how can i find out if i can boot from slave hdd?
hi all,
i currently run solaris 9 which is installed on my master internal hdd. i am preparing to upgrade to solaris 10 on my sunblade 100 using live upgrade. i am considering creating a new boot environment on my second internal hdd (which is configured as the slave to the master internal hdd).
according to the Solaris 10 Installation Guide:
http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/817-5505/6mkv5m1kk?a=view
"...Some systems restrict which disks can serve as a boot device.
Refer to your system's documentation to determine if any boot
restrictions apply..."
exactly which "system documentation" am i suppose to refer to? i have googled different permutations of "boot from slave on solaris" (you reading this haroldb?), but i still am none the wiser.
please, can anybody fill me in?
many thanks,
sun-cerifiied
# 1
Hello "sun-cerifiied",
i am considering creating a new boot environment on my second internal hdd (which is configured as the slave to the master internal hdd).
...
exactly which "system documentation" am i suppose to refer to?
The manual (User's/Owner's Guide or Service Manual) for your system (e.g. Blade 100).
Anyway just try it and tells us if it works.
Michael
P.S. Forgot to mention, your question is better suited for one of the Solaris forums.
# 2
thanks MAALATFT, for putting me on to the service manual. i appreciate it.
"Anyway just try it and tells us if it works."
because i've never done one before, there's a lot of work and risk involved in preparing for a live upgrade scenario. the point of asking the original question was in hopes of coming across somebody else who has already "just tried it".
my time is limited. hopefully, somebody who knows - from having already done what i am asking about - could tell me whether or not its doable;
all it takes is just one knowledgeable expert to take a few seconds to read and then reply to this post; and that might save me (plus others with the same question) hours or days of wasted effort! isn't that the whole point of a forum?
# 3
Yes. You are correct.
You asked a question about installing an OS, and you asked it in a hardware forum.
... that's one of the points that Michael was offering.
Where would you hope for expertise?An OS installer person, or a wrench/screwdriver jockey?
"Try it and tell us how it went" is just as valid a discussion in a forum as ...
"tell me how to do it, so that I don't have to figure it out on my own".
(Everyone places limits and priorities on their time, by the way.
My time is no more important and no less important than yours.)
So ...
Find your system in the Sun System Handbook.
http://sunsolve.sun.com/handbook_pub/Systems/SunBlade100/SunBlade100.html
Platform specific documentation is all linked there for you.
Find general OS installation instructions at Docs.Sun.Com
http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/817-0544/
If you hope to have one OS on one drive and another on the next drive,
then configure it to always power-on and stop at the OK prompt.
Then after they're installed, you'd simply type...
boot disk0 to launch the first OS.
boot disk1 to launch the other OS.
--
We hope that more people would choose to teach in these forums,
and that fewer would choose to leech from the forums.
We invite you to be one of the teachers.
# 4
first of all, don't take this reply the wrong way. i am grateful for both attempts at answering my question. thanks again.
that said, the question is not "how do i install an os?" nor is the question, "what command do i enter at the openboot prompt to select a device to boot from?". i already had the answers to those questions (but again, thanks just the same).
i understand why you would mistake my original question as being about installing an os. but my original question IS relevant to this forum, because it pertains to disks. i only added the info about installing the os by way of providing some background context.
refering again to the "Some systems restrict which disks..." comment that i quoted from the solaris 10 installation guide, i will paraphrase my original question (without confusing the issue by mentioning why i am asking the question):
"are there any known restrictions that would preclude a sunblade 100 from booting from a secondary internal storage disk? and which document has that info been published in, please? thank you."
are you telling me a so-called "wrench/screwdriver jockey" who has installed an internal secondary storage disk wouldn't know the answer to that?
# 5
The answer is -- go right ahead.
The Sunblade 100 platform is fully qualified to function
with Solaris 9 and with Solaris 10.
I'm not aware of any specific document.
I don't happen to have any current interest in searching for such a document.
Perhaps a story to describe why our responses are rather curt, today.
I happen to own what some might consider an ancient PC.
Intel 440BX, Slot 1, currently installed with an 800MHz P-III and 512MB of RAM.
That Abit board has a Highpoint HTI-66 controller integrated onto it
in addition to the default ATA33 controller that you'd expect to see.
I can install as many as eight IDE devices into that son-of-a-gun.
I currently have discrete drives in it with Linux, Solaris, Win98, and WinXP in the chassis,
plus a DVD-RW and a ZIP100 drive.
I use the BIOS to designate which OS-du-jour gets booted.
It just works.
Do the same with your Sun desktop system.
Here's yet another resource for you to keep handy.
It's the OBP 4.x Command Reference Manual.
http://docs.sun.com/app/docs?q=816-1177
Your SB100 has a 4th generation OpenBoot PROM in it,
thus the version 4.x manual is applicable.
As mentioned in this latest link, the OBP manual is included in the
Solaris-9-on-Sun-Hardware documentation collection.
# 6
Perhaps a story to describe why our responses are rather curt, today...
perhaps a line from an old movie i remember from when i was a kid ("The Giant Gila Monster") to describe this thread:
"I ask you what time it is and you tell me how to build a clock, just answer the question!"
;-)
# 7
Hello "sun-certified",
these forums are user-to-user.
You can post every question that is on-topic, but there is no obligation for the volunteers to answer.
We can tell you which documents to review, but don't expect that we spend our time to find a solution for you.
I agree with rukbat: I'm not aware of any specific document <about problems with a bootable slave drive on the Blade 100>.
I don't happen to have any current interest in searching for such a document.
If you expect an answer, get paid support.
One hint: Attaching both bootable disks to the same IDE-channel isn't recommended. If the master fails (doesn't respond to select), you aren't able to use the slave until a new master is installed.
Please don't double, triple, quad, ... post the same question.
Michael
# 8
Hello "sun-certified"
that's my name! you got a problem with that? or are you just jealous that you didn't think of it first? ;-)
...don't expect that we spend our time to find a solution for you.
who said that i expected anybody to find a solution? i asked a very specific question:
how can i find out if i can boot from slave hdd?
and then i paraphrased that very specific question in the body of the original post.
either somebody knows the answer to a question or they don't. if they do know the answer, post the answer! if they don't know the answer - or don't have the time to post the answer - then don't post anything!
its annoying when people reply to a thread; then bleat on and on and on about stuff the original poster never asked about. its like these people aren't interested in being helpful. its more like they need to prove to the world how much they think they know about everything! well, i'm not interested in building a clock! just answer the question! sich verstehen?
