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Solaris 8 Advanced Installation Guide

Chapter 8 Upgrading the Solaris Operating Environment

This chapter provides specific information and instructions about tasks that you must perform before you upgrade to the Solaris operating environment.

Upgrading

An upgrade merges the new version of the Solaris operating environment with the existing files on the system's disk. An upgrade saves as many modifications as possible that you have made to the previous version of the Solaris operating environment.

You can upgrade any system that is running the Solaris 2.5.1, Solaris 2.6, or Solaris 7 software. You can upgrade to a Solaris 8 Update release if your system is running the Solaris 8 software. Type the following command to see the version of Solaris software that is running on your system:


$ uname -a

You can upgrade the Solaris operating environment by using the following installation methods.

Note –

Use the smosservice patch to upgrade diskless clients. For detailed instructions, refer to Solaris 8 System Administration Supplement or to smosservice(1M).

Table 8–1 SPARC: Solaris Upgrade Methods

Current Solaris Operating Environment 

Solaris Upgrade Methods 

Solaris 2.5.1, Solaris 2.6, Solaris 7, Solaris 8 

  • Solaris Web Start program

  • Solaris 8 Interactive Installation Program

  • Custom JumpStart method

Table 8–2 x86: Solaris Upgrade Methods

Current Solaris Operating Environment 

Solaris Upgrade Methods 

Solaris 2.5.1, Solaris 2.6, Solaris 7 

Installing from DVD media or a net installation image: 

  • Solaris Web Start program

  • Solaris 8 Interactive Installation Program

  • Custom JumpStart method

Installing from CD media: 

  • Solaris 8 Interactive Installation Program

  • Custom JumpStart method

Solaris 8 

Installing from DVD or CD media or a net installation image: 

  • Solaris Web Start program

  • Solaris 8 Interactive Installation Program

  • Custom JumpStart method

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.

Using Custom JumpStart to Upgrade

You can use the custom JumpStart installation method to upgrade. In the custom JumpStart profile, 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. For more information about testing the upgrade option, refer to Testing a Profile.

Upgrading With Disk Space Reallocation

The upgrade option in the Solaris 8 Interactive Installation Program and in the Solaris Web Start installation method provide the ability to reallocate disk space if the current file systems do not have enough space for the upgrade. The auto-layout feature attempts to determine how to reallocate the disk space so an upgrade can succeed.

If you are using the Solaris Web Start program, and auto-layout cannot determine how to reallocate the disk space, you must use the Solaris 8 Interactive Installation Program to upgrade.

If you are using the Solaris 8 Interactive Installation Program, and auto-layout cannot determine how to reallocate disk space, you must specify the file systems that can be moved or changed and run auto-layout again.

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 Example 23–5.

Backing Up Systems Before Upgrading

Back up existing file systems before you upgrade to the Solaris operating environment. 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 System Administration Guide, Volume I.

Upgrading to a Solaris Update Release

If you are already running the Solaris 8 operating environment and have installed individual patches, upgrading to a Solaris 8 Update release causes the following:

The Patch Analyzer performs an analysis on your system to determine which patches, if any, will be removed by upgrading to the Solaris 8 Update release. The Patch Analyzer is available in the following formats.

After you perform the analysis, refer to To Review the Patch Analyzer Outputfor detailed information about the patch analysis results.

To Run the analyze_patches Script

Note –

To run the analyze_patches script, the installed system and the Solaris 8 DVD, the Solaris 8 Software CDs, or the net image must be accessible by the script either through NFS or locally mounted media.

  1. Change to the Misc directory.

    • SPARC: If the image is located on locally mounted media, type:


      # cd /cdrom/sol_8_Update_sparc/s0/Solaris_8/Misc

      In this command, Update is the actual Update identifier, for example 600, 1000, or u4.

    • IA: If the image is located on locally mounted media, type:


      # cd /cdrom/sol_8_Update_ia/s2/Solaris_8/Misc

      In this command, Update is the actual Update identifier, for example 600, 1000, or u4.

    • If the image is available on an NFS file system, type:


      # cd /NFS_mount_directory/Solaris_8/Misc

  2. Run the analyze_patches script:


    # ./analyze_patches [[-R rootdir]] [[-N netdir]] [[-D databasedir]]

    -R rootdir

    rootdir is the root of the installed system. The default is /.

    -N netdir

    netdir is the path to the root of the OS image to be installed. The default is /cdrom/cdrom0. netdir is the path to the directory that contains the Solaris_8 directory. You must use this option if you are running the patch_analyzer from an NFS mount point.

    -D databasedir

    If the script is invoked from a directory other than the Misc/ directory in the OS image, the program cannot find the database it uses for patch analysis. Use the -D option to supply the path to the database. Without this database, which is located in Solaris_8/Misc/database on the OS image, the script does not work properly.

To Review the Patch Analyzer Output

After you perform the analysis, use these steps to review the output.

  1. Review the output of the Patch Analyzer.

    The Patch Analyzer provides a list of patches that will be removed, downgraded, accumulated, or obsoleted by other patches. Patch accumulations are similar to patch upgrades. The accumulated patch is removed and its fixes are delivered by a new patch. Messages such as the following are shown:


    Patch 105644-03 will be removed.
Patch 105925 will be downgraded from -02 to -01.
Patch 105776-01 will be accumulated/obsoleted by patch 105181-05.

    If the Patch Analyzer program does not provide a list, no action is taken against any patches that were previously installed on your system.

  2. Decide if the patch replacements and deletions are acceptable.

    • If yes, upgrade the system.

    • If no, do not upgrade the system.

      Instead of upgrading, you can use the Solaris 8 Maintenance Update to apply only patches to your system.

      Note –

      The Solaris 8 Maintenance Update is located on the Solaris 8 Maintenance Update CD, which is included with the Solaris 8 Update release. Instructions for applying patches are provided in the Maintenance Update Installation Guide.