Certification Objective 2.02Performing Installation | Sun Certified System Administrator for Solaris 10 Study Guide Exams 310-XXX & 310-XXX

Certification Objective 2.02—Performing Installation

Exam Objective 1.2: Perform an OS installation from CD/DVD for SPARC-, x64-, and x86-based systems.

In this section, we will explain how to install or upgrade Solaris 10 on SPARC- or x86-based machines interactively by using the Solaris installation program from the installation CD or DVD. Before you start installation, obviously, you will make sure you have the installation CD or DVD appropriate for the machine on which you are going to install it, as shown in Table 2-5. The language CD is used in case the installation program prompts you for it to support languages for specific geographic regions.

Table 2-5: The required installation media and software
Installation Media platform	CD	DVD
SPARC	Solaris 10 Software CDs. Solaris 10 Languages for SPARC Platforms CD.	Solaris 10 Operating System for SPARC Platforms DVD.
x86	Solaris 10 Software CDs. Solaris 10 Languages for x86 Platforms CD.	Solaris 10 Operating System for x86 Platforms DVD.

The other pre-installation requirement checks you should perform are the following:

Make sure your machine meets the hardware requirements described in the previous section.
Make sure your machine has one of the following media:
- CD-ROM drive for an installation from CD
- DVD drive for an installation from DVD
For a system that will not be connected to the network, keep the following information ready:
- The hostname that you will assign to the system you are installing
- Language and locales that you plan to use for the system
- The root password you are going to use for the root account
For a system that will be connected to a network, gather the following information:
- The hostname that you plan to assign to the system you are installing
- Language and locales that you plan to use for the system
- The IP address for the machine
- The subnet mask for the network
- Domain name
- The type of name services to be used such as DNS, NIS, or NIS+
- The hostname and IP address of the name server
- The root password you are going to assign to the root account

If you want to preserve any existing data or applications, you should back up the system. The backups and restores are covered in Chapter 9. Once you have checked all the installation requirements, and gathered the required information, you are ready to install.

Installing or Upgrading on a SPARC Machine

In order to install (or upgrade) Solaris 10 on a standalone SPARC machine by using the installation CD or DVD, use the following procedure:

Insert the installation media into the drive:
1. If you are installing from the CD, insert the Solaris 10 Software for SPARC Platforms 1 CD into the CD-ROM drive.
2. If you are installing from the DVD, insert the Solaris 10 Operating System for SPARC Platforms DVD into the DVD drive.
Boot the system:
1. If the system is new—that is, nothing is installed on it, turn on the system.
2. If you want to install a system that is currently running, shut down the system to reboot from the CD-ROM (or DVD) drive. For example, bring the system to the boot command prompt ok by issuing an init or halt command. The end result of this step is the ok prompt; see Chapter 3 if you need help.
Start the Solaris installation program by booting from the CD or DVD:
1. If you want to use the Solaris installation GUI, boot from the local CD or DVD by issuing the following command at the ok prompt:
```
 ok boot cdrom 
```
2. If you want to use the text installer in a desktop session, boot from the local CD or DVD by issuing the following command at the ok prompt:
```
 ok boot cdrom -text 
```
  The -text option is used to override the default GUI installer with the text installer in a desktop session.
3. If you want to use the text installer in a console session, boot from the local CD or DVD by issuing the following command at the ok prompt:
```
 ok boot cdrom -nowin 
```
The -nowin option is used to override the default GUI installer with the text installer in a console session.

After you issue one of these boot commands, the installation program starts; it prompts you to select a language to use during the installation. To tell the installation program to move to the next step, you typically click Next in a GUI and perform a similar action in the text installer. Here, we are going to use the GUI terminology when it comes to saying continue or move to next step. If you are using the text installer, just follow the instruction on the monitor about what to do to continue.
Select the language you want to use during the installation, and press ENTER. After a few seconds, the Solaris Installation Program Welcome message appears.
Click Next to begin the installation. If you are prompted, answer the system configuration questions about such matters as hostname, IP address, and so on. Use the information that you gathered earlier in this chapter.

After you get through the configuration questions, the Welcome to Solaris dialog box is displayed.
Select whether you want to reboot the system automatically and whether you want to automatically eject the disc, and click Next. The Specify Media screen appears.
Specify the media you are using to install and click Next.
Select whether you want to perform an initial installation or an upgrade and click Next. If you choose to upgrade the existing system, the Solaris installation program will determine whether the system can be upgraded. For example, to be able to upgrade, it must have an existing Solaris root (/) file system. After detecting the necessary conditions, the installation program will upgrade the system.
Select the type of installation that you want to perform, as shown in the following:
1. Select Default Install if you want to install the Entire Solaris Software Group and the Sun Java™ Enterprise System software. This is a good choice if you are a beginner and your machine has enough disk space.
2. Select Custom Install if you want to perform the following tasks and you know how to do it:
  1. Install a specific software group
  2. Install specific software packages
  3. Install a specific locale
  4. Customize the disk layout
Click Next.
Answer any additional configuration questions, if you are prompted. Once you have provided the required information, the Ready to Install screen is displayed.
Click Install Now to install the Solaris software including the OS, and follow the instructions on the screen.

When the installation program finishes installing the Solaris software, the system will reboot automatically or it will prompt you to reboot manually. If you chose to install additional products, you would be prompted to insert the CD or DVD for those products. If you were performing an initial installation, the installation is complete, and you can move on to the next step. If, on the other hand, you were upgrading an existing system, you might need to make corrections to some local modifications that were not preserved:

Review the contents of the /a/var/sadm/system/data/upgrade_cleanup file to determine whether you need to make any correction to the local modifications that the Solaris installation program could not preserve.
Make corrections to any local modifications that were not preserved.

If you did not select the automatic reboot option earlier, reboot the system by issuing the following command:
```
 # reboot 
```

On the Job

Note that the text installer will not prompt you to select a default or custom installation. Instead, you will be provided the text installer screens with default values. Accept those values for default installation, or edit the values to customize the installation.

If you are planning to install Solaris on a PC (x86 machine), follow the installation steps presented in the next section.

Installing or Upgrading on an x86 Machine

Just as on a SPARC machine, you can choose to install or upgrade the Solaris OS on an x86 machine by using the Solaris installation program from the installation CD or DVD. Note that the machine's BIOS must support booting from a CD or DVD. You may need to manually set your BIOS to boot from a DVD or CD. See your machine's hardware documentation for more information on how to set the BIOS. The installation procedure is described here:

Insert the CD or DVD into appropriate drive:
1. If you plan to boot from the CD drive, insert the Solaris 10 Software -1 CD into the drive.
2. If you plan to install from the DVD drive, insert the Solaris 10 Operating System DVD into the drive.
3. If you plan to install from the diskette drive, insert the Solaris 10 Device Configuration Assistant diskette into the system's diskette drive.
Boot the system by shutting it down, turning it off, and then turning it back on. If you need to manually set the BIOS to boot from CD or DVD, press the appropriate key sequence to interrupt the system boot process. After modifying the boot priority in the BIOS, exit the BIOS to return to the installation program.

After executing the memory test and hardware detection, the screen refreshes, and the Solaris Booting System screen is displayed.

Decide whether you want to modify the device settings. You may need to do this if you want to perform any of the following tasks:
- Install device drivers or Install Time Updates (ITUs). Check your hardware documentation to see whether you need any ITUs or additional drivers.
- Disable Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI).
- Set up a serial console.
- Reset the default boot device.
If you need to modify device settings with the Solaris Device Configuration Assistant (DCA), press ESC. Note that you must press ESC within five seconds to interrupt the installation in order to get the DCA screen displayed. To modify the device settings, follow the instructions on the DCA screens. Subsequently, the Solaris installation program checks the default boot disk for the requirements to install or upgrade the system. If the installation program cannot detect the required system configuration, the program prompts you for any missing information. When the check is complete, the installation selection screen is displayed.
Select an installation type. The installation selection screen displays the following options; Select the type of installation that you want to perform:
1. Solaris Interactive
2. Custom JumpStart
3. Solaris Interactive Text (Desktop session)
4. Solaris Interactive Text (Console session)
Enter the number of your choice (for example, 4 for the text console session) followed by ENTER. Solaris Interactive (with GUI) is the default that will be started if you wait for more than 30 seconds. After you make your selection, the system configures the devices and interfaces and searches for configuration files. After a few seconds, the Solaris Installation Program screen is displayed.
On the Solaris Installation Program screen, press F2 to Continue. Now, there are two possible scenarios to proceed with:
- If the installation program detects the types of display, keyboard, and mouse on your system, the Select a Language screen is displayed, and you can go to step 7.
- If, on the other hand, the installation program does not detect the types of display, keyboard, and mouse on your system, the Introduction screen from the kdmconfig is displayed. In this case, go to step 6.
Choose one of the following two ways to go from here:
- If you want to install the Solaris OS with the GUI, configure your system to use the keyboard, display, and mouse, by following the instructions on the screen.
- If you want to do the text installation, press F4 to bypass the steps related to GUI and go directly to step 7.
We are now at Select the Language screen.
Select the language you plan to use during the installation and press ENTER. Within seconds, the Solaris Installation Program Welcome screen is displayed.
Click Next to begin the installation. If you are prompted, answer the remaining system configuration questions. Use the information that you gathered as described previously.

After you get through the configuration questions, the Welcome to Solaris dialog box is displayed.
Select whether you want to reboot the system automatically and automatically eject the disc and click Next. The Specify Media screen appears.
Specify the media you are using to install and click Next.
Select whether you want to perform an initial installation or an upgrade and click Next. If you choose to upgrade the existing system, the Solaris installation program will determine whether the system can be upgraded. For example, to be able to upgrade it must have an existing Solaris root (/) file system. After detecting the necessary conditions, the installation program upgrades the system.
Select the type of installation that you want to perform, as shown here:
- Select Default Install if you want to install the entire Solaris Software Group and the Sun Java™ Enterprise System software. This is a good choice if you are a beginner and your machine has enough disk space.
- Select Custom Install if you want to perform the following tasks and you know how to do it:
  1. Install a specific software group
  2. Install specific software packages
  3. Install a specific locale
  4. Customize the disk layout
We discuss software groups and packages later in this chapter. Click Next.
Answer any additional configuration questions, if you are prompted. Once you have provided the required information, the Ready to Install screen is displayed.
Click Install Now to install the Solaris software including the OS, and follow the instructions on the screen.

When the installation program finishes installing the Solaris software, the system will reboot automatically or prompt you to reboot manually. If you chose to install additional products, you would be prompted to insert the CD or DVD for those products. If you were performing an initial installation, the installation would complete and you could move on to the next step. If, on the other hand, you were upgrading an existing system, you might need to make corrections to some local modifications that were not preserved, which are discussed as follows:
- Review the contents of the /a/var/sadm/system/data/upgrade_cleanup file to determine whether you need to make any correction to the local modifications that the Solaris installation program could not preserve.
- Make corrections to any local modifications that were not preserved.
If you did not select the automatic reboot option earlier, reboot the system by issuing the following command:
```
 # reboot 
```

On the Job

After the installation is complete, you can find the installation logs saved in the /var/sadm/system/logs and /var/sadm/install/logs directories.

After you have installed a software group, you can add packages to it, and you can remove packages from it. You can also apply patches to the installed system.