A Solaris Installation Checklist

The following guide is provided to help you understand what you must do to prepare a host for installation or re-installation. There are links throughout this page to other pages that contain more specific information on installation topics. You should take the time to review these pages.

NOTE: There have been slight changes in the Boot Server configuration required under Solaris 9. Departments that have set up a Boot Server for earlier versions of Solaris should check the Boot Server Documentation to make sure the Boot Server is properly configured for Solaris 9.

Before upgrading an existing system

• OIT has experienced problems with code compiled under older versions of Solaris not running properly under newer versions. Generally this is the result of changes to the kernel and other OS internals in areas where Sun could not or did not provide backwards compatibility. This has been particularly troublesome on the UltraSparc chips when run in 64bit mode. Some programs may require extensive source code modifications to run under Solaris 9. Be careful when planning an upgrade to make sure any third party software vendors support the OS before upgrading. If you are in doubt about compatibility of software you should contact the OIT Systems Support Group or the third party vendor.
  
  Make sure you've saved important system configuration files, such as
  /etc/passwd,/etc/shadow,/etc/group
  /etc/automount*
  /etc/vfstab or /etc/fstab
  /etc/dfs/dfstab or /etc/exports
  /etc/mail/sendmail.*
  /etc/hosts.*
  /etc/ssh*
  Any third party software that you don't plan to reinstall
  Any special startup scripts
  
  
• Make a full backup of the old system.
  
  
• If you have disks attached to the system that will not contain OS data, such as user filesystems, it is advisable to shut them off and disconnect them from the system so that they aren't accidentally erased. In theory this should not happen if you specify your installation directives properly.
  
  
• Make sure you have an active ethernet port for the host. The requests for ports are generally handled by a departmental administrator.
  
  
• If the machine is new or changing names you need to register the name in the DNS database. Send mail to hostmaster@bu.edu or (even better) If you have a kerberos entity, you can fill the form out online. Note that DNS registration requests take 3 to 5 business days to process. You will receive electronic mail (if possible) or a phone call when the registration process is complete.
  
• If the equipment is new, assemble your hardware and power it on.
  
  
• Run test-all to make sure that all the system tests are passed.
  

Preparing for the installation or re-installation of a host

• Obtain the Ethernet (MAC) Address of the system. Typically this address will start with either 08:00:20: or 00:03:ba: and then contains 3 more sets of colon (:) delimited numbers. You can do this several ways:
  • In the initial text banner that appears after you power on the host you should see the host's ethernet address. You can use the L1-A (stop-A on some keyboards) to prevent the host from booting.
  • The ethernet address is often also printed on the yellow packing slip that comes with the CPU.
  • If the system is already up and running, you can run "ifconfig -a" as root. The ethernet address will be printed in the output after the word "ether".
• Select an installation method. You may wish to refer to OIT's Installation Choices guide to obtain a better understanding of what your options are.
  
• Decide how you will lay out your filesystems.
  • Root (/) and /usr should be at least 800MB in size combined. In older versions of Solaris, OIT recommended splitting these into separate partitions; however this is only the case for server installations and upgrades. By default OIT now suggests one large root (/) partition for the OS. Typically we make this approximately 1.5GB, 2GB if it is to contain /var as well.
  • /var must be at least 64MB in size; if it is to be a separate partition, we recommend 500MB minimally.
  • We used to recommend separating out /opt. We no longer recommend this.
  • You should allow 100MB for /usr/vice/cache if you are going to use the distributed environment module available through Custom-Jumpstart or Web Start (as provided by OIT). It is advised that you make this its own partition.
• If you are planning to use Custom-Jumpstart or Web Start, you need to determine which bootserver you will use. You have three options in this regard. You should consult our Boot Server Documentation if you need help making this selection. Your choices are:
  • You can set up your own bootserver if you have another Solaris host with sufficient disk space.
  • Another workgroup that shares your subnet may have a boot server that you can use.
  • You may use OIT's bootserver, but you will need to bring your CPU to 111 Cummington Street.
• Once you have identified which Boot Server you will be using, you must configure that Boot Server. If you are using OIT's Boot Server this will be done for you. Otherwise, you should read the section on Configuring a Boot Server in the Boot Server Documentation.
• If you are planning to do a jumpstart (as opposed to a media install or Web Start), you need to prepare a Class file on your boot server.
• If you are going to use a network installation client, review the configuration options for and determine if you will do any special configuration of your host.
• Contact OIT's Systems Support Manager or your departmental OIT Systems Support Contact to obtain access to the install and configuration server. You may call the Office of Information Technology at 353-2780 and ask to speak to the Systems Support manager or contact your OIT departmental support contact directly if your department has one already.

• Power the machine on, and wait for the spinning line icon that indicates that it is attempting to boot. Stop the boot process using L1-A (or Stop-A) on some keyboards.
• For a Jumpstart (or Custom-Jumpstart):
  • Type "boot net - install", without the quotes, and a space between all three words and around the dash. [boot<space>net<space>-<space>install].
• For Web Start
  • Type "boot net - browser", without the quotes, and a space between all three words and around the dash. [boot<space>net<space>-<space>browser].
• For a Media Install
  • Insert the CD into the CDROM drive.
  • Type "boot cdrom"
  • Follow the interactive installation until the software appears to be being installed (see next paragraph).

The Installation will now commence. You should watch the first 20 minutes or so, until it appears to be doing software installation. You can tell this phase because it will be putting up names of packages following by an amount (in MB) of installation remaining. It is important to watch this phase because if anything goes wrong with the automatic installation, it will be during this time. Once the installation of software begins, you can walk away and return periodically to check on the installation. The base OS will take 30 to 90 minutes to install (depending on memory, network speed and congestion, CPU speed, etc). The patches, which are installed by the Finish Script, may take several hours to install.

After an installation
The general directions for what you need to do after a jumpstart are listed in the /etc/motd (if you used our finish script) after you log into the host. View motd file.

Of course the exact amount of work you must do will vary on a case by case basis.
You should also register your host with the baseline server and consider arranging to have it backed up routinely by the OIT Operations Group.