The following table provides a list of system administration tasks and the type of shut down that is needed to initiate the task.
Table 10–1 Shutting Down a System
Reason for System Shut Down |
Appropriate Run Level |
For More Information |
---|---|---|
To turn off system power due to anticipated power outage |
Run level 0, where it is safe to turn off power | |
To change kernel parameters in the /etc/system file |
Run level 6 (reboot the system) | |
To perform file system maintenance, such as backing up or restoring system data |
Run level S (single-user level) | |
To repair a system configuration file such as /etc/system |
N/A |
|
To add or remove hardware from the system |
Reconfiguration boot (also to turn off power when adding or removing hardware) | |
To repair an important system file which is causing system boot failure |
N/A |
|
To boot the kernel debugger (kadb) to track down a system problem |
Run level 0, if possible | |
To recover from a hung system and you want to force a crash dump |
N/A |
For examples of shutting down a server or a standalone system, see Chapter 12, Shutting Down a System (Tasks).