Chapter 1 Installation Bugs

Installation Issues - Solaris Web Start

SPARC^TM only: Limited Browser Support in Client-Server Mode

To use the client-server mode of Solaris Web Start, you must have one of the following software configurations installed on the client:

• Solaris 2.6 or Solaris 7 with its accompanying version of the HotJava^TM or Netscape Navigator 4.0 browser.

• Windows 95 with the HotJava or Netscape Navigator 4.0 browser

Solaris Web Start may not run or display properly with older versions of HotJava, older versions of Navigator, or with Internet Explorer.

Installation Bugs - Solaris^TM Web Start

This section only describes known installation bugs that may occur when using Solaris Web Start, the browser-based program that enables you to install both the Solaris software and co-packaged software. These problems do not occur when using the Solaris Interactive Installation program.

Cannot Move the Root Partition (4046659)

You choose a system disk in Solaris Web Start, but you cannot move the root partition off the system disk afterwards. If you need to do this, use the Solaris Interactive Installation program instead of Solaris Web Start.

Colors May Display Incorrectly in Netscape Browser (4056980)

Different parts of the Solaris Web Start interface occasionally display the wrong color when viewed through the Netscape Communicator 4.0 for Windows browser. This only occurs when the system is set to display 256 colors. To avoid this problem, set the system to display a different number of colors.

Products May Not Use All Reserved Space (4059182)

Solaris Web Start reserves disk space based on the total requirements of all the products that you install. If you check disk space allocation after installing but before using the products, you may find a substantial amount of apparently unused space. Some of this space may be taken up when you run the software; some of it may remain unused.

Workaround: If you want to allocate less total disk space than Solaris Web Start requires, use the Solaris Interactive Installation program instead.

Web Browser May Hang or Crash With Solaris Web Start (4061657)

In some instances, a web browser may hang or crash while running Solaris Web Start. If this occurs, the Solaris Web Start session needs to be restarted.

Workaround: To Resume Using Solaris Web Start: What you do depends on the type of failure, and on where you were accessing Solaris Web Start. Select the appropriate option below.

To kill the browser process (HotJava is used here as an example), open a console window and type the command:

# ps -ef | grep java

The output of this command is as follows:

myname 11892   410  0 hh:mm:ss pts/x    0:00 grep java
myname 11878 11877 23 hh:mm:ss pts/x    X:XX /usr/java/bin/java ...

The first number in the second line is the process ID of the browser. To kill the process, type kill -9 followed by the process ID.

In this example, type:

# kill -9 11878

x86 only: The '/' Slice Extends Beyond HBA Cylinder 1023 (4062008)

If a manual file system layout is used in Solaris Web Start on IDE systems, an error message may display after the start of an installation because too much space has been allocated in the root (/) partition.

Workaround: Restart Solaris Web Start and use Automatic File System Layout.

Installation Issues

SPARC only: New JumpStart^TM Behavior

When you turn on a system with the JumpStart software already installed (this includes new systems and preinstalled systems that have been installed again) in the Solaris 7 or the Solaris 2.6 operating environments, Solaris Web Start's introductory screen is displayed. You can now exit Solaris Web Start and perform a JumpStart installation.

Solaris Default Login Screen

The Solaris 7 and the Solaris 2.6 operating environments default to a login screen when you initially boot your workstation regardless of which desktop you are using. You can select your desktop from the login screen. The login screen requires the user's name and password.

Upon authentication of your name and password, your desktop displays. For more information about the login screen, see the DtLogin man page (provided with the Solaris CDE man pages) or the Solaris Common Desktop Environment: Advanced User's and System Administrator's Guide (provided with the AnswerBook2 documentation CD-ROM).

dtlogin Notes for System Administrators

A System Administrator who is new to CDE needs to know about CDE's graphical login program (dtlogin). Review the Solaris Common Desktop Environment: Advanced User's and System Administrator's Guide or the dtlogin and dtconfig man pages.

SPARC only: To Disable 64-Bit Support on Ultra SPARCstations^TM Using JumpStart^TM

There is a new keyword for JumpStart installations when you select 64-bit support. It is being displayed in the profile as:

isabits		64

If you want to disable 64-bit support, you can select:

isabits		32

Installation Bugs

JumpStart is Unable to Read DiskSuite^TM and Veritas Partitions (4109714)

If part of the Solaris operating environment has been installed on a DiskSuite or Veritas partition, JumpStart^TM cannot mount these partitions. As a result various tests in the rules file fail, including the one listed below:

installed any Solaris_2.6 begin profile finish

Specifically, this line in the rules file fails because JumpStart is unable to mount the partition containing the Solaris operating environment. Therefore, JumpStart does not recognize that the Solaris operating environment has been installed.

Workaround: Do not use JumpStart rules that depend on the installed keyword (or its negative) on systems that store part of the Solaris operating environment on DiskSuite or Veritas partitions.

Before Installation

Be sure to read bug description ID 4121281 before you start upgrading your x86 system to the Solaris 7 operating environment.

x86 only: DiskSuite^TM May Cause Data Loss (4121281)

The DiskSuite metadb replicas contain driver names as part of the DiskSuite configuration data. In x86-based systems that run versions 2.4, 2.5, 2.5.1, and 2.6 of the Solaris operating environment, the SCSI driver name is called cmdk. The cmdk driver has been replaced by the sd driver in the Solaris 7 operating environment for x86 systems.

Workaround: To avoid potential data loss during upgrades to the Solaris 7 operating environment, you must save the system's metadevice configurations in text files and remove their metadb replicas before upgrading any x86 system that is running DiskSuite. After you finish upgrading your x86 system, you must restore the metadevice configurations by using the DiskSuite command line interface.

The DiskSuite Version 4.2 Release Notes contain a procedure for saving metadb configurations, removing metadb replicas, upgrading x86 systems to the Solaris 7 operating environment, upgrading DiskSuite to version 4.2, and restoring metadevice configurations. Bourne shell scripts that automate the procedure will be available for the FCS version of the Solaris 7 operating environment.

During Installation

The following bugs only occur during an installation.

Erroneous Messages Indicating Packages Added A Second Time (1235464)

This appears as an attempt to install the same architecture and version of a package that is already installed. This installation overwrites this package.

When upgrading a system with the "Entire Distribution plus OEM Cluster," the following packages seem to be added twice:

• SUNWolinc

• SUNWxwdim

• SUNWxwinc

• SUNWxwman

• SUNWxwpmn

• SUNWxwsrc

• SUNWolbk

• SUNWoldim

• SUNWolman

• SUNWolsrc

Workaround: If you try to add a package that has already been installed on a system, the installed package is overwritten.

Installation Progress Bar May be Inaacurate (1266156)

The "Installing Solaris Software - Progress" bar sometimes indicates that an installation is complete when it is still in progress. The install program may add packages for several minutes after the progress bar has indicated that the installation is complete.

Do not rely on the progress bar to indicate that the installation is complete. The installation displays the following message when the program has completed all installation operations:

Installation complete

JumpStart Installs on Wrong Default Boot Disk (4027156)

JumpStart does not install the default boot on the current default boot disk under some conditions. A condition under which the problem has been observed involves using a fully automated install on a SPARCstation 5 with two hard disk drives. Therefore, the previous version of the Solaris operating environment is booted instead of the current one when you reboot.

Workaround: Install the Solaris operating environment without JumpStart.

Installation of Diskless Client Does Not Preserve Changes in dfstab File on Server (4045544)

When you upgrade the Solaris operating environment on a server with diskless clients, the options on the dfstab line are not preserved for /usr. For example, if you entered the following in the dfstab file,

share -F nfs -o rw /export/exec/Solaris_2.7_sparc.all/usr

then this entry is automatically replaced with the following entry during the upgrade:

share -F nfs -o ro /export/exec/Solaris_2.7_sparc.all/usr

Workaround: Before you attempt to upgrade the Solaris operating environment on an OS server that has a diskless client or AutoClient, back up the /etc/dfs/dfstab file for the clients.

Installation Bugs Before the Start of an Upgrade

Be sure to read bug description ID 4121281 before you start upgrading your x86 system to the Solaris 7 operating environment. This bug is described in the section called "Before Installation" earlier in this file. This problem may cause data loss.

Installation Bugs That May Occur During an Upgrade

All bugs described in this section only occur if you perform an upgrade.

Multiple Architecture Server Cannot Be Patched (1249343)

After upgrading a server with diskless clients of more than one SPARC kernel architecture, such as a sun4u server with diskless sun4c, sun4d, and sun4m clients, the SUNWkvm packages for clients whose kernel architectures differ from that of the server cannot be patched.

Workaround: Manually add all of the SUNWkvm packages before applying any patches that affect them.

# pkgadd -d  SUNWkvm.*

Disk Space Requirements can be Exaggerated by the Upgrade Process (4041733)

The upgrade program can exaggerate by as much as 30 percent the amount of space required for upgrades to systems with the Solaris software. Therefore, it prevents many systems from being upgraded without deselecting packages or finding more space.

Workaround: You can manually reallocate disk space among file systems or use the Software Customization menu to remove software packages that are not needed.

Upgrade exits with : Error: upgrade_script terminated abnormally.

This problem occurs when you have to reallocate disk space. The upgrade_log displays a syntax error in upgrade_script.

Workaround: Perform the following steps:

1. Find the line that contains "syntax error" in the upgrade script:

   /tmp/root/var/sadm/system/logs/upgrade_log

   For example:

   syntax error is located at line 3519: `fi' unexpected

2. Edit the following file by using vi(1). (Using the vi text editor is recommended because of the size of the file).

   /a/var/sadm/system/admin/upgrade_script

3. Go to the line containing the syntax error by using the vi(1) command 3519 G.

4. Look above this line for a fi that is on a line by itself above the line that has the syntax error. This should be located below a log progress statement. For example:

   if [ $? = 0 ] ; then chgrp 1 $base/export/root/petrel/etc/rmmount.conf; fi logprogress 4073 none fi <------ This is the extra fi in upgrade_script if [ 4074 -gt $resumecnt ] ; then rm -f ${base}///var/sadm/install_data/CLUSTER rm -f ${base}///var/sadm/system/admin/CLUSTER echo CLUSTER=SUNWCall > ${base}///var/sadm/system/admin/CLUSTER logprogress 4074 none fi

5. Remove fi by typing x twice in the vi editor.

6. Save the following script:

   /tmp/root/var/sadm/system/logs/upgrade_log upgrade

7. Halt the system by typing:

   # halt 0

8. Restart the installation by typing one of the following commands:

   OK> boot net

   or

   OK> boot cdrom

9. Select Upgrade again.

The installation should now complete.

64-Bit Solaris Issues

This section describes installation-related 64-bit Solaris issues.

SPARC only: Sun UltraSPARC^TM System (sun4u) May Need Boot PROM Upgrade

If you want to run the 64-bit Solaris operating environment on an UltraSPARC system, you may need to upgrade its Open Boot PROM firmware. The Solaris 7 installation programs have a new checkbox for adding 64-bit support. This new 64-bit support is selected by default when installing on Sun UltraSPARC systems.

If you choose to run the 32-bit Solaris operating environment on any Sun or UltraSPARC system, the Open Boot PROM upgrade is not needed.

The following table lists the UltraSPARC (sun4u) systems that are affected and the minimum firmware versions needed. "System type" is the equivalent of the output of the uname -i command. You can tell what firmware version you are currently running by using the prtconf -V command.

If the system is not listed in the above table, it may not need a Boot PROM upgrade.

To upgrade your UltraSPARC system's Open Boot PROM, contact the Sun representative from whom you received this kit and request the sun4u Open Boot PROM upgrade kit.

Sun Microsystems, Inc. kits already include the Boot PROM upgrade components.