IT FACILITIES CROSS

SYSTEMHARDWARE
ADMINISTRATION
SUPPORT
TRAINING PROGRAMME
• Unix Overview

• Installation
 Systems
Computer systems consist of …

Hardware Software

terminal word processor

keyboard spreadsheet
cpu Operating database
printer System telecommunications
modem browser
scanner HTML editor
etc. Controls both hardware image editor
and software etc
 Operating Systems
OS acts as user interface
Performs services on command
Allocates
Resources Manages
Memory
Controls Access and
Assigns Permissions

Organizes Files
 Modern OS’s
Which one are you familiar with? Which have you used?

Mac Windows
DOS

Unix NT

Linux
 UNIX Overview

(UNiplexed Information and Computing System)

 Unix History

1969 AT&T 1976 Free to Berkeley

Bell Labs Universities Software
Distribution

Late 70’s
Commercial 4.4BSD-Lite Removed
Version AT&T code

System V BSD Hp-UX

Flavours
Free, Open, Net BSD
IBM AIX
Digital Unix (Sheridan)
 Unix Components
Kernel is the heart of the OS
– manages hardware

Shell is a command line user

kernel Shell interface that enables
Utilities
interaction with the kernel

Utilities are programs for

common tasks such as
copying, moving, renaming,
and removing files
Filesystem
 Types of Shell
Bourne Shell ($) sh The oldest of the shells which was designed
by Steve Bourne. It is considered a bit
primitive but very good for scripting.

C Shell (%) csh The C Shell is probably the most popular.

However, though it adds many nice features
(likehistory and job control) unavailable in the
Bourne Shell, it is quite buggy for heavy
users.

Korn Shell ($) ksh David Korn wrote this shell to be compatible
with the Bourne Shell but included the cool
features introduced by the C Shell. However,
it did the C Shell one step further and
introduced history editing.
 Shell Facilities
Bourne C Korn

Command history No Yes Yes

Command alias No Yes Yes

Shell scripts Yes Yes Yes

Command line
editing No No Yes
 Unix Filesystem
A way of naming things and arranging them in
Namespace a hierarchy

Application Programming Interface –

API routines for programmers to call

Security
A scheme for protecting,
hiding, and sharing things
Implementation
Code that ties the logical model to an actual disk
 Why Unix?

Multiuser Multitasking

Sophisticated text editors: vi,

Sophisticated security emacs
 Unix Conventions

CASE Sensitive!!!!!!!!!! Cat CAT cat -- all different

No drives – just directories and files /home/luna/8/wilburn

Commands are lower case followed by ls –l | sort | more

a space
 Unix Kernel
Unix kernel assembles hardware features

Processes (time sharing, protected address space)

Signals Virtual memory

and semaphores kernel (swapping, paging, mapping)

The Filesystem Interprocess communication

(files, directories, namespace) (pipes and network connections)
 Filesystem
Most filesystems are disk partitions – but they don’t have to be

/root Contains the kernel

/bin /dev /etc /usr /var

commands devices startup and

configuration
files

/lib /man /local

 Types of Files

Regular Files

Directory files
UNIX domain sockets
Character device files
Names pipes (FIFOs)
Block device files
Symbolic links
 Regular Files

Unix imposes no structure on the

contents
Bag o’ bytes

Text files, data files, executable

programs, shared libraries – stored as
sequential and random access files
 Device Files
Device files allow Unix programs to communicate with the
system’s hardware and peripherals

Character devices files

Includes device
allow their associated
drivers
drivers to do their own I/O
buffering
 Directories

Directory contains named references to other files

Directories contain the names of files

but not their contents

A file can be associated with two or

more directories as “hard” links which
use a direct reference
 Symbolic Links
A symbolic or “soft” link points to a file by name

Symbolic links are distinct from the files

they point to
Hard link is a direct reference
Symbolic link is a reference by name
 Named Pipes
Pipelining allows you to connect two programs together so that the output
of one program becomes the input to the next program.

Utility or Utility or
pipe User Program
User Program

Output  Piped  Input

Named pipes allow communication between two unrelated processes

running on the same host. Named pipes are not common
 Installation
Installing the Solaris 8 Operating
Environment on a Standalone System
The Solaris Operating Environment Software
Installation Options:-

You can install the Solaris 8 software on a system using one of the
following installation options:

• Solaris Web Start 3.0 Installation – Provides a graphical user

interface-based, Java technology-powered software application
that guides you through the installation of the Solaris Operating
Environment and other software on a single system from a local or
remote CD-ROM drive.
• Solaris Interactive Installation Program – Provides a graphical user
interface that guides you step-by-step through installing the
Solaris 8 Operating Environment software. This installation
program does not enable you to install all the additional software,
as with Solaris Web Start, it installs only the Solaris 8 Operating
Environment software.

• Solaris Installation Over the Network – Provides the capability to

install the Solaris Operating Environment software on a large
number of systems that do not have a local CD-ROM drive. This
eliminates the need to insert the Solaris 8 Operating Environment
software CD-ROM on every system. You can install these systems
from the remote Solaris 8 Operating Environment software CD
images, which have been copied to an install server system’s hard
drive.
• Solaris JumpStart Installation – Provides the capability to
automatically install the Solaris 8 Operating Environment software
on a new system only, by inserting the CD labeled Solaris 8
Software 1 of 2 SPARC Platform Edition or Intel Platform Edition
into the CD-ROM drive and turning on the system. The software
components installed are specified by a default profile that is
selected based on the model and disk size of the system.

• Solaris Custom JumpStart Installation – A type of installation in

which the Solaris 8 Operating Environment software is automatically
installed on a system based on a user-defined profile. You can customize
profiles for different types of users and systems, and this is the most cost-
effective option for installing the Solaris Operating Environment software
in a large enterprise. Provides a hands off installation across the network
based on a central configured server.
Note – This module describes how to install the Solaris Operating
Environment software on a single system with Solaris Web Start, Sun’s
graphical wizard, Java technology-powered software installation
application.
 Hardware Requirements for Solaris OS

 A SPARC-based or an Intel-based system

 64 Mbytes of memory
 2.3 Gbytes of disk space
 Access to a CD-ROM drive

The Solaris Operating Environment Software Groups

 Core
Core is a software group that contains the minimum software required
to boot and run the Solaris Operating Environment on a system. It
includes some networking software and the drivers required to run the
Common Desktop Environment (CDE) or OpenWindows desktop. It
does not include the CDE or OpenWindows software.
 End User System Support
The End User System Support is a software group that contains the
Core software group plus the recommended software for an end user,
including OpenWindows or CDE and DeskSet software.
Note – Approximate disk space requirement for End User is 1.6 Gbytes.

 Developer System Support

The Developer System Support is a software group that contains the
End User System Support software group plus the libraries, include
files, man pages, and programming tools for developing software.
Note – Approximate disk space requirement for Developer is 1.9 Gbytes.

 Entire Distribution
The Entire Distribution is a software group that contains the entire
Solaris Operating Environment software release.
Note – Approximate disk space requirement for Entire Distribution is
2.3 Gbytes.
 Entire Distribution PlusOEMSupport
The Entire Distribution Plus OEM Support is a software group
that contains the entire Solaris Operating Environment software
release, plus additional hardware support for Original Equipment
Manufacturers (OEMs). This software group is recommended
when installing the Solaris Operating Environment software on
SPARCbased servers.

Note – Approximate disk space requirement for Entire

Distribution Plus OEM is 2.4 Gbytes.
Pre-Installation Information

Before installing the OS, you must provide the following

information:

 Host name – A unique, commonly short name for the system. You
can use the command uname -n command to determine the host
name on an existing system.

 Host IP address – A software address representing the host

address and network address.

 Name service type – Determine if the networked system is to be

included in one of the following types of name service domains:
NIS, NIS+, Other, or None.
Subnet mask – Determine if the networked system is to be
included in a particular subnet. The subnets mask is stored in the
/etc/netmasks file.

Geographic location and time zone – A specific region where the

system physically resides.

Root password – A password assigned to root to gain access and

root privileges on the system.

Language – Determine the language to be used to install the

Solaris Operating Environment.

Simplified Chinese German Swedish

Traditional Chinese Italian Spanish
English Japanese
French Korean
Subnet mask – Determine if the networked system is to be
included in a particular subnet. The subnets mask is stored in the
/etc/netmasks file.

Geographic location and time zone – A specific region where the

system physically resides.

Root password – A password assigned to root to gain access and

root privileges on the system.

Language – Determine the language to be used to install the

Solaris Operating Environment.

Simplified Chinese German Swedish

Traditional Chinese Italian Spanish
English Japanese
French Korean
 The BootPROM

The BootPROM Concept

Each Sun system has a boot PROM chip. This 8-Kbyte chip is typically
located on the same board as the CPU.
The main functions of the boot PROM are to test the system hardware
and boot the operating system.
The boot PROM firmware, referred to as the monitor program,
controls the operation of the system before the kernel is available. The
boot PROM firmware has the capabilities to perform system
initialization at power on and provide a user interface.

Note – The boot PROM does not understand the Solaris Operating
Environment file systems or files; it deals mainly with hardware
devices.
The NVRAM Component

Another important hardware element in each Sun system is the

NVRAM chip. The NVRAM is 8-Kbytes of nonvolatile random access
memory. This is a pluggable chip that is often located on the main
system board.

The NVRAM stores the Ethernet address, host ID, and the time-of-day
(TOD) clock. A single lithium battery within the NVRAM module
provides battery backup for the NVRAM and clock. The NVRAM
module also contains the EEPROM for the storage of user-configurable
parameters that have been changed or customized from the boot
PROM’s default parameters settings. This gives you a
certain level of flexibility in configuring the system to behave in a
particular manner for a specific set of circumstances. The user-interface
commands and device aliases are stored in the NVRAM.
Note – The NVRAM chip has a yellow sticker with a bar code on it.
Many software packages that are licensed are based on the system host
ID in NVRAM. If the chip fails, Sun will replace it with a new chip
containing the same host ID and Ethernet address.

Basic BootPROM Commands

The boot PROM monitor provides a user interface for invoking

OpenBoot commands, such as those listed below.

Note – The ok prompt indicates the Solaris Operating Environment is

currently not running.

The following are some commonly used commands:

ok banner ok setenv ok probe-scsi
ok boot ok reset ok probe-scsi-all
ok help ok set-defaults
ok printenv ok probe-ide
The banner Command
The banner command lists several lines of useful information about
the system, such as the model name, amount of memory, host ID,
Ethernet address, and the boot PROM version number, (for example,
1.x, 2.x, or 3.x).

ok banner
Sun Ultra 5/10 UPA/PCI (UltraSPARC-IIi 270MHz), Keyboard Present
OpenBoot 3.11, 128 MB memory installed, Serial #11900965.
Ethernet address 8:0:20:b5:98:25, Host ID: 80b59825.

The bootCommand

You use the boot command to boot the Solaris Operating

Environment from the ok prompt.
This command has several options available for booting the system in
different situations.
Command Format

ok boot [device_name] - [options]

Entering the boot command at the ok prompt boots the system to
multiuser mode automatically. For example: ok boot

Options

The following list describes the options for the boot command:
s – Boots the system to a single-user mode and prompts for the
root password. For example: ok boot -s

Note – To continue the process and bring the system to multiuser

mode, press the Control-d keys.

a – Boots the system interactively. This is useful if you need to

make a temporary change to the system file or the kernel. The
boot program asks you for the following information: ok boot -a
Enter filename of the kernel (kernel/unix):
Enter default directory for modules (kernel,
/usr/kernel):
Enter name of system file (etc/system):
Enter default root file system type (ufs):
Enter physical name of root device:

r – Performs a reconfiguration boot. Any newly attached device is

found and new device entries are created in the /devices and
/dev directories, and the /etc/path_to_inst file is updated. For
example:
ok boot -r

V – Boots the system while displaying more detailed device

information to the console. Useful for troubleshooting problems
during the boot process. Some examples include:
ok boot -V
ok boot -rV
ok boot -sV
Single-User Mode

In single user mode, the system is running only minimal processes and
services, and regular users cannot log in.

Note – Single user mode is often referred to as maintenance mode. The root
password is required to move into single-user mode on a system.

Multi-User Mode

Multi-user mode indicates the system is running all of the processes and
services necessary to support multiple users who have logged in to access
the system and its data.

The help Command

You use the help command to obtain help on the main categories contained
in the OpenBoot firmware. The help listing provides a number of other key
words that you can use in the help command to provide further details.
For example: ok help

Enter ’help command-name’ or ’help category-name’ for more help

(Use ONLY the first word of a category description)

Examples:
help select -or- help line Select I/O devices
Main categories are: Floppy eject
Repeated loops Power on reset
Defining new commands Diag (diagnostic routines)
Numeric output Resume execution
Radix (number base conversions) File download and boot
Arithmetic ok
nvramrc (making new commands permanent)
Memory access
Line editor
System and boot configuration parameters
Detailed Help

To view specific information for one of the main categories listed

above, type the following:
ok help line
ok help system
ok help diag
ok help file

The printenv Command

You can use the printenv command to list all the NVRAM
parameters. The name of each parameter is displayed along with the
values of its default setting and current setting (if the parameter can be
modified).
ok printenv

Variable Name Value Default Value

tpe-link-test? true true
scsi-initiator-id 7 7
keyboard-click? false false
ttyb-rts-dtr-off false false
ttyb-ignore-cd true true
ttya-rts-dtr-off false false
ttya-ignore-cd true true
ttyb-mode 9600,8,n,1,- 9600,8,n,1,-
ttya-mode 9600,8,n,1,- 9600,8,n,1,-
pcia-probe-list 1,2,3,4 1,2,3,4
pcib-probe-list 1,2,3 1,2,3
diag-level max max
output-device screen screen
input-device keyboard keyboard
boot-command boot boot
auto-boot? true true (if true boot automatically after power-on)
diag-device net net (diagnostic boot source device)
diag-switch true true (run diagnostic mode)
boot-device disk net (device from which to boot)
local-mac-address? false false (if true network drivers use their own
mac)
screen-#columns 80 80 (no of on-screen columns)
screen-#rows 34 34 ( no of on-screen rows)

You can also use the printenv command to display only a single
parameter and its values. For example, to display only the bootdevice
parameter:
ok printenv boot-device
boot-device = disk net
The possible values to boot-device include: disk, net, and cdrom.
The setenv Command

You use the setenv command to change the current values assigned to
NVRAM parameters.
In this example, the auto-boot? parameter is changed from its default
setting of true to a new current value of false.
ok printenv auto-boot?
auto-boot? = true
ok
ok setenv auto-boot? false
auto-boot? = false
ok reset
Resetting ...
The reset command reads the changes to the environment variables.
The reset Command
The reset command halts the system, clears all buffers, registers the system, and
does one of the following:
Reboots the system if the auto-boot? parameter is set to true
Redisplays the ok prompt if the auto-boot? parameter is set to false

The set-defaults Command

You use the set-defaults command to reset all parameters to their default values.
It affects only those parameters that have assigned default values.
ok set-defaults
Setting NVRAM parameters to default values.
ok
To reset only a specific parameter to its default value, use the set default
command.
ok set-default parameter-name

For example: ok set-default diag-level

To View Device Path Names

To see the entire device tree, use the show-devs command.

ok show-devs
/SUNW,UltraSPARC-IIi@0,0
/pci@1f,0
/virtual-memory
/memory@0,10000000
/pci@1f,0/pci@1
/pci@1f,0/pci@1,1
/pci@1f,0/pci@1/pci@1
/pci@1f,0/pci@1/pci@1/SUNW,isptwo@4
/pci@1f,0/pci@1/pci@1/SUNW,hme@0,1
/pci@1f,0/pci@1/pci@1/SUNW,isptwo@4/st
/pci@1f,0/pci@1/pci@1/SUNW,isptwo@4/sd
/pci@1f,0/pci@1,1/ide@3
/pci@1f,0/pci@1,1/SUNW,m64B@2
/pci@1f,0/pci@1,1/network@1,1
/pci@1f,0/pci@1,1/ebus@1
Using probe- Commands to Identify Devices

To identify the peripheral devices, such as disks, tape drives or

CDROMs currently connected to the system, use the OBP commands:
probe-ide
probe-scsi
probe-scsi-all

The probe-scsi Command

The probe-scsi command identifies the peripheral devices (disks, tape drives, or
CDROMs) attached to the on-board SCSI controller, by their target address. For
example:

ok probe-scsi
Target 3
Unit 0 Disk SEAGATE ST1480 SUN0424626600190016
Target 6
Unit 0 Removable Read Only device SONY CDROM
The probe-scsi-all Command

The probe-scsi-all command identifies the peripheral devices attached to the on-
board SCSI controller and all peripheral devices attached to separate SBus or PCI
SCSI controllers.
ok probe-scsi-all
/pci@1f,0/pci@1/pci@1/SUNW,isptwo@4
Target 3
Unit 0 Disk FUJITSU MAB3045S SUN4.2G1907
Target 4
Unit 0 Removable Tape EXABYTE EXB-8505SMBANSH20090

The probe-ide Command

The probe-ide command identifies the peripheral devices, currently only disks
and CDROMs, attached to the on-board ide controller. This command does not
display target addresses, only device numbers.
For example:
ok probe-ide
Device 0 ( Primary Master ) --- ATA Model : ST 34342A
Device 1 ( Primary Slave ) --- Not Present
Device 2 ( Secondary Master ) --- Removable ATAPI Model : CRD-8240B
Device 3 ( Secondary Slave ) --- Not Present

Identifying the System’s Boot Device

The system’s boot device is set in the NVRAM as the boot-device parameter,
which is by default set to disk. ok printenv boot-device
boot-device = disk net
To identify the current boot device for the system, use the devalias command.
ok devalias
screen /pci@1f,0/pci@1,1/SUNW,m64B@2
net /pci@1f,0/pci@1,1/network@1,1
cdrom /pci@1f,0/pci@1,1/ide@3/cdrom@2,0:f
disk /pci@1f,0/pci@1,1/ide@3/disk@0,0
disk3 /pci@1f,0/pci@1,1/ide@3/disk@3,0
disk2 /pci@1f,0/pci@1,1/ide@3/disk@2,0
disk1 /pci@1f,0/pci@1,1/ide@3/disk@1,0
Creating Custom Device Aliases

You can boot from an external device. External devices do not, by default, have
built-in device aliases associated with them. A portion of the NVRAM called
NVRAMRC contains registers to hold parameters and is also, reserved for storing
new device alias names. The NVRAMRC is effected by the commands nvalias,
nvunalias, nvedit and the parameter use-nvramrc?.

The nvalias and nvunalias Commands

To create a new device alias name to access the newly attached external device,
use the command nvalias. To create a custom device alias name:

ok nvalias alias-name device-path

The effect of nvalias is to store this entire command line in the NVRAMRC.
To remove a custom device alias name:

ok nvunalias alias-name

The effect of nvunalias is to delete the alias name from NVRAMRC.

Using nvalias to Create Custom Device Aliases
The following procedure shows how to add a new boot device alias,
called mydisk, and boot the system from this new boot device alias.
Using show-disks select the device path that relates to the disk to be
used. Using nvalias create a new device alias called mydisk.
ok show-disks

(select a disk from the list)

ok nvalias mydisk /pci@1f,0/pci@1/pci@1/SUNW,isptwo@4/sd
Removing Custom Device Aliases

You use nvunalias to delete the alias name mydisk from NVRAMRC,
and set the boot-device to disk.
ok nvunalias mydisk
ok setenv boot-device disk
boot-device = disk
ok reset
Resetting ...

The nvedit Command

On Sun systems with PROM versions 1.x and 2.x, the nvalias
command might not be available to create custom device alias names.
On these systems you use the nvedit command to edit the
NVRAMRC directly. The nvedit editor is a simple line editor that has
a set of editing commands and operates in a temporary buffer.
The following is a sample nvedit session:
ok setenv use-nvramrc? true
use-nvramrc? = true
ok nvedit
0: devalias mydisk /pci@1f,0/pci@1,1/ide@3/disk@0,0
1: Control-c
ok nvstore
ok reset
Resetting ...
ok boot mydisk

You use the nvstore command, which is invoked after exiting nveditp to make
permanent changes to NVRAMRC.
The following lists some basic nvedit commands:

^C – Exits the editor ^F – Goes forward one character

^U – Deletes the current line ^P – Goes back one line
Delete – Erases the previous characters ^N – Goes forward one line
Return – Closes the current line, opens a new line
Changing NVRAM Parameters with the eeprom Command

You use the /usr/sbin/eeprom command to view and change the

NVRAM parameters while the Solaris Operating Environment is
running. You should be aware of the following guidelines when using the
eeprom command:

Only root can change the value of a parameter.

Parameters with a trailing question mark must be enclosed in single quotes when
executed in the C shell.
All changes are permanent. There is no reset command to be run.

Examples
To list all of the parameters with default and current values, type:
# eeprom
To list a single parameter and its value, type:
# eeprom boot-device
boot-device=disk
#
To change the value of the default boot device, type:
# eeprom boot-device=disk2
#
To change the value of the auto-boot? parameter, type:
# eeprom auto-boot?=true
auto-boot?=true
#