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Solaris 8 (Intel Platform Edition) Online Release Notes Update

Chapter 1 Installation Issues

Solaris Web Start 3.0 Issues You Need to Know About Before Using the Solaris 8 Installation CD

Solaris Web Start 3.0 Installation Partition Issue

If SolarisTM Web Start 3.0 is unable to locate a Solaris fdisk partition on a system, you must create a Solaris fdisk partition on your root disk.

Caution - Caution -

If you change the size of an existing fdisk partition, all data on that partition is automatically deleted. Back up your data before you create a Solaris fdisk partition.

Solaris Web Start requires two fdisk partitions to perform an installation.

Note -

The Web Start installation utility creates the x86 boot partition, taking away 10 MBytes from the Solaris fdisk partition. This prevents any existing fdisk partitions from being altered.

This partition should not be created manually.

This requirement also prevents you from upgrading the Solaris 2.6 or Solaris 7 releases to the Solaris 8 operating environment using the Solaris 8 Install CD. For more information refer to "Upgrade Issues".

Issues You Need to Know About Before Starting an Interactive Installation From the Solaris 8 Software 1 of 2 CD

Locale Install Mechanism Change

The locale support installation mechanism has changed in the SolarisTM 8 operating environment. In the Solaris 2.5.1, 2.6, and 7 operating environments the level of locale support installed depended upon the software cluster chosen. The Solaris 8 operating environment includes a new install interface that prompts you to select specific geographic regions for which you require locale support. Therefore, you can customize the configuration of your system when you install the Solaris 8 operating environment more than was possible in the Solaris 2.5.1, 2.6, and 7 operating environments.

Pay special attention to the following behaviors:

Do Not Install a Large Partition on Systems That Already Have symhisl, mega, or cpqncr Disk Controller Drivers Installed

If you attempt to install a large partition (one that extends beyond the 8 Gbyte boundary) on a disk that uses any of the controllers listed below, the installed system will not behave properly.

The Solaris operating environment install program cannot detect that the driver does not support large partitions. The installation therefore continues without displaying an error. However, when you reboot your system, the reboot may fail.

Even if you successfully reboot your system, it will fail later because of other changes related to boot devices or added packages. The disk controllers associated with these drivers are:

Workaround: Do not install a large partition that extends beyond the first 8 Gbytes of a disk on systems that have disk controllers driven by the symhisl, mega, or cpqncr drivers.

Update the DPT PM2144UW Controller BIOS to the Latest Revision Before Upgrading to the Solaris 8 Operating Environment

The Solaris 8 operating environment includes a new feature that enables you to install large partitions. The DPT PM2144UW controller's BIOS must support Logical Block Addressing (LBA). The latest revision of the BIOS fully supports LBA access. The problem may also affect other DPT controller models.

Workaround: Prior to upgrading your system to the Solaris 8 operating environment, ensure that the DPT PM2144UW controller's BIOS is the latest available version from DPT.

To determine if your system has a DPT controller, perform the following steps:

  1. Run prtconf -D.

  2. If the name dpt is displayed, run the card's configuration utility to obtain information about the model and BIOS revision.

  3. Upgrade DPT PM2144UW controllers by flashing the BIOS or by installing the latest BIOS EPROM obtained from DPT. See http://www.dpt.com for the latest BIOS images for all DPT controllers.

You can now upgrade the system to the Solaris 8 operating environment.

Do Not Upgrade Hewlett-Packard (HP) Vectra XU Series Systems With BIOS Version GG.06.13

The Solaris 8 Beta operating environment includes a new feature that enables you to install large partitions. The system BIOS must support Logical Block Addressing (LBA). BIOS Version GG.06.13 does not support LBA access. The Solaris boot programs cannot manage this conflict. The problem may also affect other HP Vectra systems.

If you perform this upgrade, your HP system will no longer boot. Only a blank black screen with a flashing underbar cursor is displayed.

Workaround: Do not upgrade HP Vectra XU Series systems with the latest BIOS Version GG.06.13 to the Solaris 8 operating environment because it no longer supports these systems.

You can still boot your system using the boot diskette or boot CD because the boot paths do not use the hard disk code; then select the hard disk as your bootable device instead of the network or CD-ROM drive.

Direct Memory Access (DMA) Is Disabled on PCI-IDE Systems

By default, the Solaris ata device driver has the DMA feature disabled for ATA/ATAPI devices. Installing the Solaris 8 operating environment works properly with DMA disabled.

To enable the DMA feature for improved performance, follow the related instructions in the Installation Issues section. Replace step 1 of the "Direct Memory Access (DMA) is Disabled" On PCI-IDE System bug description in the "Performance Issue" section of the "Solaris Runtime Issues" chapter in the Solaris 8 (Intel Platform Edition) Online Release Notes with:

Run the Solaris (Intel Platform Edition) Device Configuration Assistant from the boot diskette or the installation CD (if your system supports CD-ROM booting).

Note -

When booting with the boot diskette, the new ata-dma-enabled property value will be preserved on the diskette. Therefore, the changed value is in effect when reusing the boot diskette

Replace step 5d of the "Direct Memory Access (DMA) is Disabled On PCI-IDE System" bug description in the "Performance Issue" section of the "Solaris Runtime Issues" chapter in the Solaris 8 (Intel Platform Edition) Online Release Notes with:

Select the device from which you want to install (network adapter or CD-ROM drive) and press F2_Continue.

Bugs You Need to Know About Before the Start of an Interactive Installation

Caution - Caution -

Be sure to read bug description ID 4121281 before you start upgrading your IA (Intel Architecture) based system to the Solaris 8 operating environment.

DiskSuite May Cause Data Loss (4121281)

The DiskSuiteTM metadb replicas contain driver names as part of the DiskSuite configuration data. In IA based systems that run versions 2.4, 2.5, 2.5.1, and 2.6 of the Solaris operating environment, the SCSI driver name is cmdk. The cmdk driver has been replaced by the sd driver in the Solaris 7 and 8 operating environments for IA based systems.

Workaround: To avoid potential data loss during upgrades to the Solaris 7 and 8 operating environments, you must save the system's meta device configurations in text files and remove their metadb replicas before upgrading any IA based system that is running DiskSuite. After you finish upgrading your IA based system, you must restore the meta device configurations by using the DiskSuite command line interface.

The DiskSuite Version 4.2 Release Notes contain a procedure for saving metadb configurations, removing metadb replicas, upgrading IA based systems to the Solaris 7 and 8 operating environments, upgrading DiskSuite to version 4.2, and restoring meta device configurations. Bourne shell scripts that automate the procedure are available for the Solaris 7 and 8 operating environments.

Installation Bugs That Occur During an Interactive Installation

ddi: net: x86 Network Boot Only Works on First Network Interface of a Given Type (1146863)

Booting over the network must be done on the primary network interface of IA based systems.

Identifying the primary network interface is a matter of trial and error, but the first or last network device listed on the Boot Solaris menu is likely to be the primary interface.

As soon as you have determined the primary interface, it remains the primary interface every time you boot unless you make a change to the hardware configuration. If you change the hardware configuration, the primary interface may or may not change, depending on the type of changes made.

If you boot from a non-primary network interface, the booting system will hang and a boot server will not be contacted. (This problem can also occur if the system is not registered as a client of the boot server.)

Installation Progress Bar May Be Inaccurate (1266156)

The Installing Solaris Software - Progress bar sometimes indicates that an installation is complete when it is still in progress. The install program may add packages for several minutes after the progress bar has indicated that the installation is complete.

Do not rely on the progress bar to indicate that the installation is complete. The installation displays the following message when the program has completed all installation operations.


Installation complete

Warnings May Occur When Creating a File System (4189127)

One of the following warning messages may be displayed when creating a file system during installation.


Warning: inode blocks/cyl group (87) >= data blocks (63) in last cylinder group. This implies 1008 sector(s) cannot be allocated.
or

Warning: 1 sector(s) in last cylinder unallocated
The warning occurs when the size of the file system being created does not map exactly to the space on the disk being used. This can result in unused space on the disk that is not incorporated into the indicated file system. This unused space is not available for use by other file systems.

Workaround: Ignore the warning message.

No Error Occurs If # Is Included In A Path (4294586)

If a # is included in the path of a JavaTM program, the following message is displayed when you execute the program.


Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundErrorVolume Management (vold) sometimes uses a pound sign in a pathwhen creating directory names:

Workaround: Delete the # from the path or do not use any Java installation wizards.

Custom JumpStart Does Not Prompt for the Solaris 8 Software 2 of 2 CD (4304912)

After installing the Solaris 8 Software 1 of 2 CD, a custom JumpStartTM installation does not prompt you to install the Solaris 8 Software 2 of 2 CD.

Workaround: If you are installing only the End User software group, you do not need to install the Solaris 8 Software 2 of 2 CD as the End User software and its basic locale support is contained on the Solaris 8 Software 1 of 2 CD.

Wizard Stops If You Insert the Solaris 8 Software 2 of 2 CD When the 1 of 2 CD Is Requested (4306752)

For some English-only versions of the Solaris 8 Installation CD, the installation program enables you to insert the Solaris 8 Software 2 of 2 CD at the point the installation program requested the Solaris 8 Software 1 of 2 CD.

If the incorrect CD has been inserted, the installation program attempts to use it even though it can no longer install the Solaris operating environment.

If you are performing a default installation, the following message is displayed in the summary panel's Details window:


ERROR: Could not load the media (/cdrom)" error message
If an Installation CD custom install had been selected, a blank panel would be displayed immediately after choosing Custom and selecting the Next Panel button.

Workaround: Insert the Solaris 8 Software 1 of 2 CD when requested. If you inserted the Solaris 8 Software 2 of 2 CD after a blank screen was displayed, you need to restart the installation by beginning with the "Boot CD-ROM" step.

An Arithmetic Exception Occurs When a Zip Drive is Attached With No Media in a Drive (4307035)

Solaris Web Start reports an arithmetic exception when a zip drive is attached and no disk has been inserted in the drive. The following message is displayed: 


Starting the Web Start 3.0 Solaris installer
./W00.findswap[1823]: 173 Arithmetic Exception
Could not get disk information.
Exiting
Workaround: Either disconnect the zip drive before you boot your system or insert the zip disk into the drive.

Upgrade Issues

Cannot Use Solaris Web Start 3.0 to Upgrade to the Solaris 8 Operating Environment

You cannot use Solaris Web Start 3.0 on the Solaris 8 Installation CD to upgrade x86-based systems from the Solaris 2.6 or 7 operating environments to the Solaris 8 operating environment because of the x86 boot partition requirement. Use the Solaris Software 1 of 2 CD to upgrade to the Solaris 8 operating environment on x86-based systems.

Solaris Easy Access Server (SEAS)

The applications in Solaris Easy Access Server are not certified to run in the Solaris 8 operating environment. If you are running applications from SEAS, you must install the Solaris 8 Admin Pack to ensure that those applications will run properly in the Solaris 8 operating environment.

Several of the applications that are included in SEAS releases are now part of the Solaris 8 operating environment:

The following SEAS applications have not been certified to run in the Solaris 8 operating environment:

Priority Paging Is Not Needed With the New Solaris 8 Caching Architecture

The Solaris 8 operating environment introduces a new file system caching architecture, which subsumes the Solaris 7 Priority Paging functionality. The system variable priority_paging should not be set in the Solaris 8 operating environment, and should be removed from the directory /etc/system when systems are upgraded to the Solaris 8 operating environment.

The new caching architecture removes most of the pressure on the virtual memory system that resulted from file system activity. As a result, the new caching architecture changes the dynamics of the memory paging statistics, which makes observing system memory characteristics simpler. However, several of the statistics report significantly different values, which should be considered when analyzing memory behavior or setting performance monitoring thresholds. The most notable differences are:

Installation Bugs That Occur During an Upgrade

Upgrading the Solaris 7 Operating Environment With Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) 1.0 to the Solaris 8 Operating Environment Causes WBEM 2.0 to Not Work (4274920)

If you installed WBEM 1.0 from the Solaris Easy Access Server (SEAS) 3.0 CD-ROM on a system running the Solaris 7 operating environment, you must remove the WBEM 1.0 packages before upgrading to the Solaris 8 operating environment. The Solaris WBEM Services 2.0 do not start after upgrading the Solaris 7 operating environment with WBEM 1.0 to the Solaris 8 operating environment. The Common Information Model (CIM) Object Manager fails to start. The following error message is displayed: 


File not found: /opt/sadm/lib/wbem/cimom.jar

Workaround: Use the pkgrm command to remove the WBEM 1.0 packages before upgrading to the Solaris 8 operating environment.

  1. Use the pkginfo command to check if the WBEM 1.0 packages are installed by typing:


    % pkginfo | grep WBEM

  2. Become superuser.

  3. Use the pkgrm command to remove all WBEM 1.0 packages by typing:


    # pkgrm SUNWwbapi
# pkgrm SUNWwbcor
# pkgrm SUNWwbdev
# pkgrm SUNWwbdoc
# pkgrm SUNWwbm

Disk Space Requirements Can Be Exaggerated by the Upgrade Process (4041733)

The upgrade program can exaggerate by as much as 30 percent the amount of space required for upgrades to systems with Solaris software. Systems affected by this problem cannot be upgraded without deselecting packages or finding more space.

Workaround: You can manually reallocate disk space among file systems or use the Software Customization menu to remove software packages that are not needed.

SUNWeeudt Partially Fails to Install During an Upgrade (4304305)

The upgrade log may state that the SUNWeeudt package was only partially installed.


     Doing pkgadd of SUNWeeudt to /.
     ERROR: attribute verification of 
     </a/usr/dt/appconfig/types/ru_RU.KOI8-R/datatypes.dt> 
     failed pathname does not exist ...

     Installation of <SUNWeeudt> partially failed.
     pkgadd return code = 2

Workaround: Perform the following steps after the upgrade has been completed.

  1. Remove the SUNWeeudt package by typing:


    # pkgrm SUNWeeudt

  2. Add the SUNWeeudt package by typing:


    # pkgadd SUNWeeudt

Localization Bugs

Some Error Messages and Dialogs Are Not Localized and Display Only in English (4283839)

French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Swedish locales have some unlocalized dialogs, a few unlocalized dialogs in help files, and help files not found during an installation.

Installation Of European Software (4299758)

If you install a European locale, additional software for windowing, installation, 64-bit support, and fonts are installed on your system. The impact of this bug is negligible because only minimal additional space is needed to support this extra software.

Swedish Locale: Unlocalized Dialogs Are Displayed During Installation (4300655)

The Solaris interactive install dialog has not been localized except for the title. The section that has not been localized begins with:


You'll be using the initial option .....

French and Italian Install Wizards May Display {0} Instead of the CD Title (4302549)

{0} is occasionally displayed in French and Italian where a CD title should appear.

Motif suninstall Fails in de_AT.ISO8859-15 and fr_BE.ISO8859-15 Locales (4305420)

Installing the operating environment by using the two languages specified causes parts of the installation process to be displayed in English. In addition, not all localization packages are installed. The following message is displayed:


XView warning: "de" kann nicht als Sprachumgebungs-Kategorie 
Ausgabesprache (gesetzt über Umgebungsvariable(n)) verwendet 
werden, wenn Standardspracheauf"de_AT.ISO8859-15" gesetzt ist 
(Server Package)
XView warning: Requested input method style not supported. 
(Server package)

Workaround: Install the Solaris operating environment using the German or French ISO8859-1 locales.

German Locale: Add and Cancel Buttons in the Proxy Kiosk Screen are Labeled as Undefined (4306260)

The German Web Start Kiosk proxy information dialog has the OK and Cancel buttons labeled as Undefined. The button on the left should be OK and the button on the right should be Cancel.