Live Upgrade From Solaris 9 To Solaris 10: Back To The Main Page

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Live Upgrade from Solaris 9 to Solaris 10

Live upgrade of OS reduces system downtime.
The idea is duplicating current running boot environment (BE) and upgrading
duplicate BE while current one is running.
Rebooting will activate new BE. If something goes wrong, previous good BE
can be easily re-activating with next reboot.
Live upgrade divides FS(s) in 2 groups: Critical (ones OS cannot live, like
/ and /var) and Sharable (like /export or /home).
This means that critical FS are separate mount points in /etc/vfstab of

active/inactive BE.
Sharable FS are same mount points in /etc/vfstab so updating then in active
BE will also update them in inactive BE.
Duplicating current running BE means coping critical FS to another

available slice.
First FS(s) can be reconfigured (splitting or merging them) on new BE.
After you are happy with new configuration, critical files are copied to
their directories.
To be on safe side, have say 5-6G of free space for new BE.
Note: place new BE on disk slice. The SVM metadevice cannot be used for new
BE, but running BE can be on SVM.
For this exercise, I installed Solaris 9 on SunFire V120 (using jumpstart

and having 'cluster SUNWCall' in profile file, this install entire
distribution).
So after installation, required application (Live Upgrade) is on my system.

There are 2 packages.
application SUNWlur Live Upgrade (root)

application SUNWluu Live Upgrade (usr)
But there is a trick here. These packages are from Solaris 9. And we want
to upgrade new BE to Solaris 10.
So we need to uninstall these packages and install new ones for Solaris
release to be installed (in this case Solaris 10).
1. Remove packages for Solaris 9 (# pkgrm SUNWlur SUNWluu)

2. Get packages from Solaris 10 media (there are 3 of them) and copy to
/tmp
3. Install them (# tmp> pkgadd -d . SUNWlucfg SUNWlur SUNWluu)
4. See Sun doc 206844 for required patches and install them.
Example:
# tmp> patchadd 137477-01
Checking installed patches...
Verifying sufficient filesystem capacity (dry run method)...
Installing patch packages...
Patch number 137477-01 has been successfully installed.
See /var/sadm/patch/137477-01/log for details
Patch packages installed:
SUNWbzip
SUNWsfman
# showrev -p |grep 137477-01

Patch: 137477-01 Obsoletes: Requires: Incompatibles: Packages:
SUNWbzip, SUNWsfman
Live Upgrade Menus can be viewed with command /usr/sbin/lu
Looks like below:

|>Activate - Activate a Boot Environment |
| Cancel - Cancel a Copy Job |
| Compare - Compare the contents of Boot Environments |
| Copy - Start/Schedule a Copy |
| Create - Create a Boot Environment |
| Current - Name of Current Boot Environment |
| Delete - Delete a Boot Environment
| List - List the filesystems of a Boot Environment
| Rename - Change the name of a Boot Environment
| Status - List the status of all Boot Environments |
| Upgrade - Upgrade an Alternate Boot Environment |
| Flash - Flash an Alternate Boot Environment |
| Help - Help Information on Live Upgrade |
| Exit - Exit the Live Upgrade Menu System |
+-------------------------------------------------------+
But let's use CLI here.
By the way, system has 2 disks.

# format
Searching for disks...done
AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS:
0. c1t0d0 <SUN72G cyl 14087 alt 2 hd 24 sec 424>
/pci@1f,0/pci@1/scsi@8/sd@0,0
1. c1t1d0 <SUN72G cyl 14087 alt 2 hd 24 sec 424>
/pci@1f,0/pci@1/scsi@8/sd@1,0
Two partitions, 0 and 3, (size 20G) were created on Disk 1. They will be
dedicated for / and /var upgrades.
Well, first I partitioned Disk 1 same as Disk 0, but partition size of 4G

wasn't enough for upgrade, so I just created 20G to be on safe side for
this testing).
partition> p (Disk 1)
Current partition table (unnamed):
Total disk cylinders available: 14087 + 2 (reserved cylinders)
Part Tag Flag Cylinders Size Blocks
0 root wm 1 - 4122 20.00GB (4122/0/0)
41945472
1 unassigned wu 0 0 (0/0/0)
0
2 backup wm 0 - 14086 68.35GB (14087/0/0)
143349312
3 var wm 4123 - 8244 20.00GB (4122/0/0)
41945472
4 unassigned wm 0 0 (0/0/0)
0
0
6 unassigned wu 0 0 (0/0/0)
0
0
And current entries in /etc/vfstab are
/dev/dsk/c1t0d0s1 - - swap - no -
/dev/dsk/c1t0d0s0 /dev/rdsk/c1t0d0s0 / ufs 1 no
-
/dev/dsk/c1t0d0s3 /dev/rdsk/c1t0d0s3 /var ufs 1 no
-
/dev/dsk/c1t0d0s4 /dev/rdsk/c1t0d0s4 /.0 ufs 2
yes -
/dev/dsk/c1t0d0s5 /dev/rdsk/c1t0d0s5 /backup ufs 2
yes -
swap - /tmp tmpfs - yes -
The command lucreate creates new BE and syntax is (can be more than one -m
where you specify critical FS for new BE):
# lucreate -c current_BE -m mountpoint:device:FStype -n new_BE
Here, I will not specify swap under -m, so both BEs will share same swap
slice.
For me, below command completed in 1 hour.
# lucreate -c oldBE-disk0 -m /:/dev/dsk/c1t1d0s0:ufs -m

/var:/dev/dsk/c1t1d0s3:ufs -n newBE-disk1
Discovering physical storage devices

Discovering logical storage devices
Cross referencing storage devices with boot environment configurations
Determining types of file systems supported
Validating file system requests
Preparing logical storage devices
Preparing physical storage devices
Configuring physical storage devices
Configuring logical storage devices
Analyzing system configuration.
Comparing source boot environment file systems with the file
system(s) you specified for the new boot environment. Determining which
file systems should be in the new boot environment.
Updating boot environment description database on all BEs.
Searching /dev for possible boot environment filesystem devices
Updating system configuration files.
The device </dev/dsk/c1t1d0s0> is not a root device for any boot
environment; cannot get BE ID.
Creating configuration for boot environment <newBE-disk1>.
Source boot environment is <oldBE-disk0>.
Creating boot environment <newBE-disk1>.
Creating file systems on boot environment <newBE-disk1>.
Creating <ufs> file system for </> in zone <global> on
</dev/dsk/c1t1d0s0>.
Creating <ufs> file system for </var> in zone <global> on
Mounting file systems for boot environment <newBE-disk1>.
Calculating required sizes of file systems for boot environment <newBE-
disk1>.
Populating file systems on boot environment <newBE-disk1>.
Checking selection integrity.
Integrity check OK.
Populating contents of mount point </>.
Populating contents of mount point </var>.
Copying.
Creating shared file system mount points.
WARNING: The file </tmp/lucopy.errors.3569> contains a list of <2>
potential problems (issues) that were encountered while populating boot
environment <newBE-disk1>.
INFORMATION: You must review the issues listed in
</tmp/lucopy.errors.3569> and determine if any must be resolved. In
general, you can ignore warnings about files that were skipped because
they did not exist or could not be opened. You cannot ignore errors such
as directories or files that could not be created, or file systems running
out of disk space. You must manually resolve any such problems before you
activate boot environment <newBE-disk1>.
Creating compare databases for boot environment <newBE-disk1>.
Creating compare database for file system </var>.
Creating compare database for file system </>.
Updating compare databases on boot environment <newBE-disk1>.
Making boot environment <newBE-disk1> bootable.
Population of boot environment <newBE-disk1> successful.
Creation of boot environment <newBE-disk1> successful.
During duplication on old BE, I checked BE status and it was.
# lustatus
Boot Environment Is Active Active Can Copy
Name Complete Now On Reboot Delete Status
-------------------------- -------- ------ --------- ------ ----------
oldBE-disk0 yes yes yes no -
newBE-disk1 no no no no ACTIVE
Also I can follow progress of creating new BE.

# df -h -F ufs
Filesystem size used avail capacity Mounted on
/dev/dsk/c1t0d0s0 3.9G 1.6G 2.3G 40% /
/dev/dsk/c1t0d0s3 3.9G 37M 3.9G 1% /var
/dev/dsk/c1t0d0s4 20G 20M 19G 1% /.0
/dev/dsk/c1t0d0s5 36G 1.7G 33G 5% /backup
/dev/dsk/c1t1d0s0 20G 1.3G 18G 7% /.alt.tmp.b-y4.mnt
/dev/dsk/c1t1d0s3 20G 49M 19G 1% /.alt.tmp.b-y4.mnt/var
After duplication is done, the BE status is:
# lustatus
-------------------------- -------- ------ --------- ------ ----------
newBE-disk1 yes no no yes -
Okay, now we are ready to upgrade new BE to Solaris 10.
The ISO image is in shared directory on other machine, hostname unixlab

(accessed over /net directory).
Let's first check the media from where we want to perform OS upgrade.
# luupgrade -c -l /tmp/error-checkmedia.txt -o /tmp/output-checkmedia.txt

-s /net/unixlab/export/jumpstart/distrib/sparc/5.10u7
The media is a standard Solaris media.
The media contains an operating system upgrade image.
The media contains a standard media installer which can be run.
The media contains < Solaris> version < 10>.
If I run only luupgrade, it will show me all options as very good help.
Let's now try only dry-run (option -N) to see 'projection' of upgrading new
BE to Solaris 10.
Note: I use -N for dry-run and place error and output log files in shared
FS (/.0)
# luupgrade -u -n newBE-disk1 -l /.0/error-upgrade.txt -o /.0/output-

upgrade.txt -N -s /net/unixlab/export/jumpstart/distrib/sparc/5.10u7
42126 blocks
miniroot filesystem is <lofs>
Mounting miniroot at
</net/unixlab/export/jumpstart/distrib/sparc/5.10u7/Solaris_10/Tools/Boot>
Validating the contents of the media
</net/unixlab/export/jumpstart/distrib/sparc/5.10u7>.
The media contains <Solaris> version <10>.
Constructing upgrade profile to use.
Locating the operating system upgrade program.
Checking for existence of previously scheduled Live Upgrade requests.
Creating upgrade profile for BE <newBE-disk1>.
Performing the operating system upgrade of the BE <newBE-disk1>.
Execute Command:
</net/unixlab/export/jumpstart/distrib/sparc/5.10u7/Solaris_10/Tools/Boot/
usr/sbin/install.d/pfinstall -L /a -c
/net/unixlab/export/jumpstart/distrib/sparc/5.10u7
/tmp/.luupgrade.profile.upgrade.5743>.
Adding operating system patches to the BE < newBE-disk1>.
Execute Command
</net/unixlab/export/jumpstart/distrib/sparc/5.10u7/Solaris_10/Tools/Boot/
usr/sbin/install.d/install_config/patch_finish -R "/a" -c
"/net/unixlab/export/jumpstart/distrib/sparc/5.10u7">.
This looks okay. Let's run it in real.
# luupgrade -u -n newBE-disk1 -l /.0/error-upgrade.txt -o /.0/output-

upgrade.txt -s /net/unixlab/export/jumpstart/distrib/sparc/5.10u7
42126 blocks
Mounting miniroot at
</net/unixlab/export/jumpstart/distrib/sparc/5.10u7/Solaris_10/Tools/Boot>
Validating the contents of the media
</net/unixlab/export/jumpstart/distrib/sparc/5.10u7>.
The media contains <Solaris> version <10>.
Constructing upgrade profile to use.
Locating the operating system upgrade program.
Checking for existence of previously scheduled Live Upgrade requests.
Creating upgrade profile for BE <newBE-disk1>.
Determining packages to install or upgrade for BE <newBE-disk1>.
Performing the operating system upgrade of the BE <newBE-disk1>.
CAUTION: Interrupting this process may leave the boot environment unstable
or unbootable.
Upgrading Solaris: 100% completed
Installation of the packages from this media is complete.
Updating package information on boot environment <newBE-disk1>.
Package information successfully updated on boot environment <newBE-
disk1>.
Adding operating system patches to the BE <newBE-disk1>.
The operating system patch installation is complete.
INFORMATION: The file </var/sadm/system/logs/upgrade_log> on boot
environment <newBE-disk1> contains a log of the upgrade operation.
INFORMATION: The file </var/sadm/system/data/upgrade_cleanup> on boot
environment <newBE-disk1> contains a log of cleanup operations required.
INFORMATION: Review the files listed above. Remember that all of the files
are located on boot environment <newBE-disk1>. Before you activate boot
environment <newBE-disk1>, determine if any additional system maintenance
is required or if additional media of the software distribution must be
installed.
The Solaris upgrade of the boot environment < newBE-disk1> is complete.
Installing failsafe
Failsafe install is complete.
I was checking status during upgrade.
# lustatus
-------------------------- -------- ------ --------- ------ ----------
newBE-disk1 yes no no no UPDATING (can
take up to 2h)
Okay, now we need to activate new BE that will make it bootable on next
reboot.
First check BE status again, make sure everything is okay.
# lustatus
-------------------------- -------- ------ --------- ------ ----------
newBE-disk1 yes no no yes -
Or, below command also shows what BE is activated on next reboot.
# luactivate
oldBE-disk0
And finally activation of new BE.
# luactivate newBE-disk1
A Live Upgrade Sync operation will be performed on startup of boot

environment .
**********************************************************************
The target boot environment has been activated. It will be used when you
reboot. NOTE: You MUST NOT USE the reboot, halt, or uadmin commands. You
MUST USE either the init or the shutdown command when you reboot. If you
do not use either init or shutdown, the system will not boot using the
target BE.
**********************************************************************
In case of a failure while booting to the target BE, the following process
needs to be followed to fallback to the currently working boot
environment:
1. Enter the PROM monitor (ok prompt).
2. Change the boot device back to the original boot environment by typing:
setenv boot-device bootdisk
3. Boot to the original boot environment by typing:
boot
**********************************************************************
Modifying boot archive service
Activation of boot environment successful.
And new Live Upgrade status.
# lustatus
-------------------------- -------- ------ --------- ------ ----------
oldBE-disk0 yes yes no no -
newBE-disk1 yes no yes no -
Tip: make sure that OpenBoot parameter diag-switch? is setup to false.
ok setenv diag-switch? false
Reboot
# init 6
And watch console.
INIT: New run level: 6

The system is coming down. Please wait.
System services are now being stopped.
Dec 9 20:03:52 unixlab-1 nrpe[343]: Cannot remove pidfile
'/var/run/nrpe.pid' - check your privileges.
Print services already stopped.
umount: /net/unixlab/export/jumpstart busy
umount: /net/unixlab/export busy
umount: /net busy
Live Upgrade: Deactivating current boot environment <oldBE-disk0>.
Live Upgrade: Executing Stop procedures for boot environment <oldBE-
disk0>.
Live Upgrade: Current boot environment is <oldBE-disk0>.
Live Upgrade: New boot environment will be <newBE-disk1>.
Live Upgrade: Activating boot environment <newBE-disk1>.
Creating boot_archive for /.alt.tmp.b-xrh.mnt
updating /.alt.tmp.b-xrh.mnt/platform/sun4u/boot_archive
Live Upgrade: The boot device for boot environment <newBE-disk1> is
Live Upgrade: Activation of boot environment < newBE-disk1> completed.
rm: /etc/lu/DelayUpdate/ is a directory
umount: /net/unixlab/export/jumpstart busy
umount: /net/unixlab/export busy
umount: /net busy
The system is down.
syncing file systems... done
rebooting...
Executing last command: boot
Boot device: mirrdisk File and args:
SunOS Release 5.10 Version Generic_139555-08 64-bit
Copyright 1983-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Use is subject to license terms.
Hostname: unixlab-1
SUNW,eri0 : 100 Mbps full duplex link up
Configuring devices.
Loading smf(5) service descriptions: 39/170
Etc etc
Quick check of Solaris 10 BE.
The command lufslist shows you nice output about BE and it's file systems.
# lufslist newBE-disk1
boot environment name: newBE-disk1
This boot environment is currently active.
This boot environment will be active on next system boot.
Filesystem fstype device size Mounted on Mount
Options
----------------------- -------- ------------ -------------------
--------------
/dev/dsk/c1t0d0s1 swap 4298342400 - -
/dev/dsk/c1t1d0s0 ufs 21476081664 / -
/dev/dsk/c1t1d0s3 ufs 21476081664 /var -
/dev/dsk/c1t0d0s4 ufs 21476081664 /.0 -
/dev/dsk/c1t0d0s5 ufs 38752813056 /backup -
# lufslist oldBE-disk0
boot environment name: oldBE-disk0
Filesystem fstype device size Mounted on Mount
Options
----------------------- -------- ------------ -------------------
--------------
/dev/dsk/c1t0d0s1 swap 4298342400 - -
/dev/dsk/c1t0d0s0 ufs 4298342400 / -
/dev/dsk/c1t0d0s3 ufs 4298342400 /var -
/dev/dsk/c1t0d0s4 ufs 21476081664 /.0 -
/dev/dsk/c1t0d0s5 ufs 38752813056 /backup -
You can also compare current BE with one specified in below command.
# lucompare newBE-disk1
ERROR: newBE-disk1 is the active boot environment; cannot compare with
itself
# lucompare oldBE-disk0
Determining the configuration of oldBE-disk0 ...
zoneadm: global: could not get state: No such zone configured
zoneadm: failed to get zone data
< newBE-disk1
> oldBE-disk0
Processing Global Zone
Comparing / ...
Links differ
01 < /:root:root:31:16877:DIR:
02 > /:root:root:25:16877:DIR:
Permissions, Links, Group differ
01 < /lib:root:bin:7:16877:DIR:
02 > /lib:root:root:1:41471:SYMLINK:9:
02 > /lib/svc does not exist
02 > /lib/svc/bin does not exist
02 > /lib/svc/bin/lsvcrun does not exist
Etc etc
I was checking status during comparing.
# lustatus
-------------------------- -------- ------ --------- ------ ----------
oldBE-disk0 yes no no no COMPARING
newBE-disk1 yes yes yes no -
Another check:
# cat /etc/release
Solaris 10 5/09 s10s_u7wos_08 SPARC
Copyright 2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Assembled 30 March 2009
# cat /etc/release~9
Solaris 9 9/05 s9s_u8wos_05 SPARC
Copyright 2005 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Assembled 04 August 2005
Tue Dec 8 09:15:23 PST 2009 : 01 : supplementary software
Tue Dec 8 09:15:24 PST 2009 : 02 : prototype tree
See that both BE share shared FS (/.0 and /backup)
# df -h -F ufs
/dev/dsk/c1t1d0s0 20G 4.3G 15G 22% /
/dev/dsk/c1t1d0s3 20G 86M 19G 1% /var
/dev/dsk/c1t0d0s4 20G 20M 19G 1% /.0
/dev/dsk/c1t0d0s5 36G 1.7G 33G 5% /backup
/dev/dsk/c1t0d0s0 3.9G 1.6G 2.3G 41% /.alt.tmp.b-t2b.mnt
/dev/dsk/c1t0d0s3 3.9G 33M 3.9G 1% /.alt.tmp.b-
t2b.mnt/var
# df -h -F lofs
/.0 20G 20M 19G 1% /.alt.tmp.b-t2b.mnt/.0
/backup 36G 1.7G 33G 5% /.alt.tmp.b-
t2b.mnt/backup
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Documentation Home > Solaris 10 Installation Guide: Network-Based

Installations > Part IV Appendixes > Appendix A Troubleshooting
(Tasks) > Upgrading the Solaris OS > x86: Problems With Solaris Live Upgrade
When You Use GRUB
Solaris 10 Installation Guide: Network-Based Installations
 Previous: To Continue Upgrading After a Failed Upgrade
 Next: System Panics When Upgrading With Solaris Live Upgrade Running
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x86: Problems With Solaris Live Upgrade When You Use

GRUB
Starting with the Solaris 10 1/06 release, the following errors can occur when
you use Solaris Live Upgrade and the GRUB boot loader on an x86 based system.
ERROR: The media product tools installation directory path-to-installation-

directory does not exist.
ERROR: The media dirctory does not contain an operating system upgrade

image.
Description:
The error messages are seen when using the luupgrade command to upgrade a new
boot environment.
Cause:
An older version of Solaris Live Upgrade is being used. The Solaris Live Upgrade
packages you have installed on your system are incompatible with the media and
the release on that media.
Solution:
Always use the Solaris Live Upgrade packages from the release you are upgrading
to.
Example:
In the following example, the error message indicates that the Solaris Live
Upgrade packages on the system are not the same version as on the media.
# luupgrade -u -n s10u1 -s /mnt

Validating the contents of the media </mnt>.
ERROR: The media product tools installation directory
</mnt/Solaris_10/Tools/Boot/usr/sbin/install.d/install_config> does
not exist.
ERROR: The media </mnt> does not contain an operating system
upgrade
image.
ERROR: Cannot find or is not executable: </sbin/biosdev>.
ERROR: One or more patches required by Solaris Live Upgrade has not been
installed.
Cause:
One or more patches required by Solaris Live Upgrade are not installed on your
system. Beware that this error message does not catch all missing patches.
Solution:
Before using Solaris Live Upgrade, always install all the required patches. Ensure
that you have the most recently updated patch list by
consulting http://sunsolve.sun.com. Search for the info doc 72099 on the SunSolve
web site.
ERROR: Device mapping command </sbin/biosdev> failed. Please reboot and try
again.
Cause:
Reason 1: Solaris Live Upgrade is unable to map devices because of previous

administrative tasks.
Solution:
Reason 1: Reboot the system and try Solaris Live Upgrade again
Cause:
Reason 2: If you reboot your system and get the same error message, you have two
or more identical disks. The device mapping command is unable to distinguish
between them.
Solution:
Reason 2: Create a new dummy fdisk partition on one of the disks. See

the fdisk(1M) man page. Then reboot the system.
Cannot delete the boot environment that contains the GRUB menu
Cause:
Solaris Live Upgrade imposes the restriction that a boot environment cannot be
deleted if the boot environment contains the GRUB menu.
Solution:
Use lumake(1M) or luupgrade(1M) commands to reuse that boot environment.
The file system containing the GRUB menu was accidentally remade. However,
the disk has the same slices as before. For example, the disk was not re-
sliced.
Cause:
The file system that contains the GRUB menu is critical to keeping the system
bootable. Solaris Live Upgrade commands do not destroy the GRUB menu. But, if
you accidentally remake or otherwise destroy the file system containing the GRUB
menu with a command other than a Solaris Live Upgrade command, the recovery
software attempts to reinstall the GRUB menu. The recovery software puts the
GRUB menu back in the same file system at the next reboot. For example, you
might have used the newfs or mkfs commands on the file system and accidentally
destroyed the GRUB menu. To restore the GRUB menu correctly, the slice must
adhere to the following conditions:
 Contain a mountable file system
 Remain a part of the same Solaris Live Upgrade boot environment where
the slice resided previously
Before rebooting the system, make any necessary corrective actions on the slice.
Solution:
Reboot the system. A backup copy of the GRUB menu is automatically installed.
The GRUB menu's menu.lst file was accidentally deleted.
Solution:
Reboot the system. A backup copy of the GRUB menu is automatically installed.
 Previous: To Continue Upgrading After a Failed Upgrade
 Next: System Panics When Upgrading With Solaris Live Upgrade Running
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Monday, October 3, 2011

Oracle-Solaris Patching using Live Upgrade
In today's post I'll be talking about a procedure for patching Solaris server having zones installed on it
using Live Upgrade functionality.
The Solaris OS Recommended Patch Cluster provides critical Solaris OS Security, Data Corruption,
and System Availability fixes & hence it is advisable to patch your Solaris systems twice in a year
(atleast), as per Oracle-Sun's Critical Patch Update release schedule, I prefer to execute patch cycle
for my environment in end of April and sometime late October every year.
Oracle-Sun CPUs are released on the Tuesday closest to the 17th of January, April, July, and
October –
See - http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/alerts-086861.html
In my environment, I use Live Upgrade to patch our Solaris systems. Reason behind using Live
Upgrade for patching purpose are -
1. Create a copy of the system environment; that is, a copy of the root (/) file system
2. Live Upgrade has build-in feature for splitting the mirrors of an SVM mirrored root (detach, attach,
preserve options on lucreate) hence low overhead to deal with SVM mirror break stuffs separately
etc.
3. Less downtime (not more than 15-20 mins) and minimal risk.
4. Better back out option. In case something breaks after patching revert to old BE and be at stage
from where started, again that doesn’t take much downtime and safe option.
5. The most appropriate option for those Solaris servers who have zones/containers installed on it.
There might be many more benefits out there, however I find above benefits best fit for my purpose.
So to summarize, all tasks except the reboot can be accomplished on an operational production
system; the impact on any running process is minimal. Live Upgrade is a combination of maximizing
system availability when applying changes and minimizing risk by offering the ability to reboot to a
known working state (your original environment).
Well. let's see how to do it in real life, in my current environment we have many servers which uses
Solaris Volume Manager as their primary volume manager to manage the disk and data. So, let's take
a look at patching procedure to patch servers who have SVM installed and configured on it along with
zones installed on it sitting on ZFS filesystem.
Let us grab the output of metastat to understand metadevice placement -
# metastat -c
d32 p 1.0GB d4
d33 p 1.0GB d4
d36 p 40GB d4
d35 p 1.0GB d4
d34 p 4.0GB d4
d60 p 16GB d4
d30 p 1.0GB d4
d31 p 1.0GB d4
d4 m 100GB d14 d24
d14 s 100GB c1t0d0s4
d103 m 10GB d23 d13
d23 s 10GB c1t1d0s3
d13 s 10GB c1t0d0s3
d100 m 10GB d20 d10
d20 s 10GB c1t1d0s0
d10 s 10GB c1t0d0s0
d1 m 16GB d11 d21
d11 s 16GB c1t0d0s1
d21 s 16GB c1t1d0s1
Alright, my / is on d100 and /var is on d103. Let us create an alternative boot environment out of it.
# lucreate -c Sol10 -n Sol10pu -m /:/dev/md/dsk/d0:ufs,mirror -m

/:/dev/md/dsk/d20:detach,attach -m /var:/dev/md/dsk/d3:ufs,mirror –m
/var:/dev/md/dsk/d23:detach,attach
Here I'm trying to create a metadevice d0 representing / UFS filesystem having a sub-mirror d20 (sub-
mirror d20 first gets detach from d100 and then attach to d0). Same thing applicable for /var
filesystem and it's meta device configuration.
In above command I'm creating a new boot environment called Sol10pu using option “-n”, option “-m”
Specifies the vfstab information for a new UFS-based BE.
NOTE: The -m option is not supported for BEs based on ZFS file systems.
NOTE: In case you're performing upgrade and patching in one go then point to be ponder -
Before upgrading, you must install the Oracle Solaris Live Upgrade packages from the release
to which you are upgrading. New capabilities are added to the upgrade tools, so installing the
new packages from the target release is important. Example, you need to upgrade from Oracle
Solaris 10 update 4 to Oracle Solaris update 8, so you must get the Oracle Solaris Live
Upgrade packages from the Oracle Solaris update 8 DVD.
Once above command finishes, you will see you meta device configuration changed as follows -
# metastat -c
d32 p 1.0GB d4
d33 p 1.0GB d4
d36 p 40GB d4
d35 p 1.0GB d4
d34 p 4.0GB d4
d60 p 16GB d4
d30 p 1.0GB d4
d31 p 1.0GB d4
d4 m 100GB d14 d24
d103 m 10GB d23
d13 s 10GB c1t1d0s3
d100 m 10GB d20
d10 s 10GB c1t1d0s0
d3 m 10GB d13
d23 s 10GB c1t0d0s3
d0 m 10GB d10
d20 s 10GB c1t0d0s0
d1 m 16GB d11 d21
d11 s 16GB c1t0d0s1
d21 s 16GB c1t1d0s1
d0 and d3 has one sub-mirror and d100 and d100 has one sub-mirror associated.
Also you will be able to see two boot environments on your Solaris system -
# lustatus
-------------------------- -------- ------ --------- ------ ----------
Sol10 yes yes yes no -
Sol10pu yes no no yes -
Fine, so now we have 2 boot environments with us and we are going to patch the alternate BE
(sol10pu) using a patching tool called PCA, BTW - I use PCA (Patch Check Advance) tool to apply
patches to our Solaris systems. PCA has been setup to download patches via local web proxy to
access outside systems.
PCA setup tips can be found at - http://www.par.univie.ac.at/solaris/pca/usage.html

What PCA needs in case setting it up -
- PERL distribution
- At least one server which is internet facing (this server will then act as a proxy to rest of servers)
- Patch cross-reference file called patchdiag.xref (latest one always while patching)
- Valid Oracle support (MOS) user ID and password
- If at all required, some wrapper scripts to PCA
To do so, let us mount the alternate BE on mount point say /a
# lumount Sol10pu /a
/a
Now I'll create a temporary directory to download the missing & required patches,
# mkdir -p /patchman/patches
My next job is to generate patch_order file,
# /bin/pca missingrs -R /a -H --format "%p-%c" >

/patchman/patches/patch_order
Where -R stands for Alternative root directory

Where -H stands for Don't display descriptive headers
Where --format stands for Set output format to FORMAT
And go get them, download -
# /bin/pca missingrs -R /a -d -P /patchman/patches/
Where -d stands for download patches

Where -P stands for Patch download directory
Unmount the ABE -
# luumount /a
Now if you populate the /patchman/patches directory then you will see the list of patches in there.
Unzip all those patches -
# for i in `ls *.zip`;do

unzip $i
rm $i
done
Okay, at this stage we are ready upgrade ABE with patches available -
# cd /patchman/patches; luupgrade -n Sol10pu -s /patchman/patches -t `cat

patch_order`
NOTE: Reactive patching may occasionally be necessary to address break-and-fix issues so in

this case you can use LU with something like -
Apply single patch to ABE -

# luupgrade -n Sol10pu -s /patchman/patches -t
This will update patches on global as well as non-global zones.
Once the patches are installed it will automatically un-mounts the ABE sol10pu mounted on mount
point /a.
Now it's time to activate the ABE sol10pu which just been patched using Live Upgrade utility.
# luactivate Sol10pu
A Live Upgrade Sync operation will be performed on startup of boot
environment .
**********************************************************************
The target boot environment has been activated. It will be used when you
reboot. NOTE: You MUST NOT USE the reboot, halt, or uadmin commands. You
MUST USE either the init or the shutdown command when you reboot. If you
do not use either init or shutdown, the system will not boot using the
target BE.
**********************************************************************
In case of a failure while booting to the target BE, the following process
needs to be followed to fallback to the currently working boot environment:
1. Enter the PROM monitor (ok prompt).
2. Change the boot device back to the original boot environment by typing:
setenv boot-device /pci@0/pci@0/pci@2/scsi@0/disk@0,0:a
3. Boot to the original boot environment by typing:
boot
**********************************************************************
Modifying boot archive service

Activation of boot environment successful.
# init 6
updating /platform/sun4v/boot_archive
SYSTEM GOING DOWN!!!!
NOTE: Live upgrade always uses init 6 or shutdown commands. Halt and reboot commands
will create big time bang, be aware!!!
Once system is up it should show new kernel patch version.
Great, it's been a week after patching and application, DB owners are happy with patching stuffs and
now we need to perform post patching stuffs upon certain confirmations.
POST PATCHING WORK TO DO - A Week LATER....

=========================================
Now a week later I need to delete the old boot environment and rebuild the metadevices to be in
mirror layout.
# lustatus
-------------------------- -------- ------ --------- ------ ----------
Sol10 yes no no yes -
Sol10pu yes yes yes no -
# ludelete Sol10
Determining the devices to be marked free.
Updating boot environment configuration database.
Updating all boot environment configuration databases.
Boot environment deleted.
So, the meta devices are looking like as below -
# metastat -c
d32 p 1.0GB d4
d33 p 1.0GB d4
d36 p 40GB d4
d35 p 1.0GB d4
d34 p 4.0GB d4
d60 p 16GB d4
d30 p 1.0GB d4
d31 p 1.0GB d4
d4 m 100GB d14 d24
d103 m 10GB d23
d13 s 10GB c1t1d0s3
d100 m 10GB d20
d10 s 10GB c1t1d0s0
d3 m 10GB d13
d23 s 10GB c1t0d0s3
d0 m 10GB d10
d20 s 10GB c1t0d0s0
d1 m 16GB d11 d21
d11 s 16GB c1t0d0s1
d21 s 16GB c1t1d0s1
Now clear the d100 & d103 mirrors.
# metaclear d100 d103

d100: Mirror is cleared
d103: Mirror is cleared
# metastat -c
d32 p 1.0GB d4
d33 p 1.0GB d4
d36 p 40GB d4
d35 p 1.0GB d4
d34 p 4.0GB d4
d60 p 16GB d4
d30 p 1.0GB d4
d31 p 1.0GB d4
d4 m 100GB d14 d24
d3 m 10GB d13
d23 s 10GB c1t0d0s3
d0 m 10GB d10
d20 s 10GB c1t0d0s0
d1 m 16GB d11 d21
d11 s 16GB c1t0d0s1
d21 s 16GB c1t1d0s1
d13 s 10GB c1t1d0s3
d10 s 10GB c1t1d0s0
Next attach the sub-mirrors d10 & d13 to metadevices d0 and d3 respectively.
# metattach d0 d10
d0: submirror d10 is attached
# metattach d3 d13
d3: submirror d13 is attached
Hence my final meta device placement looks like as follows -
# metastat -c
d32 p 1.0GB d4
d33 p 1.0GB d4
d36 p 40GB d4
d35 p 1.0GB d4
d34 p 4.0GB d4
d60 p 16GB d4
d30 p 1.0GB d4
d31 p 1.0GB d4
d4 m 100GB d14 d24
d3 m 10GB d23 d13 (resync-25%)
d23 s 10GB c1t1d0s3
d13 s 10GB c1t0d0s3
d0 m 10GB d20 d10 (resync-45%)
d20 s 10GB c1t1d0s0
d10 s 10GB c1t0d0s0
d1 m 16GB d11 d21
d11 s 16GB c1t0d0s1
d21 s 16GB c1t1d0s1
That's it. Now your done with patching your Solaris server and zones deployed on it.
Known issue:
root@audcourtap5 # luupgrade -u -n s10u11_Jul_2016 -s /mnt
67352 blocks
Mounting miniroot at </mnt/Solaris_10/Tools/Boot>
ERROR:
The auto registration file <> does not exist or incomplete.
The auto registration file is mandatory for this upgrade.
Use -k <autoreg_file> argument along with luupgrade command.
autoreg_file is path to auto registration information file.
See sysidcfg(4) for a list of valid keywords for use in
this file.
The format of the file is as follows.
oracle_user=xxxx
oracle_pw=xxxx
http_proxy_host=xxxx
http_proxy_port=xxxx
http_proxy_user=xxxx
http_proxy_pw=xxxx
For more details refer "Oracle Solaris 10 9/10 Installation

Guide: Planning for Installation and Upgrade".
Cause: Auto registration is not specified or not disabled
Solution:
Create the auto registry disabled file using below command.
#echo "auto_reg=disable" > /tmp/sysidcfg
Upgrade the new ABE with our latest iso using below command.
#luupgrade -u -n s10u11_Jul_2016 -s /mnt –k /tmp/sysidcfg
LiveUpgrade problems
I came across with few incidents recently related to LiveUpgrade & I would like to share it to system
administrators community through this blog.
Issue #1
Problem -
LiveUpgrade stuck/hang at "Validating file system requests"
# lucreate -c Sol10u7 -n Sol10u8 -m /:/dev/md/dsk/d0:ufs,mirror \

-m /:/dev/md/dsk/d20:detach,attach \
-m /var:/dev/md/dsk/d3:ufs,mirror \
-m /var:/dev/md/dsk/d23:detach,attach
Discovering physical storage devices
Discovering logical storage devices
Cross referencing storage devices with boot environment configurations
Determining types of file systems supported
Validating file system requests
HANG...HANG...HANG...HANG..YOU'RE STUCK...HANG...IT SUCKS...WHAT'S NEXT???
Solution -
Just execute -
# devfsadm -v -C
It will clear any broken device links under /dev or unreferenced device links under /dev directory. After
performing this LiveUpgrade work like a piece of cake!
Issue #2
Problem -
After LiveUpgrade/patching Sol10u7 to Sol10u8, I activated the ABE Sol10u8 & booted off from it.
After doing so I deleted the one of the container as we no longer needed that container & cleared up
the metadevice where the zoneroot was residing. Deleting container, I certainly made changes to ABE
Sol10u8 however those were not obliviously reflected to original BE Sol10u7. So now while deleting
Sol10u7 LU program finds a mismatch & fails to delete the boot environment.
# lustatus
-------------------------- -------- ------ --------- ------ ----------
Sol10u7 yes no no yes -
Sol10u8 yes yes yes no -
# ludelete Sol10u7
ERROR: mount: /zone1: No such file or directory
ERROR: cannot mount mount point device /.alt.tmp.b-k2c.mnt/zone1 device
/zone1
ERROR: failed to mount file system /zone1 on /.alt.tmp.b-k2c.mnt/zone1
ERROR: unmounting partially mounted boot environment file systems
ERROR: cannot mount boot environment by icf file /etc/lu/ICF.2
ERROR: Cannot mount BE .
Unable to delete boot environment.
Solution -
I don't know if it's a Sun supported solution or workaround. I simply edit the /etc/lu/ICF.nn file for the
problematic BE, and delete the lines that reference the missing (or moved) filesystems & it worked
fine.
# ludelete Sol10u7
INFORMATION: Unable to determine size or capacity of slice .
ERROR: An error occurred during creation of configuration file.
WARNING: Target BE BE ID <2> unable to verify file systems belonging to BE
are not mounted.
WARNING: Unable to determine disk partition configuration information for
BE .
WARNING: Unable to determine the devices/datasets to be freed for BE .
# echo $?
0
# lustatus
-------------------------- -------- ------ --------- ------ ----------
Sol10u8 yes yes yes no -
Adding one more tip - 31 Aug 2010
Issue #3
Problem: -
While ludelete operation I got below error -
# ludelete Sol10u8_stage1
ERROR: Read-only file system: cannot create mount point
ERROR: failed to create mount point for file system
ERROR: unmounting partially mounted boot environment file systems
ERROR: cannot mount boot environment by icf file
ERROR: Cannot mount BE .
Unable to delete boot environment.
Solution: -
As a part of solution, I used unofficial method to get rid of the Pesky BE. I modified /etc/lu/ICF.2 a bit
and TRUST ME "lufslist" IS YOUR TRUE FRIEND.
# lufslist Sol10u8_stage1 && lufslist s10s_u8wos_08a
boot environment name: Sol10u8_stage1

Filesystem fstype device size Mounted on Mount Options
----------------------- -------- ------------ -------------------
--------------
/dev/md/dsk/d1 swap 34365898752 - -
/dev/md/dsk/d0 ufs 10743250944 / -
/dev/md/dsk/d3 ufs 8596684800 /var -
/dev/md/dsk/d31 ufs 1073741824 /home -
/dev/md/dsk/d30 ufs 1073741824 /opt/patrol logging
/dev/md/dsk/d32 ufs 536870912 /etc/opt/OV logging
/dev/md/dsk/d33 ufs 1073741824 /cims logging
/dev/md/dsk/d34 ufs 4294967296 /oraarch logging
boot environment name: s10s_u8wos_08a

This boot environment is currently active.
This boot environment will be active on next system boot.
Filesystem fstype device size Mounted on Mount Options

----------------------- -------- ------------ -------------------
--------------
/dev/zvol/dsk/rpool/swap swap 34366029824 - -
rpool/ROOT/s10s_u8wos_08a zfs 6566768640 / -
/dev/md/dsk/d33 ufs 1073741824 /cims -
/dev/md/dsk/d31 ufs 1073741824 /home -
rpool zfs 55018053120 /rpool -
zp00/backup zfs 15671161726 /backup -
zp00/opt-OV zfs 1750692636 /opt/OV -
zp00/pw zfs 598801456 /opt/pw -
zp00/oracle zfs 8574417038 /oracle -
/dev/md/dsk/d34 ufs 4294967296 /oraarch -
zp00/orabkup zfs 345610320 /orabkup -
zp00/oemagent zfs 1251898296 /oemagent -
zp00/oradata1 zfs 1231904784 /oradata1 -
zp00/patrol_sw zfs 27280 /patrol_sw -
/dev/md/dsk/d32 ufs 536870912 /etc/opt/OV -
/dev/md/dsk/d30 ufs 1073741824 /opt/patrol -
zp00/var-opt-OV zfs 11173308982 /var/opt/OV -
# cat ICF.2
Sol10u8_stage1:-:/dev/md/dsk/d1:swap:67120896
Sol10u8_stage1:/:/dev/md/dsk/d0:ufs:20982912
Sol10u8_stage1:/var:/dev/md/dsk/d3:ufs:16790400
Sol10u8_stage1:/cims:/dev/md/dsk/d33:ufs:2097152
Sol10u8_stage1:/home:/dev/md/dsk/d31:ufs:2097152
Sol10u8_stage1:/rpool:rpool:zfs:0
Sol10u8_stage1:/backup:zp00/backup:zfs:0
Sol10u8_stage1:/opt/OV:zp00/opt-OV:zfs:0
Sol10u8_stage1:/opt/pw:zp00/pw:zfs:0
Sol10u8_stage1:/oracle:zp00/oracle:zfs:0
Sol10u8_stage1:/oraarch:/dev/md/dsk/d34:ufs:8388608
Sol10u8_stage1:/orabkup:zp00/orabkup:zfs:0
Sol10u8_stage1:/oemagent:zp00/oemagent:zfs:0
Sol10u8_stage1:/oradata1:zp00/oradata1:zfs:0
Sol10u8_stage1:/patrol_sw:zp00/patrol_sw:zfs:0
Sol10u8_stage1:/etc/opt/OV:/dev/md/dsk/d32:ufs:1048576
Sol10u8_stage1:/opt/patrol:/dev/md/dsk/d30:ufs:2097152
Sol10u8_stage1:/rpool/ROOT:rpool/ROOT:zfs:0
Sol10u8_stage1:/var/opt/OV:zp00/var-opt-OV:zfs:0
I wonder why ZFS filesystems listed in this file and hence it is trying to mount BR on existing ZFS BE
so I just altered file with below entries -
# vi ICF.2
"ICF.2" 22 lines, 1001 characters
Sol10u8_stage1:-:/dev/md/dsk/d1:swap:67120896
Sol10u8_stage1:/:/dev/md/dsk/d0:ufs:20982912
Sol10u8_stage1:/var:/dev/md/dsk/d3:ufs:16790400
Sol10u8_stage1:/cims:/dev/md/dsk/d33:ufs:2097152
Sol10u8_stage1:/home:/dev/md/dsk/d31:ufs:2097152
Sol10u8_stage1:/oraarch:/dev/md/dsk/d34:ufs:8388608
Sol10u8_stage1:/etc/opt/OV:/dev/md/dsk/d32:ufs:1048576
Sol10u8_stage1:/opt/patrol:/dev/md/dsk/d30:ufs:2097152
:wq!
After this change ludete worked like charm!!!!

# ludelete Sol10u8_stage1
Posted by Nilesh Joshi at 1/21/2010 02

Live Upgrade From Solaris 9 To Solaris 10: Back To The Main Page

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Live Upgrade From Solaris 9 To Solaris 10: Back To The Main Page

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Live Upgrade from Solaris 9 to Solaris 10

This means that critical FS are separate mount points in /etc/vfstab of

Duplicating current running BE means coping critical FS to another

For this exercise, I installed Solaris 9 on SunFire V120 (using jumpstart

So after installation, required application (Live Upgrade) is on my system.

application SUNWlur Live Upgrade (root)

1. Remove packages for Solaris 9 (# pkgrm SUNWlur SUNWluu)

# showrev -p |grep 137477-01

Live Upgrade Menus can be viewed with command /usr/sbin/lu

Looks like below:

But let's use CLI here.

By the way, system has 2 disks.

Well, first I partitioned Disk 1 same as Disk 0, but partition size of 4G

And current entries in /etc/vfstab are

# lucreate -c current_BE -m mountpoint:device:FStype -n new_BE

For me, below command completed in 1 hour.

# lucreate -c oldBE-disk0 -m /:/dev/dsk/c1t1d0s0:ufs -m

Discovering physical storage devices

During duplication on old BE, I checked BE status and it was.

Also I can follow progress of creating new BE.

Okay, now we are ready to upgrade new BE to Solaris 10.

The ISO image is in shared directory on other machine, hostname unixlab

# luupgrade -c -l /tmp/error-checkmedia.txt -o /tmp/output-checkmedia.txt

# luupgrade -u -n newBE-disk1 -l /.0/error-upgrade.txt -o /.0/output-

This looks okay. Let's run it in real.

# luupgrade -u -n newBE-disk1 -l /.0/error-upgrade.txt -o /.0/output-

I was checking status during upgrade.

First check BE status again, make sure everything is okay.

Or, below command also shows what BE is activated on next reboot.

And finally activation of new BE.

A Live Upgrade Sync operation will be performed on startup of boot

And new Live Upgrade status.

Tip: make sure that OpenBoot parameter diag-switch? is setup to false.

ok setenv diag-switch? false

And watch console.

INIT: New run level: 6

Quick check of Solaris 10 BE.

I was checking status during comparing.

See that both BE share shared FS (/.0 and /backup)

Back to the main page

Documentation Home > Solaris 10 Installation Guide: Network-Based

Solaris 10 Installation Guide: Network-Based Installations

 Previous: To Continue Upgrading After a Failed Upgrade

x86: Problems With Solaris Live Upgrade When You Use

ERROR: The media product tools installation directory path-to-installation-

ERROR: The media dirctory does not contain an operating system upgrade

# luupgrade -u -n s10u1 -s /mnt

ERROR: Cannot find or is not executable: </sbin/biosdev>.

Reason 1: Solaris Live Upgrade is unable to map devices because of previous

Reason 2: Create a new dummy fdisk partition on one of the disks. See

Use lumake(1M) or luupgrade(1M) commands to reuse that boot environment.

 Contain a mountable file system

The GRUB menu's menu.lst file was accidentally deleted.

 Previous: To Continue Upgrading After a Failed Upgrade

 © 2010, Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates

Monday, October 3, 2011

Let us grab the output of metastat to understand metadevice placement -

# lucreate -c Sol10 -n Sol10pu -m /:/dev/md/dsk/d0:ufs,mirror -m

PCA setup tips can be found at - http://www.par.univie.ac.at/solaris/pca/usage.html

To do so, let us mount the alternate BE on mount point say /a

# /bin/pca missingrs -R /a -H --format "%p-%c" >

Where -R stands for Alternative root directory