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Solaris 8 Advanced Installation Guide

Requirements When Using the Solaris 8 Installation CD

When you are use the Solaris Web Start program on Solaris 8 Installation CD, special requirements apply for SPARC slices and IA fdisk partitions. When installing from a DVD or a net installation image, the Solaris Web Start program does not have these requirements.

Table 2–4 Solaris 8 Installation CD Requirements

Platform 

Requirements 

Slice requirements for upgrading 

When using the Solaris 8 Installation CD and the Solaris Web Start program to upgrade, you must have a slice on the disk that does not store files. The swap slice is preferred, but you can use any slice that is not located in any of the “upgradable” root slices that are listed in /etc/vfstab. The size of this slice must be at least 512 Mbytes.

IA: fdisk partition requirements 

When using the Solaris 8 Installation CD, the Solaris Web Start program requires two fdisk partitions on the system disk to perform an installation or upgrade.

  • Solaris fdisk partition

    This is the typical Solaris fdisk partition. If you do not have a Solaris fdisk partition on your system, the Solaris Web Start program prompts you to create one.

    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.

  • x86 boot fdisk partition

    This is a 10 Mbyte fdisk partition that enables the Intel architecture to boot the miniroot that is placed on the newly created swap slice that is located on the Solaris fdisk partition.

    Caution – Caution –

    Do not create the x86 boot partition manually.

    The Solaris Web Start installation program creates the x86 boot partition, removing 10–Mbytes from the Solaris fdisk partition. By allowing the installation program to create the x86 boot partition, you prevent any existing fdisk partitions from being altered.

IA system upgrade limitations 

When you use the Solaris 8 Installation CD, you cannot use the Solaris Web Start program to upgrade to Solaris 8 from the Solaris 2.5.1, Solaris 2.6, or Solaris 7 operating environments. The Solaris 8 Installation CD requires a separate 10 Mbyte IA boot partition that was not required in previous Solaris releases. To upgrade, you must use the Solaris Web Start program from the Solaris 8 DVD or a network installation image, or use the Solaris 8 Interactive Installation Program or the custom JumpStart method. 

IA systems logical block addressing Requirement 

Do not use the Solaris 8 Installation CD unless your system can boot across the 1024–cylinder limit. Logical block addressing (LBA) enables the machine to boot beyond the 1024–cylinder limit and across Solaris disk slices. Use the Solaris 8 Installation CD when your system's BIOS and SCSI driver for the default boot disk supports LBA. 

To determine if your system supports LBA, type: 


# prtconf -pv | grep -i lba

If the BIOS and SCSI driver for the default boot disk support LBA, the following message appears. 


lba-access-ok:

If the SCSI driver for the default boot disk does not support LBA, the following message appears. 


no-bef-lba-access

If the default boot disk BIOS and SCSI driver do not support LBA, use the Solaris 8 DVD, a net installation image, or another installation method to install or upgrade.