Summary

In this chapter, you looked at what happens on a SPARC computer before Solaris loads. The OpenBoot PROM loads as the system is powered on, performs diagnostic tests, and loads the Solaris operating environment. Although OpenBoot has the main responsibility of loading Solaris, it also holds hardware and boot configuration information, and provides a list of diagnostic tests.

The Solaris 9 Intel Platform Edition runs on the IA platform. Computers using Intel chips will not have the OpenBoot PROM but will have a system BIOS. The hardware configuration and boot options can be configured through the Solaris Device Configuration Assistant.

The exact functionality of Solaris 9 depends on which of the eight run levels it enters when it boots. Run levels are designed to provide flexibility for administrative tasks in addition to providing an easily configurable user environment. Run levels are exacted through a series of run control (rc) scripts.

Shutting down Solaris also uses run control scripts. Instead of starting services and daemons, the shutdown process runs scripts to properly stop all running services. The preferred commands to shut down Solaris are init and shutdown.

Finally, you examined troubleshooting procedures for a hung system. It's important to determine whether an individual application is being problematic or whether it's the operating system. Depending on the severity of your problem, you have a variety of keystrokes and troubleshooting methods at your disposal.