Solaris Procedure to Create an Alternate Boot Partition

At main menu prompt enter: Main Menu: Enter command or menu boot Respond to the question: Interact with IPL Y or N? y booting… At ISL prompt enter: ISL hpux −is 3. The system continues booting and enters the SINGLE USER mode. Purge the encrypted root password from etcshadow file. 4. Reboot the system into the multi−user mode: shutdown −r 0 5. Change the root password: passwd ..... ..... 6.

28.3 Some Special Administrative Situations

A few practical examples of how to handle system emergency situations are described here. They illustrate very important and difficult administrative tasks related to potential system disasters and their later recovery. The good system administrator should be prepared to respond appropriately to the worst−case system scenarios.

28.3.1 Solaris Procedure to Create an Alternate Boot Partition

The purpose of an alternate boot partition is to enable the system booting in case the OS on the primary partition is corrupt. Booting from an alternate partition provides a minimal core OS configuration; however, it should be sufficient to fix the primary root filesystem. The primary root filesystem is mounted in root directory, or if it is mirrored in boot1 and boot2 directories two root partitions from two disks that are mirrored. To boot the system from an alternate partition, the alternate partition must be specified in the systems NVRAM for an easy booting otherwise a hardware path should be specified. Supposed names are: altboot, or altboot1 and altboot2 for multiple alternate boot partitions. To boot from an alternate partition for example altboot type: ok boot altboot To reboot the system with an alternate boot partition, type: reboot −− altboot 694 Put Solaris 2.6 Software CD in the drive. ok boot cdrom At this point Mini OS from the CD is loaded into memory and minimal required root filesystem mounted in tmp. 1. Select a Locale 0 USA − English ASCII only Type a number and press Return or Enter [0]: 2. What type of terminal are you using? 1 ANSI Standard CRT 2 DEC VT52 3 DEC VT100 Type the number of your choice and press Return: 3 3. The Solaris Installation Program Select F2_Continue ♦ At this point if function keys do not work, press Esc, and then Esc−2 instead of F2 and Esc−6 instead F6 4. Identify This System Select F2_Continue ♦ 5. Host Name Enter a corresponding hostname ♦ Select F2_Continue ♦ 6. Network Connectivity Networked −−−−−−−−− [X] Yes [ ] No Select F2_Continue 7. IP Address Enter a corresponding IP address permanent or temporary Select F2_Continue 8. Primary Network Interface If there are multiple network interfaces, you will be asked for: Select network interface hm or whatever… [X] hme0 [ ] kme 1 Select F2_Continue 9. 695 Select F2_Continue Name Service [ ] NIS+ [ ] NIS formerly yp [X] Other [ ] None Select F2_Continue ♦ 11. Subnets System part of a subnet [X] Yes [ ] No Select F2_Continue 12. Netmask Netmask: 255.255.255.0 Select F2_Continue 13. Time Zone [X] United States Select F2_Continue [X] Eastern Select F2_Continue 14. Date and Time Set date and time Select F2_Continue 15. Confirm Information Select F2_Continue 16. At this point, system identification is completed, and the Solaris Installation Program is started. Solaris Interactive Installation Select F4_Initial Select F2_Continue 17. Allocate Client Services? Select F2_Continue 18. Select Software Note Select Core System Support [ ] Entire Distribution plus OEM support.. 838.00 MB [ ] Entire Distribution ................... 831.00 MB 19. 696 Select F2_Continue Select Disks Note Select a corresponding disk where an alternate boot partition resides for example. Disk Device Size Available Space [ ] c0t0d0 8633 MB 8633 MB [ ] c2t0d0 4092 MB 4092 MB [ ] c2t1d0 8633 MB 8633 MB [ ] c2t2d0 8633 MB 8633 MB [X] c3t0d0 4092 MB boot disk 4092 MB [ ] c3t1d0 8633 MB 8633 MB [ ] c3t2d0 8633 MB 8633 MB Total Selected: ♦ 4092 MB Suggested Minimum: ♦ 838 MB Select F2_Continue 20. Preserve Data? This is the crucial step Root partition must be preserved; to preserve the partition it must be renamed from to root or root1. altboot partition should be renamed to to install OS in it. Mark set X root and swap to be preserved although swap is not important; overlap whole disk is already marked Select F2_Continue 21. Automatically Layout File Systems? Select F4_Manual Layout 22. File System and Disk Layout At this point a disk layout is displayed. Pay attention that root partition must be preserved Select F2_Continue 23. Mount Remote File Systems? Select F2_Continue 24. Profile At this point an installation profile is displayed Select F2_Continue A warning message about remaining free disk space could be ignored 25. Reboot After Installation? [X] Auto Reboot 26. 697 Select F2_Begin Installation The installation of the OS core is relatively quick. You will be informed about the installation status during this time. Do not set the root password when asked for upon the automatic reboot — just hit Return twice. Note Do not assume that the system modifies NVRAM to boot from this partition permanently All required modifications will be done manually. Log in to the system and set a workable environment. 27. Set NVRAM For the proper system booting from the alternate boot partition the NVRAM must be modified in the following way: Check the contents of following NVRAM locations: use−nvramrc? and nvramrc. Type: eeprom If needed, modify: eeprom use−nvramc? = true eeprom nvramrc = …whatever was written… devalias altboot hw_path_for_this_disk:d where hw_path_for_this_disk must be properly specified 28. Test everything by rebooting the system with the primary and the alternate boot partition. For primary partition type: reboot or: halt ok boot For alternate partition type: reboot −− altboot or: halt 29. 698 ok boot altboot

28.3.2 Solaris Recovery of the Failed Mirrored Boot Disk