statvfs(2) or statfs(2) to get information about the state of the file system exhibit an error. The following error message is displayed:


Value too large for defined data type

Workaround: Applications should use statvfs64() instead.

Using patchadd With the -R Option To Specify an Alternative Root Path From Systems That Are Not Zones Aware Should Be Restricted (6464969)

On systems running a Solaris release that is not zones aware, using patchadd -R, or any command that accepts the -R option to specify an alternate root path for a global zone that has non-global zones installed, will not work.

In contrast with the error message that is displayed by using the luupgrade [-t, -T, -p, -P] command, no error message regarding the use of appropriate command-level restrictions is displayed in this instance.

There is no indication that the -R option did not work. As a result of the failure of the command, Solaris 10 packages or patches are not installed on any of the installed non-global zones.

This problem occurs while installing and uninstalling packages or patches.

Note –

The -R option works if the alternate boot environment has configured non-global zones, but no installed non-global zones. However, to avoid a potential problem, or if you are not sure whether there are any installed non-global zones used as the alternate root path, restrict the use of the -R option in all instances.

For more information, see the following man pages :

Workaround 1: Upgrade the OS to at least the Solaris 10 1/06 release.

If you are running the Solaris 10 3/05 release, install the following patches to enable the use of commands that accept the -R option to create an alternate root path:

Workaround 2: Restrict the use of the patchadd -R command or any command that accepts the -R option to create an alternate root path.

Instead, boot the alternate root, for example, the Solaris 10 release, as the active OS. Then install and uninstall the Solaris 10 packages and patches without using the -R option.

Sun Patch Manager Tool 2.0 Not Compatible With Previous Versions

A system that runs the Sun Patch Manager Tool 2.0 can manage remote systems that run Patch Manager Tool, including Sun Patch Manager Tool 1.0.

However, a system with an earlier version of Patch Manager Tool cannot manage remote systems that run Patch Manager Tool 2.0. Earlier versions include the following:

Note –

Common Information Model/Web Based Enterprise Management (CIM/WBEM) support for Patch Manager Tool does not exist in the Solaris 8 OS. Consequently, remote management with Patch Manager does not apply to Solaris 8 systems.

Cannot Delete Existing Diskless Clients From the System (6205746)

If you use the smdiskless command to delete a diskless client, the command fails. The diskless client is not removed from the system databases. The following error message is displayed:


Failing with error EXM_BMS.

Workaround: Unshare the /export partition before adding the client.

SPARC: smosservice delete Command Does Not Successfully Remove All Directories (6192105)

If you use the smosservice delete command to remove a diskless client service, the command does not successfully remove all the service directories.

Workaround: Follow these steps.

  1. Make sure that no clients exist that use the service.


    # unshare /export/exec/Solaris_10_sparc.all
# rm -rf /export/exec/Solaris_10_sparc.all
# rm -rf /export/exec/.copyofSolaris_10_sparc.all
# rm -rf /export/.copyofSolaris_10
# rm -rf /export/Solaris_10
# rm -rf /export/share
# rm -rf /export/root/templates/Solaris_10
# rm -rf /export/root/clone/Solaris_10
# rm -rf /tftpboot/inetboot.sun4u.Solaris_10

  2. Remove the following entry from the /etc/bootparams file.


    fs1-24 boottype=:os
    Note –

    Remove this entry only if this file server does not provide functions or resources for any other services.

  3. Remove the following entry from the /etc/dfs/dfstab file.


    share -F nfs -o ro /export/exec/Solaris_8_sparc.all/usr

  4. Modify the /var/sadm/system/admin/services/Solaris_10 file.

    • If the file server is not Solaris_10, delete the file.

    • If the file server is Solaris_10, remove all entries after the first three lines. The deleted lines indicate the service USR_PATH and SPOOLED ROOT packages in /export/root/templates/Solaris_10 and the supported platforms.