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Information Library for Solaris 2.6 (Intel Platform Edition)

Installation

This section describes new features in the Solaris 2.6 software that affect installation.

Solaris Web Start Browser-based Installation

The Solaris software is the industry's first operating system that can be installed via a web browser. Solaris Web Start is a browser-based utility that guides users through the selection and installation of both Solaris and copackaged application software. Its graphical user interface also facilitates file system configuration.

The utility's built-in suite of online information answers questions about the product itself, the software it installs, and the hardware platforms it supports. Use of the utility is optional: users can exit at any point and proceed with one of the more traditional Solaris installation methods.

For more information, see the module Using Solaris Web Start in Information Library for Solaris 2.6 (Intel Platform Edition) or Information Library for Solaris 2.6 (SPARC Platform Edition).

New Installation Documentation

A documentation reorganization makes finding information on how to install Solaris software easier. The desktop product contains a small, step-by-step guide that describes installing the Solaris software from a local CD-ROM. The server product contains an advanced guide for setting up servers and clients, and a description of how to automate installations using custom JumpStartTM software.

Configuration Assistant and Booting Software for x86 Platforms

The Configuration Assistant interface is part of the new booting system for the Solaris (Intel Platform Edition) software. It determines which hardware devices are in the machine, accounts for the resources each device uses, and enables you to choose which device to boot from. The booting software, including the Configuration Assistant, is installed on the system's hard disk along with the Solaris operating environment. A file that contains the hardware configuration information for the system being installed is also installed on the hard disk. Each time the system is booted, the configuration information is passed to the Solaris kernel. The Configuration Assistant must be re-run any time the hardware configuration is changed.

For information on how to use the Configuration Assistant to help solve device configuration problems, see the modules (xref)Configuring Devices and the Troubleshooting in Information Library for Solaris 2.6 (Intel Platform Edition).

Changed Solaris CD 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 files at the top level on slice 0 are the same control files found on previous Solaris CDs. The control files are .cdtoc, .slicemapfile, and .install_config.

For more information, see Solaris Advanced Installation Guide.

Upgrade With Disk Space Reallocation

The upgrade option for the Solaris 2.6 release provides an auto-layout feature to reallocate disk space if the current file systems don't have enough space for the upgrade. This new feature is provided in the interactive Solaris installation program and by a new set of custom JumpStart profile keywords.

For more information, see Solaris Advanced Installation Guide.

Testing Upgrade Profiles

In previous Solaris releases, the system administrator 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 an administrator can see if a profile will do what is wanted before using it to upgrade a system. This is especially useful with the new disk-space reallocation feature.

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). You cannot test an upgrade profile using a disk configuration file.

For more information, see Solaris Advanced Installation Guide.

Changing a System's Boot Device

The Solaris 2.6 release now 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 interactive Solaris installation program and by the new custom JumpStart boot_device profile keyword.

For more information, see Solaris Advanced Installation Guide.

Preconfiguring System Configuration Information

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 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.

The sysidcfg file can reside on a remote system or on a UFS or PCFS diskette in the system's local diskette drive. If you choose to put the sysidcfg file on a remote system, you have to use the -p option of the add_install_client command to specify where the system being installed can find the sysidcfg file.

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 Solaris 2.6. If you don't want to be prompted for the locale, you must preconfigure the locale information. For more information about the new en_US locale, see the "New Locales in the Base Installation."

For more information, see Solaris Advanced Installation Guide.

x86 Configuring Peripherals

The kdmconfig program is used to configure the mouse, graphics adapter, and monitor on an x86 system. If an OWconfig file already exists, kdmconfig will extract any usable information from it. In addition, this updated version of kdmconfig will also retrieve information left in the devinfo tree by the devconf 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.

If all attribute values in the Confirm Configuration screen are obtained (none are "Unknown"), the default choice is Save and Exit Configuration. If information is needed, the program selects the first Unknown device as the default configuration selection. You can override the default selection by either selecting another device you want to configure or by selecting Save and Exit Configuration instead. When you exit, kdmconfig checks for Unknown devices and warns you about potential problems with the X Window System if values are missing. After reading the warnings, you can either continue with the configuration or exit the program and configure the devices later.

The changes regarding the sequence of screens for configuring individual devices are

The program is similar to the previous version with regard to the character user interface and the function keys used to navigate within the program.

For addition information regarding the kdmconfig program, see the kdmconfig(1M) man page.

Optional 8-Bit Locales

The installation window in the English Solaris 2.6 CD offers several English language locales. To use 8-bit characters, install through one of the en_XX options. The locale used in the installation becomes the default system locale.

Note -

The C locale was installed by default in the base English releases prior to this release.

Table 3-1 New Locales Offered in Installation

Locale Name 

Language/Territory 

Code Set 

C

American English 

7-bit 

en_AU

Australian English 

8-bit 

en_CA

Canadian English 

8-bit 

en_UK

UK English 

8-bit 

en_US

American English 

8-bit 

For more detailed information on locale installation, see Solaris 2.6 SPARC Platform Edition) Release Notes or Solaris 2.6 (Intel Platform Edition) Release Notes.