Installation guide

Configuration Assistant and Booting Software for x86
Platforms
The Configuration Assistant interface is part of the new booting system for the
Solaris (Intel Platform Edition) software. It determines which hardware devices are in
the machine, accounts for the resources each device uses, and enables you to choose
which device to boot from. The booting software, including the Configuration
Assistant, is installed on the system’s hard disk along with the Solaris operating
environment. A file that contains the hardware configuration information for the
system being installed is also installed on the hard disk. Each time the system is
booted, the configuration information is passed to the Solaris kernel. The
Configuration Assistant must be re-run any time the hardware configuration is
changed.
For information on how to use the Configuration Assistant to help solve device
configuration problems, see the modules (xref)Configuring Devices and the
Troubleshooting in Information Library for Solaris 2.6 (Intel Platform Edition).
Changed Solaris CD Layout
The Solaris CD layout has been changed in the Solaris 2.6 release. Slice 0 has been
reorganized to make it more intuitive and extensible. It contains only control files
and the Solaris_2.6 directory at the top level. The control files at the top level on
slice 0 are the same control files found on previous Solaris CDs. The control files are
.cdtoc, .slicemapfile, and .install_config.
For more information, see Solaris Advanced Installation Guide.
Upgrade With Disk Space Reallocation
The upgrade option for the Solaris 2.6 release provides an auto-layout feature to
reallocate disk space if the current file systems don’t have enough space for the
upgrade. This new feature is provided in the interactive Solaris installation program
and by a new set of custom JumpStart profile keywords.
For more information, see Solaris Advanced Installation Guide.
Testing Upgrade Profiles
In previous Solaris releases, the system administrator could only test profiles that
used the initial option. The Solaris 2.6 release now enables the pfinstall command
to test profiles that use the upgrade option, so an administrator can see if a profile
will do what is wanted before using it to upgrade a system. This is especially useful
with the new disk-space reallocation feature.
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Information Library for Solaris 2.6 (Intel Platform Edition) ♦ August 1997