Frequently Asked Questions About Upgrading

• Can I use the upgrade option on my system?

  You cannot use Solaris Web Start to upgrade to Solaris 8 from Solaris 7 or earlier versions of the Solaris operating environment because it uses a different method to install Solaris software (a separate 10-Mbyte IA boot partition). You can, however, upgrade from Solaris 8 to a Solaris 8 Update or a Solaris 8 Maintenance Update.

  To upgrade to Solaris 8 from an earlier version of Solaris, you must instead use the Solaris 8 Interactive Installation Program, which is described in "Using the Solaris 8 Interactive Installation Program" in Solaris 8 Advanced Installation Guide.

  To determine the version of the Solaris operating environment your system is running, type:

  $ uname -a

• How do I know I can upgrade my system?

  You can upgrade a system provided there is a separate 10-Mbyte IA boot partition on the disk. Solaris Web Start creates an IA boot partition automatically. The Solaris 8 Interactive Installation Program does not.

  You also need a slice on the disk that isn't needed to upgrade that disk. swap is preferred, but any slice will suffice as long as it is not located in any of the "upgradeable" root slices listed in /etc/vfstab. The size of this slice must also exceed or equal the minimum required size, which is dynamic.

  The minimum required sizes for the Solaris 8 Installation English Intel Platform Edition and Solaris 8 Installation Multilingual Intel Platform Edition CDs are shown in Table 4-1:

  Table 4-1 Minimum Required Sizes for Slices

  	64 Mbytes Memory	128 Mbytes Memory	256 Mbytes or More Memory
  Solaris 8 Installation English Intel Platform Edition CD	256 Mbytes	256 Mbytes	256 Mbytes
  Solaris 8 Installation Multilingual Intel Platform Edition CD	404 Mbytes	340 Mbytes	308 Mbytes

• Do I have to back out patches before I use the upgrade option?

  No, backing out packages is not required.

• What if Solaris Web Start doesn't provide the upgrade option, but the system can be upgraded?

  See Chapter 6, Troubleshooting for information.

• What if the system's file systems don't have enough space for the upgrade?

  You can reallocate disk space with Solaris Web Start if the current file systems don't have enough space for the upgrade. Solaris Web Start attempts to determine how to reallocate the disk space so the upgrade can succeed. If Solaris Web Start cannot determine how to reallocate disk space, you must manually modify the layout of the file systems.

• Can I automatically upgrade to another software group?

  No. For example, if you previously installed the End User System Support software group on your system, you cannot use the upgrade option to upgrade to the Developer System Support software group. However, you can always add software to the system during the upgrade that is not part of the currently installed software group.

• Where does Solaris Web Start describe the local modifications that could not be preserved?

  • Before the system reboots: /a/var/sadm/system/data/upgrade_cleanup

  • After the system reboots: /var/sadm/system/data/upgrade_cleanup

• Where does the installation program place upgrade log files?

  • Before the system reboots: /a/var/sadm/system/logs/upgrade_log

  • After the system reboots: /var/sadm/system/logs/upgrade_log