Solaris 9 12/03 Installation Guide

Upgrading the Solaris 9 Operating Environment

Upgrading, Error Messages

No upgradable disks

Cause:

A swap entry in the /etc/vfstab file is causing the upgrade to fail.

Solution:

Comment out the following lines in the /etc/vfstab file:

All swap files and slices on disks not being upgraded
Swap files that are no longer present
Any unused swap slices

usr/bin/bzczt not found

Cause:

Solaris Live Upgrade fails because of needing a patch cluster.

Solution:

A patch is needed to install Solaris Live Upgrade. Go to http://sunsolve.sun.com for the patch.

Upgradeable Solaris root devices were found, however, no suitable partitions to hold the Solaris install software were found. Upgrading using the Solaris Installer is not possible. It might be possible to upgrade using the Solaris Operating Environment 1 of 2 CDROM. (x86 based systems only)

Cause:

You cannot upgrade with Solaris x86 Platform Edition Installation CD because you do not have enough space.

Solution:

To upgrade, you can either create a swap slice that is larger than or equal to 512 Mbytes or use another method of upgrading such as the following:

The Solaris Web Start program from Solaris DVD or a net installation image
The Solaris suninstall program from the Solaris Software 1 of 2 x86 Platform Edition CD
Custom JumpStart

Upgrading, General Problems

The upgrade option is not presented even though there is a version of Solaris software that's upgradable on the system.

Cause:

Reason 1: The /var/sadm directory is a symlink or it is mounted from another file system.

Solution:

Reason 1: Move the /var/sadm directory into the root (/) or /var file system.

Cause:

Reason 2: The /var/sadm/softinfo/INST_RELEASE file is missing.

Solution:

Reason 2: Create a new INST_RELEASE file by using the following template:

OS=Solaris
VERSION=x 
REV=0

x: Is the version of Solaris software on the system

Cause:

Reason 3: SUNWusr is missing from /var/sadm/softinfo.

Solution:

Solution 3: You need to do an initial installation. The Solaris software is not upgradable.

Couldn't shut down or initialize the md driver

Solution:

If not a mirror, comment out in the vsftab file.
If a mirror, break the mirror and reinstall.

The upgrade fails because the Solaris installation program cannot mount a file system.

Cause:

During an upgrade, the script attempts to mount all the file systems that are listed in the system's /etc/vfstab file on the root (/) file system that is being upgraded. If the installation script cannot mount a file system, it fails and exits.

Ensure that all file systems in the system's /etc/vfstab file can be mounted. Comment out any file systems in the /etc/vfstab file that cannot be mounted or that might cause the problem so that the Solaris suninstall program does not try to mount them during the upgrade. Any system-based file systems that contain software to be upgraded (for example, /usr) cannot be commented out.

The upgrade fails

Description:

The system does not have enough space for the upgrade.

Cause:

Check Chapter 5, System Requirements and Guidelines (Planning) for the space problem and see if you can fix it without using auto-layout to reallocate space.

Problems upgrading mirrored roots: Solution:
If you have problems upgrading when using Solaris Volume Manager mirrored roots, see “Troubleshooting Solaris Volume Manager” in Solaris Volume Manager Administration Guide.

To Continue Upgrading After a Failed Upgrade

The upgrade fails and the system cannot be soft-booted. The failure is for reasons beyond your control, such as a power failure or a network connection failure.

Reboot the system from the Solaris DVD, Solaris Installation CD, the Solaris Software 1 of 2 CD, or from the network.

Choose the upgrade option for installation.

The Solaris installation program determines if the system has been partially upgraded and continues the upgrade.

System Panics When Upgrading With Solaris Live Upgrade Running Veritas VxVm

When using Solaris Live Upgrade while upgrading and running Veritas VxVM, the system panics on reboot unless you upgrade by using the following procedure. The problem occurs if packages do not conform to Solaris advanced packaging guidelines.

Create an inactive boot environment. See Creating a New Boot Environment.

Before upgrading the inactive boot environment, you must disable the existing Veritas software on the inactive boot environment.
1. Mount the inactive boot environment.
  # lumount inactive_boot_environment_name mount_point
  For example:
  # lumount solaris8 /.alt.12345
2. Change to the directory that contains the vfstab, for example:
  # cd /.alt.12345/etc
3. Make a copy of the inactive boot environment's vfstab file, for example:
  # cp vfstab vfstab.501
4. In the copied vfstab, comment out all Veritas file system entries, for example:
  # sed vfstab.novxfs > vfstab < '/vx\/dsk/s/^/#/g'
  The first character of each line is changed to #, which makes the line a comment line. Note that this comment line is different than the system file comment lines.
5. Copy the changed vfstab file, for example:
  # cp vfstab.novxfs vfstab
6. Change directories to the inactive boot environment's system file, for example:
  # cd /.alt.12345/etc
7. Make a copy of the inactive boot environment's system file, for example:
  # cp system system.501
8. Comment out all “forceload:” entries that include drv/vx.
  # sed '/forceload: drv\/vx/s/^/*/' <system> system.novxfs
  The first character of each line is changed to *, which makes the line a command line. Note that this comment line is different than the vfstab file comment lines.
9. Change directories to the install-db file on the inactive boot environment, for example:
  # cd /.alt.12345/etc
10. Create the Veritas install-db file, for example:
  # touch vx/reconfig.d/state.d/install-db
11. Unmount the inactive boot environment.
  # luumount inactive_boot_environment_name mount_point

Upgrade the inactive boot environment. See Chapter 33, Upgrading With Solaris Live Upgrade (Tasks).

Activate the inactive boot environment. See Activating a Boot Environment.

Shut down the system.
# init 0

Boot the inactive boot environment in single-user mode:
OK boot -s
Several messages and error messages that contain “vxvm” or “VXVM” are displayed that can be ignored. The inactive boot environment becomes active.

Upgrade Veritas.
1. Remove the Veritas VRTSvmsa package from system, for example:
  # pkgrm VRTSvmsa
2. Change directories to the Veritas packages.
  # cd /location_of_Veritas_software
3. Add the latest Veritas packages to the system:
  #pkgadd -d `pwd` VRTSvxvm VRTSvmsa VRTSvmdoc VRTSvmman VRTSvmdev

Restore the original vfstab and system files:

# cp /etc/vfstab.original /etc/vfstab
	# cp /etc/system.original /etc/system

Reboot the system.
# init 6

x86: Service Partition Not Created by Default on Systems With No Existing Service Partition

If you install the Solaris 9 operating environment on a system that does not currently include a Service partition, the installation program might not create a Service partition by default. If you want to include a Service partition on the same disk as the Solaris partition, you must recreate the Service partition before you install the Solaris 9 operating environment.

If you installed the Solaris 8 2/02 operating environment on a Sun LX50 system, the installation program might not have preserved the Service partition. If you did not manually edit the fdisk boot partition layout to preserve the Service partition, the installation program deleted the Service partition during the installation.

Note –

If you did not specifically preserve the Service partition when you installed the Solaris 8 2/02 operating environment, you might not be able to recreate the Service partition and upgrade to the Solaris 9 operating environment.

If you want to include a Service partition on the disk that contains the Solaris partition, choose one of the following workarounds.

To use the Solaris Web Start installation program to install from the Solaris 9 Installation CD, follow these steps.

Delete the contents of the disk.
Before you install, create the Service partition by using the Sun LX50 Diagnostics CD.

For information on how to create the Service partition, see the Sun LX50 Server User's Manual and the Sun LX50 Knowledge Base at http://cobalt-knowledge.sun.com.
Insert the Solaris 9 Installation CD in the CD-ROM drive.

Begin installing the Solaris 9 operating environment.

When the installation program detects the Service partition, the following message is displayed.

The default layout for the bootdisk is one x86 Boot partition
and a Solaris partition on the remaining space. The Service fdisk
partition, if one exists, is also preserved by default.

Select one of the following to continue:

1) Use the default layout
2) Run fdisk to manually edit the disk
3) Exit

Please make a selection: [?]

Type 1 to use the default layout.

The installation program preserves the Service partition and creates the x86 boot partition and the Solaris partition.

Note –
The Solaris Web Start installation program creates the x86 boot partition by removing 10 Mbytes from the Solaris fdisk partition. This utility prevents any existing fdisk partitions from being altered. Do not create this partition manually.
Complete the installation.

To install from a network installation image or from the Solaris 9 DVD over the network, follow these steps.
1. Delete the contents of the disk.
2. Before you install, create the Service partition by using the Sun LX50 Diagnostics CD.
  
  For information on how to create the Service partition, see the Sun LX50 Server User's Manual and the Sun LX50 Knowledge Base at http://cobalt-knowledge.sun.com.
3. Boot the system from the network.
  
  The Customize fdisk Partitions screen is displayed.
4. To load the default boot disk partition layout, click Default.
  
  The installation program preserves the Service partition and creates the x86 boot partition and the Solaris partition.
To use the suninstall program to install from the Solaris 9 Software 1 of 2 CD or from a network installation image on a boot server, follow these steps.
1. Delete the contents of the disk.
2. Before you install, create the Service partition by using the Sun LX50 Diagnostics CD.
  
  For information on how to create the Service partition, see the Sun LX50 Server User's Manual and the Sun LX50 Knowledge Base at http://cobalt-knowledge.sun.com.
3. Boot the system.
  
  The installation program prompts you to choose a method for creating the Solaris partition.
4. Select the Use rest of disk for Solaris partition option.
  
  The installation program preserves the Service partition and creates the Solaris partition.
5. Complete the installation.