What's New in Shutting Down and Booting a System

The following are new boot features in the Oracle Solaris release:

• Support for Fast Reboot on the SPARC Platform

• Automatic Boot Archive Recovery

• GNOME Restart Dialog Support for Fast Reboot

• Support for Fast Reboot on the x86 Platform

• iSCSI Boot

Support for Fast Reboot on the SPARC Platform

The Fast Reboot feature of Oracle Solaris, previously introduced on the x86 platform, is now supported on the SPARC platform. The integration of Fast Reboot on the SPARC platform enables the -f option to be used with the reboot command to accelerate the boot process by skipping certain POST tests.

On both the x86 and SPARC platforms, Fast Reboot is managed through SMF and implemented through a boot configuration service, svc:/system/boot-config. The boot-config service provides a means for setting or changing the default boot configuration parameters. When the config/fastreboot_default property is set to true, the system performs a fast reboot automatically, without the need to use the reboot -f command. By default, this property value is set to true on the x86 platform and to false on the SPARC platform.

To make fast reboot the default behavior on the SPARC platform, use the svccfg and svcadm commands. For instructions, see Managing the Boot Configuration Service.

Automatic Boot Archive Recovery

In Oracle Solaris 11 Express, boot archive recovery on the SPARC platform is automatic.

To support auto-recovery of the boot archives on the x86 platform, a new auto-reboot-safe property has been added to the boot configuration service, svc:/system/boot-config:default. By default, the property's value is set to false to ensure that the system does not automatically reboot to an unknown boot device. If the system is configured to automatically point to the BIOS boot device and GRUB menu entry that Oracle Solaris is installed on, you can set the property's value to true. Setting the value to true enables an automatic reboot of the system for the purpose of recovering an out-of-date boot archive.

To set or change the value of the auto-reboot-safe property, use the svccfg and svcadm commands. For more information, see the svccfg(1M) and svcadm(1M) man pages.

For general information about this enhancement, see the boot(1M) man page.

For step-by-step instructions, see x86: How to Clear Automatic Boot Archive Update Failures by Using the auto-reboot-safe Property.

GNOME Restart Dialog Support for Fast Reboot

In Oracle Solaris 11 Express, the GNOME restart dialog has been updated to include support for Fast Reboot and for switching boot environments (BEs) during a reboot. You can now specify a fast or a slow reboot to any bootable Oracle Solaris GRUB menu entry through the restart dialog. In addition, the dialog now lists all of the system's bootable GRUB entries, from which you can select an entry to reboot.

Support for Fast Reboot on the x86 Platform

The Fast Reboot feature enables you to reboot an x86 based system, bypassing the firmware and boot loader processes. Fast Reboot implements an in-kernel boot loader that loads the kernel into memory and then switches to that kernel, so that the reboot process occurs within seconds. This feature is implemented on both 32-bit and 64-bit kernels.

If you are running Oracle Solaris 11 Express, Fast Reboot is enabled by default on the x86 platform, without the need to use the -f option with the reboot command. For information about Fast Reboot behavior in the SPARC platform, see Support for Fast Reboot on the SPARC Platform.

The default behavior for the Fast Reboot and Panic Fast Reboot feature of Oracle Solaris is managed through SMF and implemented through a boot configuration service, svc:/system/boot-config. The boot-config service provides a means for setting or changing the default boot configuration parameters on the x86 platform. For overview and task-related information, see x86: Support for Fast Reboot and x86: Fast Reboot Feature Enhancements.

For task-related information, see Using Fast Reboot.

iSCSI Boot

The iSCSI Boot feature of Oracle Solaris enables you to initialize an operating system over the network from a remote location, such as a storage disk array. The iSCSI Boot feature supports booting from both SPARC based and x86 based systems. iSCSI Boot is typically loaded onto an initiator , while the hard disk resides on a SCSI target that is attached to the network. Because the feature uses a standard Ethernet-based infrastructure, data, storage, and networking traffic can be consolidated on a standard network.

Using iSCSI boot on a SPARC based system to boot over the network differs from a typical SPARC network boot in the following ways:

• The iSCSi boot process is a combined process that enables booting over a network and a local disk.

• The Oracle Solaris OS boots from a local disk, rather than from networked locations.

Using iSCSI boot on an x86 based system to boot over the network differs from a typical x86 network boot in the following ways:

• A GRUB based network boot requires a DHCP server that is configured for PXE clients, whereas iSCSI boot does not. However, you have the option of using a DHCP server with iSCSI boot.

• A PXE boot requires a boot server to provide the ramdisk image, whereas iSCSI boot does not. For more information about booting a system from the network, see x86: How to Perform a GRUB Based Boot From the Network.

For more information about iSCSI boot, see Solaris COMSTAR iSCSI Support in System Administration Guide: Devices and File Systems.