Subject: Re: (OT) Installing Solaris using a NetBSD install server
To: Sean Davis <dive-nb@endersgame.net>
From: Volker A. Brandt <vab@bb-c.de>
List: port-sparc64
Date: 07/17/2005 15:45:35
Sean Davis writes:
> On Sun, Jul 17, 2005 at 05:47:26PM +1000, Daniel Carosone wrote:
> > On Sat, Jul 16, 2005 at 09:07:01PM -0400, Sean Davis wrote:
> > > I realize that this is a NetBSD list, not a Solaris list, but I've been told
> > > that it is doable (I can't remember who said it...), and can't figure
> out
That was me :-)
> > > how.
> >
> > I did it years ago, it works fine. IIRC, I had run the
> > solaris-specific "copy everything off the CD and lay out the install
> > dirs" script already on a solaris box, and jsut copied that and some
> > bootparams (etc) files across to netbsd.
Just listen to the man, Dan! He does not have Solaris-related problems
*AT ALL*!
He has a chicken-and-egg problem that the Solaris install CD has
*several* (in this case, two) slices needed for the installation (or
the install server setup). Yes, this was different "years ago".
In particular, the Solaris_<N>/Tools/Boot directory on slice 0 is now
a symlink to slice 1.
Sean, you need to do one of three things:
- find a Sparc machine running Solaris, then use dd or something
similar to rip the install image apart, and mount the two slices
separately using lofi
- find a Sparc machine with a CD-ROM drive, then boot the install
CD into single user, then copy the two slices to the install
server across the network
- find a Solaris installation *DVD*, since the DVD has a copy of
slice 1 in Solaris_<N>/Tools/Boot.
> > Is the NetBSD machine not a sparc? In this case, you'll likely need to
> > use sunlabel(8) to read the label off the CD and adjust the in-core
> > label to suit. "dkctl ... keeplabel yes" is handy between invocations
> > here :)
Now *that* sounds interesting, Daniel! Does that mean that you
can expose the two slices separately, and then mount them?
> sunlabel doesn't find a valid label on the cd image (mounted
> via vnd) I'll give it a shot on the burned cd, but I expect the same
> results.
You will get the same results.
> Also, I can't install Solaris on the Ultra 5 (my original plan) because
> Solaris apparently refuses to detect non-IDE drives in Ultra 5's. The
> machine is setup with an Adaptec 2940UW-OFW + Seagate Cheetah in it, which
> OpenBoot sees just fine, but Solaris' installer does not.
The OBP can see the card since it is a PCI card. Have you checked
if you *really* have the Sun OFW version of the card? You can do
this by entering "show-disks" at the OBP prompt. If a path to the
controller appears there, the OBP knows it's a disk controller.
HTH -- Volker
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volker A. Brandt Consulting and Support for Sun Solaris
Brandt & Brandt Computer GmbH WWW: http://www.bb-c.de/~vab/
Meckenheim, Germany Email: vab@bb-c.de