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Solaris 7 Release Notes Supplement for Sun Hardware

Chapter 3 Open Issues

Prestoserve 2.4.2 -- Patch Required

The Prestoserve(TM) 2.4.2 release will not function properly with the Solaris 7 software environment if the workaround below is not implemented. Below is a partial list of some of the platforms and hardware options that may be affected:

If you installed Prestoserve 2.4.2 and are using a platform or hardware option listed above, you must do the following steps to provide compatibility:

  1. Edit the /etc/system file and add the following information: 

    set fas:fas_enable_sbus64 = 0

  2. Reboot your system.

    Caution - Caution -

    Failure to reboot your system can corrupt data.

A Prestoserve patch (#103043-08) that automatically adds the above information to the /etc/system file is available. If you prefer to make this change using the Prestoserve patch, contact your authorized Sun support provider. If you edit the /etc/system file as described above, you do not need the Prestoserve patch.

If you installed Prestoserve 2.4.2 and are using an Ultra 2 platform (200MHz or 300MHz), you must do the following steps to provide compatibility:

  1. Edit the /etc/system file and add the following information: 

    set fas:fas_enable_sbus64 = 0

  2. Reboot your system.

  3. Use pkgadd to add the SUNWprsto package.

  4. Add the Prestoserve patch (103043-08).

    Note -

    If the above steps are not followed, your Ultra 2 system may panic.

Booting From Partitions Greater Than 2-Gbytes (1234177)

Due to PROM limitations, all sun4c, sun4d, and sun4m architectures will not boot from partitions greater than 2-Gbytes. These systems will fail with the following message: 

bootblk: can't find the boot program

Note -

All sun4u architectures support booting from larger partitions.

One related bug (4023466) reports a problem with re-preinstall where the boot image for large disks creates root partitions greater than 2-Gbytes. System Administrators are cautioned not to use re-preinstall on sun4c, sun4d, and sun4m systems with large root disks (4-Gbytes and greater).

SunFDDI Adapters Cannot Boot Sun4d Diskless Clients (4144414)

Sun4d diskless clients cannot be booted using SunFDDI(TM) adapters (FDDI/S 6.0 or FDDI/P 2.0) installed in servers running the Solaris 7 operating evironment. If you intend using a Sun4d as a diskless client, deploy it in an ethernet section of your network.

Quad Ethernet Controller--Dynamic Reconfiguration Not Supported

The Quad Ethernet (QE) and Quad Ethernet Controller (QEC) must be configured with other non-Dynamic Reconfiguration (DR) boards. DR does not support QE and QEC on Sun Enterprise X000 platforms running the Solaris 7 operating environment or compatible versions. The CS6400 and Sun Enterprise 10000 has specialized code that does support this combination for DR.

ISDN -- Power Management Not Supported

ISDN do not currently support the Power Management(TM) suspend and resume features. This is a known problem and is currently under investigation.

/usr/ucblib/sparcv9 is Not Available (4114650)

Any application requiring ucblib will not link or run with the 64-bit Solaris operating environment.

Workaround: No workaround is available at this time. Contact your authorized Sun support provider for more information.

SunScreen SKIP 1.1.1 Not Supported in Solaris 7

If you have SunScreen(TM) SKIP 1.1.1 currently installed on your system, you should remove the SKIP packages before installing or upgrading to Solaris 7. The packages you should remove are:

Solstice SyMON Not Supported in Solaris 7

If you have Solstice SyMON currently installed on your system, you should remove the SyMON packages before installing or upgrading to Solaris 7. The packages you should remove are:

SunVTS 3.0 Issues

The following issues apply to the SunVTS(TM) 3.0 product.

SunVTS Tests Not Available in 64-Bit Mode

The following SunVTS tests are not available in the 64-bit mode:

cg14test, isdntest, pstest, rtvctest, sxtest, and tcxtest

SunVTS Online Diagnostics through SyMON

The SunVTS online diagnostics feature (SUNWodu) is no longer accessible through the SyMON interface.

Disk and Floppy Drives Test (disktest) Update

File System Mounting

As of SunVTS 3.0, SunVTS disktest by default does not mount any mountable partitions. To have SunVTS mount all partitions which contain a file system, set the environment variable BYPASS_FS_PROBE to 0 (zero), then start SunVTS as shown below: 

# BYPASS_FS_PROBE=0; export BYPASS_FS_PROBE
# ./sunvts

To return to the SunVTS default behavior so no file systems are mounted, either set the BYPASS_FS_PROBE to a non-zero value, or unset it.

Even if BYPASS_FS_PROBE is set to 0 (zero), the SunVTS disk probe checks for the existence of Veritas volume manager and Solstice Disksuite on the system, and does not mount any partitions if their presence is detected.

If SunVTS is invoked from the Solstice SyMON graphical user interface, SunVTS will not mount any partitions in this case either.

Caution - Caution -

If a power failure occurs while the disktest is running, disk data may be destroyed.

Running the Media subtest on a disk partition in the WriteRead mode may cause data corruption if the same partition is being used by other programs. Only select this mode when the system is offline (not used by any other users or programs).

disktest Option File Note

Loading an option file that was created when BYPASS_FS_PROBE was set to 0 (zero) might not work if the BYPASS_FS_PROBE environment variable no longer set to 0 (zero). Testing may fail with the following error: 

SUNWvts.disktest.8088 07/24/98 15:47:22 disktest c0t0d0
FATAL: "Couldn't get file system information on /distest_c0t0d0s0, statvfs()
system call failure error: No such file or directory.

This error is caused when SunVTS expects to use the predefined mount point names (/disktest_cntndnsn) that are created when BYPASS_FS_PROBE is set to 0 (zero), but these mount points do not exist while BYPASS_FS_PROBE is not set to 0 (zero).

Workaround: Create two separate option files for the two different states of the BYPASS_FS_PROBE environment variable.

enatest and socaltest Cannot Run at the Same Time(4065417)

When the SunVTS enatest is run concurrently with the socaltest, the enatest may fail.

Workaround: Do not select socaltest when enatest is selected and vice-versa.

socaltest FATAL: Failed ioctl FCIO_DIAG_XRAM (4065420)

When the SunVTS socaltest is run concurrently with enatest and disktest, the socaltest may fail.

Workaround: Do not select enatest when socaltest is selected and vice-versa.

HSI Board Test (sunlink) Update

In SunVTS 3.0 the sunlink test runs on HSI SBus and PCI type cards, however the SunVTS 3.0 Test Reference Manual only refers to the HSI SBus test capabilities.

A valid sunlink command line example is shown below: 

# /opt/SUNWvts/bin/sunlink -o dev=hih0,P=0+1+2+3

This command line tests the internal loopback for ports 0, 1, 2, and 3. The internal loopback should not be run in the port to port loopback setting.

ISDN Test (isdntest) Documentation

This test is part of the SunVTS 3.0, however it is not included in the SunVTS 3.0 Test Reference Manual. For isdntest test descriptions, options, command line syntax and error messages read the isdntest Postscript file (isdntest.ps) that is located in /opt/SUNWvts when the SUNWvts package is installed.

Serial Asynchronous Interface Test (saiptest)fails in external loopback mode (4171288)

The saiptest fails when the test is in 25-pin external loopback mode. Internal loopback mode runs as it should.

Workaround: Do not select 25-pin external loopback mode.

Sun GigabitEthernet Test (gemtest) Update

The following information updates the gemtest information in the SunVTS 3.0 Test Reference Manual.

Since gemtest requires a loopback connector, it can only be selected when the Intervention mode is enabled.

When gemtest is run in TTY mode, the console display becomes garbled due to the messages printed by the ge driver on the console. These messages indicate that the device has auto-negotiated and that the link is up. To refresh the display type Control-L.

Even though the gemtest does not depend on the network interface configuration status of the Sun GigabitEthernet adapter, it is recommended that the interface be brought down with the following command to avoid getting various messages such as errors pertaining to duplicate hardware addresses: 

# ifconfig gen down

The gemtest loopback cable may be made by splitting a standard fiber optic cable (see note below) into its two constituent cables. The two ends of the cable should be connected to the TX and RX ports of the adapter (the order doesn't matter), thus forming a loop.

Note -

This cable is based on the same specifications as those used for the Sun GigabitEthernet adapters (multimode, duplex, 62.5/125 micron, sc connector, 850nm).

Sun Enterprise 10000 Issues

This section contains general issues, known bugs, patches, and notes about the Solaris 7 release on the Sun(TM) Enterprise(TM) 10000.

General Issues

Dynamic Reconfiguration (DR), Alternate Pathing (AP), and Inter-Domain Networks (IDN) are not supported in the Solaris 7 release.

Note -

Before beginning the fresh install or upgrade procedures, you must install the SSP patches described in the next section.

Solaris 7 and Boot-Disk Partition Sizes

If you are upgrading the operating environment from Solaris 2.6 to Solaris 7 and you used the partition layout suggested in the Solaris 7 Sun Hardware Platform Guide, the partitions may not be large enough for the upgrade to succeed. For instance, the /usr partition must be at least 653 megabytes. If /usr is smaller than the size needed to perform the upgrade, suninstall uses the Dynamic Space Reallocation (DSR) mode to reallocate the space of the disk partitions.

DSR may calculate a partition layout which is not acceptable for some systems. For instance, DSR may select partitions that appear to DSR as being unused (non-UFS partitions which may contain raw data or other types of file systems). If DSR selects a used partition, data loss may occur. Therefore, you must know the current status of the partitions DSR wants to use before you allow DSR to continue with the reallocation of the disk partitions.

After DSR presents an acceptable layout and you choose to proceed with the reallocation, DSR will adjust the affected file systems, and the upgrade will continue. However, if you cannot constrain the layout so that it is acceptable for your needs, then you may need to manually repartition the boot device before you do the upgrade, or you may have to perform a fresh install.

Solaris 7 and the SSP

If you are installing Solaris 7 on a domain or upgrading a domain's current Solaris operating environment, you must have SSP 3.1 installed on the SSP. In addition, before you perform the Solaris 7 upgrade on an Enterprise 10000 domain, the SSP must have Patch-ID 105684-04. This patch is on your Solaris 7 Sun Computer Systems Supplement CD.

Note -

If the CD contains later versions of the patches, indicated by a higher-numbered suffix, use those patches instead of the patch numbers indicated in these instructions.

SSP 3.0 does not support Solaris 7 on a domain.

Patch-ID 105684-04

This patch is on your Solaris 7 Sun Computer Systems Supplement CD.

Description: OBP/download_helper needs to support 2.7

BugIDs fixed with this patch: 4078459 4083870 4084325 4097230 4102171 4118746 4137422 4146592

Patch-ID 106281-01

This patch is on your Solaris 7 Sun Computer Systems Supplement CD.

Description: SSP 3.1 sys_id -m doesn't work in year 2000 or after (Y2K bug)

BugIDs fixed with this patch: 4105569

Patch-ID 106282-01

This patch is on your Solaris 7 Sun Computer Systems Supplement CD.

Description: SSP 3.1 Hostview suppresses trap messages after 1999

BugIDs fixed with this patch: 4108443

Dynamic Reconfiguration of Sun Enterprise 3x00, 4x00, 5x00, and 6x00 Servers

These release notes provide the latest information on Dynamic Reconfiguration (DR) functionality for Sun(TM) Enterprise 3x00/4x00/5x00/6x00 Servers running Solaris 7. For complete information on Sun Enterprise Server Dynamic Reconfiguration, please refer to Dynamic Reconfiguration User's Guide For Sun Enterprise 3x00/4x00/5x00/6x00 Systems.

For Solaris 7 software on Sun Enterprise 3x00/4x00/5x00/6x00 Servers, DR functionality is limited to I/O boards and does not include CPU/Memory boards.

Supported Hardware

Before proceeding, ensure the system has Dynamic Reconfiguration capabilities. If you see the following message on your console or in your console logs, the hardware is of an older design and not suitable for Dynamic Reconfiguration: 

Hot Plug not supported in this system

Supported I/O boards are listed in the "Solaris 7" section on the web site 

http://sunsolve2.sun.com/sunsolve/Enterprise-dr/
:

The supported hardware includes type 1 and 4 Sun Enterprise I/O boards.

Firmware Issues

FC-AL Disk Arrays or Internal Drives

For Sun StorEdge(TM) A5000 disk arrays or for internal FC-AL disks in the Sun Enterprise 3500, the firmware version must be at least ST19171FC 0413. For more information, refer to the "Solaris 7" section at the DR web site: 

http://sunsolve2.sun.com/sunsolve/Enterprise-dr/

PROM Updates for CPU and I/O Boards

To perform Dynamic Reconfiguration operations your machine may require one or more firmware updates. If an update is needed, the following message will appear during boot: 

Firmware does not support Dynamic Reconfiguration

Your machine must be running at least CPU PROM version 3.2.16. If you updated your firmware from the Solaris 7 CD for 64-bit operation, you already have version 3.2.16 installed.

To see your current PROM revision, enter .version and banner at the ok prompt. Your display may be similar to the following:

Table 3-1 Determining PROM Revision Level
ok .version
 Board 0: OBP 3.2.16 1998/06/08 16:58 POST 3.9.4 1998/06/09 16:25
 Board 1: FCODE 1.8.3 1997/11/14 12:41 iPOST 3.4.6 1998/04/16 14:22
 Board 2: FCODE 1.8.7 1997/12/08 15:39 iPOST 3.4.6 1998/04/16 14:22
 Board 4: FCODE 1.8.7 1997/12/08 15:39 iPOST 3.4.6 1998/04/16 14:22
 Board 5: FCODE 1.8.3 1997/11/14 12:41 iPOST 3.4.6 1998/04/16 14:22
 Board 6: FCODE 1.8.7 1997/12/08 15:39 iPOST 3.4.6 1998/04/16 14:22
 Board 7: OBP 3.2.16 1998/06/08 16:58 POST 3.9.4 1998/06/09 16:25
{5} ok banner
 8-slot Sun Enterprise 4000/5000, No Keyboard
 OpenBoot 3.2.16, 1024 MB memory installed, Serial #9039599.
 Ethernet address 8:0:xx:xx:xx:xx, Host ID: xxxxxxxx.

For information on how to enable Dynamic Reconfiguration functionality in the PROM, refer to the "Solaris 7" section at this web site. 

http://sunsolve2.sun.com/sunsolve/Enterprise-dr/

If you have not updated to PROM version 3.2.16, the web page also provides information on the following:

Software Issues

  1. The pln_enable_detach_suspend and soc_enable_detach_suspend variables must be set in the /etc/system file. As root, edit the file and add the following lines: 

    set pln:pln_enable_detach_suspend=1
set soc:soc_enable_detach_suspend=1

  2. On a large system, the cfgadm -x quiesce-test command may run as much as a minute or so. During this time no messages are displayed if cfgadm does not find incompatible drivers. This is normal behavior.

  3. The system cannot use boards that are listed in the disabled-board-list. To remove all boards from the disabled board list, set the disabled-board-list variable to a null set by entering the system command: 

    # eeprom disabled-board-list=

    If you are at the OpenBoot prompt, use this OBP command instead: 

    OK set-default disabled-board-list

  4. If it is necessary to unload detach-unsafe drivers, use the modinfo(1M) line command to find the module IDs of the drivers. You can then use the module IDs in the modunload(1M) command to unload detach-unsafe drivers.

Open Issues

Bug List on the Internet

For the current list of DR software bugs, refer to the "Solaris 7" section at this web site: 

http://sunsolve2.sun.com/sunsolve/Enterprise-dr/

Cannot unconfigure board in slot 15; operation fails (4101093)

On Sun Enterprise 6000 and 6500 systems, the unconfigure operation fails for an I/O board in slot 15.

Cannot remove central I/O board (4112730)

The "central" I/O board cannot be removed under Dynamic Reconfiguration. On Sun Enterprise x000 and x500 systems the lowest-numbered I/O board is considered a key resource and cannot be removed.

PCI I/O board experiences Privileged Timeout Error during Connect (4122455)

The PCI I/O board (type 3 I/O board) experiences Privileged Timeout Error during connect. The PCI I/O board is therefore not supported at this time.

ShowMe TV 1.2.1 Known Problems

ShowMe TV does not recover gracefully from viewing MPEG1 movies which are corrupted. Switching back and forth between two MPEG1 movies when one is corrupted, can cause ShowMe TV to fail.

You cannot switch between CIF and QCIF H.261 streams (i.e. regular resolution, or 356x288 size frames, and low resolution, or 176x144 size frames) on non-Ultra systems.

Sending mail (to the broadcaster or to showmetv-comments@Sun.COM) from within ShowMe TV does not work in Asian languages. You can use the Solaris mail functions instead.

Mixing Asian and ASCII characters in one line of text can confuse the input/output functions in ShowMe TV. In particular, if a user sets up a transmission in which the transmission name and/or the hostname contain Asian characters, then saving/recovering these parameters to/from the .showmetv-programs-<hostname> configuration file might not work correctly.

PCMCIA Issues

The following bugs have been filed against PCMCIA:

If the PC ATA, pcata, module is modunloaded the system will appear to hang (4096137)

Description: If there is a PCMCIA I/O card in a slot that has been accessed and the card driver is unloaded (as occurs during modunload -i 0 at the end of multi-user boot) the system will appear to hang. Sometimes removing the card will bring the system back.

Workaround: none

The PCMCIA, pcic nexus, driver, does not support 3.3Volts PC Card (4098998)

Description: The PCMCIA, pcic nexus, driver does not support 3.3V on devices. Cards that are 3.3V and 3.3V/5V will not work properly (seems to hang the system).

Workaround: none

The PC ATA, pcata, disk driver crashes and hangs the system and causes a memory leaks (4106401)

Description: Most attempts to insert/remove and use PCMCIA cards will crash or hang the machine. If it does not crash the machine it can cause memory leaks or create situations where other modules will not load.

Workaround: none

When booting Solaris 7 initially with 64-bit kernel the device /dev/term/pc0, PC card serial driver, may not get created (4162969)

Description: When booting Solaris 7 initially with 64-bit kernel, /dev/term/pc0 hardware device node for PC card serial device may not be created.

Workaround: Boot the system up with 32-bit kernel first, then reboot with 64-bit kernel.

The PC ATA, pcata, driver panics the 64-bit kernel (4174177)

Description: Inserting the PC card after system init panics the 64-bit Solaris. Booting the 32-bit Solaris and accessing the card will not panic the system. The PC ATA driver is not a 64-bit driver.

Workaround: none

PC File Viewer Issues

Install in the /opt Directory

The Solaris 7 Sun Hardware Platform Guide provides installation instructions that may indicate that PC file viewer can be installed in a directory other than the default directory. PC file viewer must be installed in the default (/opt) directory.

Known Bugs

Backdrop image is not displayed in PowerPoint97 document (4159447)

Cannot display non-standard fonts in PowerPoint97 (4159448)

Excel graph/table in PowerPoint97 document is not displayed (4159449)

Can not display scaled font, colored text, italic-underlined text in PowerPoint97 (4159450, 4159451, 4159452)

Copy and Paste of certain files into a text editor results in * (asterisks) instead of actual text (4165089)

Searching does not work for multi-byte (tch, ko) in PC file viewer (4151774)

Wrong string is reversed in PC file viewer search on Japanese locales (4171815)

Cannot display TCH Word95 saved in Word97 or PowerPoint97 formats in zh.TW.BIG5 locale (4150413)

Hardware Support Matrices Errata

The following systems and peripherals were unintentionally left out of the hardware support matrices in the Hardware.ps file on the Solaris 7 Sun Computer Systems Supplement CD.

This information will be added to the support matrices in a future release.

Solaris on Sun Hardware AnswerBook

The following problems with Solaris on Sun Hardware AnswerBooks have been reported.

AnswerBooks for Europe and Japan

Some cross-references (links) in documents in these AnswerBooks may display incorrectly. For example, whole paragraphs may appear to be links rather than a few specific words within the paragraph.

Some links may connect to the wrong location. For example, a link to a procedure may connect to the end of the procedure rather than the beginning of the procedure.

PCI:SBus Comparison Manual

This manual refers to a web site, on page i and page 9, that is no longer accessible (http://shasta.corp.sun.com/Rte66). Do not attempt to access this URL.

Serial Parallel Controller Driver

Serial Parallel Controller Driver Does Not Support Dynamic Reconfiguration (4177805)

Contact your service provider for availability of patch 106827-01. The patch is not available at the time of this release.

Copackaged software fails to install using Web Start default configurations because of small file (partition) size (4176615)

There may be cases where Web Start can not install every software package included with your Solaris 7 media kit, like software from the Software Supplement for the Solaris 7 Operating Environment CD. The bug that may prevent installation happens when using Web Start's default settings, because the default disk partition size may be too small for all products.

Workaround:

  1. Run WebStart and select the "Custom Installation" button. Select "3. Lay Out File Systems".

  2. In the "Custom Install" window, select "Manually" and then click on the "Next" button.

  3. In the "Custom Install Lay Out File Systems" window, verify the disk to install on is in the "Selected Disks" column and then click on the "Next" button.

  4. De-select /opt and /usr and then click on the "Next" button.

    Note -

    When making a selection be sure to click on each choice once. Some windows may take longer than others to appear.

  5. On the next window, click on the "Modify..." button.

  6. In the "Disk Layout" window, perform the following:

    1. Omit slice 3 (i.e. /export/home and the size, 225)

    2. Reallocate the disk file size you just removed to slice 0 (i.e. /), for example:

      Table 3-2 Example
       Slice File System Size
      0/1900
      1swap128

    3. Select "OK" on the "Disk cxtxdx" menu.

  7. In the "Lay Out File Systems" window, click on the "Finish" button.

  8. In the "Option" window, click on the "Install... " button.

  9. In the "Current Install Configuration" window, click on the "Install Now" buttton. The installation begins.

  10. In the next "CoPackaged Install" menu, begin installing the software from the various CDs.

This completes the steps needed to work around the bug.