System Administration Guide, Volume I

About This Book

System Administration Guide, Volume I is part of a two-volume set that covers a significant part of the Solaris^TM system administration information. It includes both SPARC^TM and x86 information and describes how to use the Solstice^TM AdminSuite^TM tools to perform some of the system administration tasks.

This book assumes that you have already installed the SunOS 5.7^TM operating system and Solstice AdminSuite, and you have set up any networking software that you plan to use. The SunOS 5.7 operating system is part of the Solaris 7 product family, which also includes many utilities and OpenWindows(TM) Version 3. The SunOS 5.7 operating system is compliant with AT&T's System V, Release 4 operating system.

For the Solaris 7 release, new features interesting to system administrators are covered in sections called What's New in ... ? in the appropriate chapters.

Note -

The term "x86" refers to the Intel 8086 family of microprocessor chips, including the Pentium and Pentium Pro processors and compatible microprocessor chips made by AMD and Cynix. In this document the term "x86" refers to the overall platform architecture, whereas "Intel Platform Edition" appears in the product name.

The following table describes the system administration topics found in System Administration Guide, Volume I and System Administration Guide, Volume II.

System Administration Guide, Volume I	System Administration Guide, Volume II
Chapter 1, Managing User Accounts and Groups (Overview)	"Print Management (Overview)" in System Administration Guide, Volume II
Chapter 3, Managing Server and Client Support (Overview)	"Working With Remote Systems (Tasks)" in System Administration Guide, Volume II
Chapter 5, Shutting Down and Booting a System (Overview)	"Managing Terminals and Modems (Overview)" in System Administration Guide, Volume II
Chapter 11, Guidelines for Using CDs and Diskettes (Overview)	"Managing System Security (Overview)" in System Administration Guide, Volume II
Chapter 16, Software Administration (Overview)	"Managing System Resources (Overview)" in System Administration Guide, Volume II
Chapter 19, Device Management (Overview/Tasks)	"System Performance (Overview)" in System Administration Guide, Volume II
Chapter 21, Disk Management (Overview)	"Troubleshooting Software Problems (Overview)" in System Administration Guide, Volume II
Chapter 26, File Systems (Overview)
Chapter 33, Backing Up and Restoring File Systems (Overview)
Appendix A, The 64-bit Solaris Operating Environment

Who Should Use This Book

This book is intended for anyone responsible for administering one or more systems running the Solaris 7 release. To use this book, you should have 1-2 years of UNIX® system administration experience and preferably a Computer Science B.S. degree or equivalent knowledge.

How This Book Is Organized

This book is split into parts that each cover a major system administration topic. Each part contains chapters that provide both overview and task information.

Most of the overview information about a topic is usually described in the beginning chapters of each part, and the other chapters provide step-by-step instructions on system administration tasks that you need to perform. Each set of steps is usually followed by a way to verify that the task was successfully performed and an example of how to perform the task.

Using AnswerBook2^TM to Read This Book

You can click on any cross reference, represented by underlined text, to quickly access referenced information in the AnswerBook2 collections. To return to the previous display, click on Back.

Ordering Sun Documents

The SunDocs^TM program provides more than 250 manuals from Sun Microsystems, Inc. If you live in the United States, Canada, Europe, or Japan, you can purchase documentation sets or individual manuals using this program.

For a list of documents and how to order them, see the catalog section of the SunExpress^SM Internet site at sunexpress.

SPARC and x86 Information

This book provides system administration information for both SPARC and x86 systems. Unless otherwise noted, information throughout this book applies to both types of systems. Table P-1 summarizes the differences between the SPARC and x86 system administration tasks.

Table P-1 SPARC and x86 System Administration Differences


Category	SPARC	x86
System operation before kernel is loaded	A programmable read-only memory (PROM) chip with a monitor program runs diagnostics and displays device information. It is also used to program default boot parameters and test the devices connected to the system.	The basic input/output system (BIOS) runs diagnostics and displays device information. A Solaris Device Configuration Assistant boot diskette with the Multiple Device Boot (MDB) program is used to boot from non-default boot partitions, the network, or CD-ROM.
Booting the system	Commands and options at the PROM level are used to boot the system.	Commands and options at the MDB, primary, and secondary boot subsystems level are used to boot the system.
Boot programs	`bootblk`, the primary boot program, loads `ufsboot`. `ufsboot`, the secondary boot program loads the kernel.	`mboot`, the master boot record, loads `pboot`. `pboot`, the Solaris partition boot program, loads `bootblk`. `bootblk`, the primary boot program, loads `ufsboot`. `ufsboot`, the secondary boot program, loads the kernel.
System shutdown	The `shutdown` and `init` commands can be used without additional operation intervention.	The `shutdown` and `init` commands are used but require operator intervention at the `type any key to continue` prompt.
Disk controllers	SCSI	SCSI and IDE
Disk slices and partitions	A disk may have a maximum of eight slices, numbered 0-7. The Solaris `fdisk` partition may contain up to ten slices, numbered 0-9, but only 0-7 can be used to store user data.	A disk may have a maximum of four `fdisk` partitions. The Solaris `fdisk` partition may contain up to ten slices, numbered 0-9, but only 0-7 can be used to store user data.
Diskette drives	Desktop systems usually contain one 3.5-inch diskette drive.	Systems may contain two diskette drives: a 3.5-inch and a 5.25 inch drive.

What Typographic Changes Mean

The following table describes the typographic changes used in this book.

Table P-2 Typographic Conventions


Typeface or Symbol	Meaning	Example
`AaBbCc123`	The names of commands, files, and directories; on-screen computer output	Edit your `.login` file. Use `ls -a` to list all files. machine_name% You have mail.
`AaBbCc123`	What you type, contrasted with on-screen computer output	machine_name% `su` Password:
`AaBbCc123`	Command-line placeholder: replace with a real name or value	To delete a file, type `rm` `filename`.
AaBbCc123	Book titles, new words or terms, or words to be emphasized	Read Chapter 6 in User's Guide. These are called class options. You must be root to do this.

Shell Prompts in Command Examples

The following table shows the default system prompt and superuser (root) prompt for the Bourne shell and Korn shell.

Table P-3 Shell Prompts


Shell	Prompt
Bourne shell and Korn shell prompt	`$`
Bourne shell and Korn shell superuser prompt	`#`

General Conventions

Be aware of the following conventions used in this book.

When following steps or using examples, be sure to type double-quotes ("), left single-quotes (`), and right single-quotes (') exactly as shown.
The key referred to as Return is labeled Enter on some keyboards.
It is assumed that the root path includes the /sbin, /usr/sbin, /usr/bin, and /etc directories, so the steps in this book show the commands in these directories without absolute path names. Steps that use commands in other, less common, directories show the absolute path in the example.
The examples in this book are for a basic SunOS 5.7 software installation without the Binary Compatibility Package installed and without /usr/ucb in the path.

Caution -
If /usr/ucb is included in a search path, it should always be at the end of the search path. Commands like ps or df are duplicated in /usr/ucb with different formats and options from the SunOS 5.7 commands.