To test an operating system's upgradeability to Solaris 2.6 or above,
a utility called pfinstall which performs a 'dry run' install can
be used. The pfinstall command was first available with Solaris 2.6, 5/98.
pfinstall can be used to prescreen an OS for potential errors that could
prevent an upgrade. Some examples of errors that pfinstall can
capture are: file systems with insufficient space, errors parsing the
/etc/vfstab file and required files missing from the /var/sadm directory.
Shutdown the system.
# init 5
# shutdown
# init 0
From the OBP (Open Boot Prom) OK>, boot the cdrom to single user or boot
net in single user mode. The CD or network image should be the OS that you
will be upgrading too. For example, if you are upgrading from Solaris 2.6
to Solaris 8, you would use Solaris 8 software media 1 of 2 to boot up off
of or a Solaris 8 jumpstart image.
OK> boot cdrom -s
or
OK> boot net -s
When the system is booted, create the test profile:
# csh
# setenv TERM sun
# vi /tmp/prof
or
From the default bourne shell:
# TERM=sun;export TERM
# vi /tmp/prof
Add the following two lines.
install_type upgrade
root_device /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s0 <--This may need to be changed depending
on system
enter <ESC> :wq! to Save the file
run pfinstall program
/usr/sbin/install.d/pfinstall -D /tmp/prof | more
The program will perform a dry run of the upgrade procedure and report
any problems which will prevent the system from being upgraded.
Some files which are REQUIRED to be in place are:
/var/sadm/install/contents
/var/sadm/system/admin/.clustertoc
/var/sadm/system/admin/CLUSTER
/var/sadm/system/admin/INST_RELEASE
If these files are not in place you will get a error message of...
ERROR: Failure loading local environment
Which indicates one of the above referenced files is missing.
An error message of...Error: Fatal Signal received (11)
can mean one of the above referenced files is empty or corrupted.
The man page for pfinstall has additional information, including the
following warning:
WARNING:
If the -d or -D option is not specified, pfinstall may per-
form an actual installation on the system by using the
specified profile, and the data on the system may be
overwritten.
pfinstall will exit with the following message:
Test run complete. Exit status X where X is:
EXIT STATUS
0 Successful (system rebooted).
1 Successful (system not rebooted).
2 An error occurred.
pfinstall may report more than one Exit Status! It may report an
Exit Status=2 for a vfstab file error and then proceed to the next
section and report an Exit Status=0.
pfinstall output can be lengthy. Data can be captured by using the
script command. For example:
#script /tmp/pfinstall_out
#/usr/sbin/install.d/pfinstall -D /tmp/prof | more
#^D <--When pfinstall has completed, input Control+D to
exit the script program
#more /tmp/pfinstall.out
More info on the upgrade process is found in the Solaris 2.6 and above
Advance Installation Guide Hardcopy that comes with the media or online at
docs.sun.com
Sample output of the pfinstall command:
Parsing profile
0: install_type upgrade
1: root_device /dev/dsk/c0t3d0s0
WARNING: Backup media not specified. A backup media (backup_media)
keyword must be specified if an upgrade with disk space reallocation
is required <--- this is normal
Processing profile
Error parsing vfstab <----here's an error
Loading local environment and services
Generating upgrade actions
Packages to be installed
TWSvplu.m
TWSvplr.m
<stuff deleted>
Checking file system space: 0% completed
<all the way to 100%>
WARNING: Insufficient space for the upgrade.
Checking file system space: 100% completed
Space required in each file system is:
Current Size Minimum
Suggested
Mount Point Slice 1 Kilobyte Blocks 1 Kilobyte Blocks
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
File systems with insufficient space.
/ /dev/dsk/c0t3d0s0 102816 537407
<--another problem
Remaining file systems.
Building upgrade script
ERROR: Fatal signal received (11) <----another indicator
Test run complete. Exit status 2. <----Exit status 2 is a failure
Error parsing vfstab
Preparing system for Solaris upgrade
Upgrade complete
Test run complete. Exit status 0. <----don't be fooled, this system has
insufficient disk space and a bad
vfstab file
Please note that once you run pfinstall and it completes successfully, you
will have to drop the system back down to the OK prompt. You can do a
"stop+a" or "# halt" off the cd or network image since you are running off
the mini root. Then proceed by doing a boot cdrom, boot net, or boot net -
install to perform the upgrade.
**Typing a control+d from the boot cdrom -s or boot net -s after
pfinstall runs to put you in the installer mode will NOT work.**
