Revision History

Solaris 2.6 

August 1997 

New: Solaris Web Start Installation Method

Solaris Web Start is a browser-based utility that guides users through the selection and installation of both Solaris software and co-packaged application software. Its graphical user interface also facilitates file system configuration. Use of the utility is optional: users can exit at any point and proceed with one of the more traditional Solaris installation methods. 

New: Upgrade With Disk Space Reallocation

The upgrade option in the Solaris Interactive Installation program now provides the ability to reallocate disk space if the current file systems don't have enough space for the upgrade. By default, an auto-layout feature tries to determine how to reallocate the disk space so the upgrade can succeed. If auto-layout can't determine how to reallocate disk space, you must specify which file systems can be moved or changed and run auto-layout again.

If you are using the custom JumpStart method, two new upgrade profile keywords, backup_media and layout_constraint, can be used to reallocate disk space.

Change: Testing Upgrade Profiles

In previous Solaris releases, you could only test profiles that used the initial option. The Solaris 2.6 release now enables the pfinstall command to test profiles that use the upgrade option, so you can see if a profile will do what is wanted before using it to upgrade a system. This is especially useful when you are creating upgrade profiles that reallocate disk space.

To test an upgrade profile, you must run the pfinstall -D command on the system that you're going to upgrade (against the system's disk configuration and its currently installed software). You cannot test an upgrade profile using a disk configuration file.

Also, the procedure to test an initial profile has changed in the Solaris 2.6 release. 

New: 8-bit English Locale

When installing the base (English) Solaris 2.6 CD, you'll be prompted to select an English locale, because a new, 8-bit English local (en_US) has been added to the Solaris 2.6 release. If you don't want to be prompted for the locale, you must preconfigure the locale information.

New: Preconfiguring System Configuration Information with sysidcfg(4)

In previous releases, the first part of the Solaris installation program tried to obtain system configuration information about a system (such as the system's peripheral devices, host name, IP address, name service) from the name service databases. The installation program prompted you if it couldn't find the information. If you didn't want to be prompted, you had to preconfigure the system configuration information in the name service. 

Using the Solaris 2.6 sysidcfg(4) file, you can now preconfigure system configuration information through a set of keywords. You can choose to provide one or more of the keywords to preconfigure varying levels of system configuration information.

New: Changing a System's Boot Device During the Installation

The Solaris 2.6 release enables you to change a system's boot device during the installation. A system's boot device is the disk slice where the root file system is installed and, consequently, where the installed system will boot from.  

Also, the installation program can now update the system's EEPROM if you change the new boot device, so the system can automatically boot from it (SPARC systems only). In previous releases, changing the system's boot device during an installation meant that you had to manually change the system's EEPROM so it could automatically boot from the new boot device. 

This new feature is provided in the Solaris Interactive Installation program and by the new custom JumpStart boot_device profile keyword.

Change: Solaris CD-ROM Layout

The Solaris CD layout has been changed in the Solaris 2.6 release. Slice 0 has been reorganized to make it more intuitive and extensible. It contains only control files and the Solaris_2.6 directory at the top level.

The control file are the same control files found on previous Solaris CDs (.cdtoc, .slicemapfile, and .install_config). The Solaris_2.6 directory contains all the tools, software, and configuration necessary to install, at a minimum, the Solaris 2.6 software product.

New: Disk Space Planning Section

This document now provides an appendix to help you plan your disk space. The appendix includes the list of packages contained in each software group. 

Change (x86): Booting Software

The Solaris boot diskette has been replaced by the Solaris Device Configuration Assistant diskette. The Configuration Assistant program is part of the new booting system for the Solaris (Intel Platform Edition) software, and it determines which hardware devices are in the system, accounts for the resources each device uses, and enables you to choose which device to boot from. The Configuration Assistant must be re-run any time the hardware configuration is changed. 

Change (x86): kdmconfig Program Automatically Configures Peripherals

The kdmconfig program has been updated to automatically configure the mouse, graphics adapter, and monitor on an x86 system. If an OWconfig file already exists on the system, kdmconfig will extract any usable information from it. In addition, kdmconfig will also retrieve information left in the devinfo tree by the Configuration Assistant program, and use that information to automatically identify devices. Any attribute values, such as manufacturer or model information, returned by probes for a given device (unless it is "Unknown") take precedence over the value received for the same attribute from the OWconfig file.

New: root_device Profile Keyword

When creating upgrade profiles, you must now specify root_device if more than one root file system can be upgraded on a system. The root_device profile designates the root file system (and the file systems mounted by its /etc/vfstab file) to be upgraded.

For initial profiles, root_device designates the system's root disk and sets the rootdevice variable. How the system's root disk is determined during a custom JumpStart installation has also changed in the Solaris 2.6 release.

Change (SPARC): Hardware Support Dropped

The SPARCserver 6xx systems are no longer supported. 

Solaris 2.5  

November 1995 

Change: Service Setup For Clients During Installation

The Solaris installation program (interactive and custom JumpStart) no longer sets up services for clients. You can specify the number of clients and allocate space for them during installation, but you must use Solstice Host Manager to complete client set up after Solaris software is installed. 

New: bootparams Keyword/Value

A new bootparams keyword/value forces sysidtool to attempt to configure a specified names service (overriding the default NIS+), thus enabling clients to be set up for off-subnet servers. See bootparams(4).

The bootparams keyword/value has the following syntax: 

ns=[server]:nameservice[(netmask)]

This addition affects the /etc/bootparams file, Solstice Host Manger, and add_install_client script (where -n <ns_string> is the string to put in the bootparams table.).

Change: Location of Diskless Client Booting Information

Information on how to boot diskless clients has been moved to the System Administration Guide

Change: Solstice Host Manager Replaces add_install_client

The Solstice Host Manager now supports remote installations, and it is the recommended tool for setting up network install services (instead of add_install_client command). Solstice Host Manager can also now be used to set up custom JumpStart installations.

Change (SPARC): Hardware Support Dropped

The sun4 and sun4e hardware is no longer supported. 

Change: Underlying Software

The /usr/kvm directory is replaced by the /usr/platform directory. Servers no longer have to export /usr/kvm for each supported platform, and clients do not have to mount the exported /usr/kvm directory appropriate for their platform. With /usr/platform, the same exported /usr file system can support all platforms.

The terms kernel architecture and architecture, have been replaced by the terms platform name (for example SUNW,S240), and platform group (for example, sun4m).