Activating a Boot Environment

Activating a boot environment makes it bootable on the next reboot of the system. You can also switch back quickly to the original boot environment if a failure occurs on booting the newly active boot environment. See Chapter 6, Failure Recovery: Falling Back to the Original Boot Environment (Tasks).

Requirements and Limitations for Activating a Boot Environment

To successfully activate a boot environment, that boot environment must meet the following conditions:

To Activate a Boot Environment

The following procedure switches a new boot environment to become the currently running boot environment.

1. Become superuser or assume an equivalent role.

   Roles contain authorizations and privileged commands. For more information about roles, see Configuring RBAC (Task Map) in System Administration Guide: Security Services.

2. To activate the boot environment, type:

   # /sbin/luactivate BE_name

   BE_name

   Specifies the name of the boot environment that is to be activated

3. Reboot.

   # init 6

   ---

   Caution - Use only the init or shutdown commands to reboot. If you use the reboot, halt, or uadmin commands, the system does not switch boot environments. The last-active boot environment is booted again.

   ---

Example 5-14 Activating a Boot Environment

In this example, the second_disk boot environment is activated at the next reboot.

# /sbin/luactivate second_disk
# init 6

To Activate a Boot Environment and Synchronize Files

The first time you boot from a newly created boot environment, Live Upgrade software synchronizes the new boot environment with the boot environment that was last active. “Synchronize” means that certain critical system files and directories are copied from the last-active boot environment to the boot environment being booted. Live Upgrade does not perform this synchronization after the initial boot, unless you force synchronization with the luactivate command and the -s option.

For more information about synchronization, see Synchronizing Files Between Boot Environments.

1. Become superuser or assume an equivalent role.

   Roles contain authorizations and privileged commands. For more information about roles, see Configuring RBAC (Task Map) in System Administration Guide: Security Services.

2. To activate the boot environment, type:

   # /sbin/luactivate -s BE_name

   -s

   Forces a synchronization of files between the last-active boot environment and the new boot environment. The first time that a boot environment is activated, the files between the boot environment are synchronized With subsequent activations, the files are not synchronized unless you use the -s option.

   ---

   Caution - Use this option with great care, because you might not be aware of or in control of changes that might have occurred in the last-active boot environment. For example, if you were running Oracle Solaris 10 8/11 software on your current boot environment and booted back to a Solaris 9 release with a forced synchronization, files could be changed on the Solaris 9 release. Because files are dependent on the release of the OS, the boot to the Solaris 9 release could fail because the Oracle Solaris 10 8/11 files might not be compatible with the Solaris 9 files.

   ---

   BE_name

   Specifies the name of the boot environment that is to be activated.

3. Reboot.

   # init 6

Example 5-15 Activating a Boot Environment

In this example, the second_disk boot environment is activated at the next reboot and the files are synchronized.

# /sbin/luactivate -s second_disk
# init 6

x86: Activating a Boot Environment With the GRUB Menu

A GRUB menu provides an optional method of switching between boot environments. The GRUB menu is an alternative to activating (booting) with the luactivate command. The table below notes cautions and limitations when using the GRUB menu.

Table 5-3 x86: Activating With the GRUB Menu Summary

Task Description For More Information Caution After you have activated a boot environment, do not change the disk order in the BIOS. Changing the order might cause the GRUB menu to become invalid. If this problem occurs, changing the disk order back to the original state fixes the GRUB menu. Activating a boot environment for the first time The first time you activate a boot environment, you must use the luactivate command. The next time you boot, that boot environment's name is displayed in the GRUB main menu. You can thereafter switch to this boot environment by selecting the appropriate entry in the GRUB menu. To Activate a Boot Environment Synchronizing files The first time you activate a boot environment, files are synchronized between the current boot environment and the new boot environment. With subsequent activations, files are not synchronized. When you switch between boot environments with the GRUB menu, files also are not synchronized. You can force a synchronization when using the luactivate command with the -s option. To Activate a Boot Environment and Synchronize Files Boot environments created before the Solaris 10 1/06 release If a boot environment was created with the Solaris 8, Solaris 9, or Solaris 10 3/05 release, the boot environment must always be activated with the luactivate command. These older boot environments do not display on the GRUB menu. To Activate a Boot Environment Editing or customizing the GRUB menu entries The menu.lst file contains the information that is displayed in the GRUB menu. You can revise this file for the following reasons: To add to the GRUB menu entries for operating systems other than the Oracle Solaris OS. To customize booting behavior. For example, you could change booting to verbose mode or change the default time that automatically boots the OS. Note - If you want to change the GRUB menu, you need to locate the menu.lst file. For step-by-step instructions, see Chapter 13, Managing the Oracle Solaris Boot Archives (Tasks), in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration. Caution - Do not use the GRUB menu.lst file to modify Live Upgrade entries. Modifications could cause Live Upgrade to fail. Although you can use the menu.lst file to customize booting behavior, the preferred method for customization is to use the eeprom command. If you use the menu.lst file to customize, the Oracle Solaris OS entries might be modified during a software upgrade. Changes to the file could be lost. GRUB Based Booting (Overview) in Oracle Solaris 10 8/11 Installation Guide: Planning for Installation and Upgrade Booting an x86 Based System by Using GRUB (Task Map) in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration

x86: To Activate a Boot Environment With the GRUB Menu

You can switch between two boot environments with the GRUB menu. Note the following limitations:

• The first activation of a boot environment must be done with the luactivate command. After the initial activation, the boot environment is displayed on the GRUB menu. The boot environment can then be booted from the GRUB menu.

• Caution - Switching to a boot environment with the GRUB menu bypasses synchronization. For more information about synchronizing files, see link Forcing a Synchronization Between Boot Environments.

• If a boot environment was created with the Solaris 8, Solaris 9, or Solaris 10 3/05 release, the boot environment must always be activated with the luactivate command. These older boot environments are not displayed on the GRUB menu.

1. Become superuser or assume an equivalent role.

   Roles contain authorizations and privileged commands. For more information about roles, see Configuring RBAC (Task Map) in System Administration Guide: Security Services.

2. Reboot the system.

   # init 6

   The GRUB main menu is displayed. The two operating systems are listed, Oracle Solaris and second_disk, which is a Live Upgrade boot environment. The failsafe entries are for recovery, if for some reason the primary OS does not boot.

   GNU GRUB version 0.95 (616K lower / 4127168K upper memory)
   +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
   |Solaris                                                            |
   |Solaris  failsafe                                                  |
   |second_disk                                                        |
   |second_disk failsafe                                               |
   +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
   Use the ^ and v keys to select which entry is highlighted. Press
   enter to boot the selected OS, 'e' to edit the commands before
   booting, or 'c' for a command-line.

3. To activate a boot environment, use the arrow key to select the desired boot environment and press Return.

   The selected boot environment is booted and becomes the active boot environment.