Solaris basic trouble shooting

Saturday, August 8, 2009 at 9:10 AM
Solaris booting issues & Problems:

Check the status of the syslogd:
logger -p local0.err "syslogd is alive"
TRUSS:
truss -dDelaf -vall -p `pgrep cron`

Following are some of the booting issues, error messages their meaning and possible solutions

1) Booting in single user mode and mounting root disk.
2) Making boot device alias
3) "Timeout waiting for ARP/RARP packet"? error message.
4) "The file just loaded does not appear to be executable" error message.
5) "bootblk: can't find the boot program" error message.
6) "boot: cannot open kernel/unix" error message .
7) "Error reading ELF header"? error message .
8) "Cannot open '/etc/path_to_inst'" error message.
9) "Can't stat /dev/rdsk/c0t3d0s0" error message .

1. Booting in single user mode and mounting root hard disk.

Most important step in diagnosing the booting problems is booting the system in single user mode and examining the hard disk for possible errors & work out the corrective measure. Single user mode can be achieved by any of the following methods :-
ok> boot -s ;from root disk
ok> boot net -s ;from network

ok>boot cdrom -s ;from cdrom
Rebooting with command: cdrom -s
Configuring the /devices directory
Configuring the /dev directory
INIT: SINGLE USER MODE
#
# fsck /dev/rdsk/c0t3d0s0
# mount /dev/dsk/c0t3d0s0 /mnt

Perform the required operation on mounted disk, now accessible through /mnt ,& unmount the hard disk after you are done ;
# umount /mnt
# reboot

2. Making boot device alias

In case system can not boot from primary disk and it is needed to make another boot disk to access the data, nvalias command is used.
nvalias command makes the device alias and assigns an alternate name to a physical disk. Physical address of target disk is required which can be had by show-disk command on ok>.

ok> nvalias disk7 /iommu@f,e0000000/sbus@f,e0001000/dma@3,81000/esp@3,80000/sd2,0
The new aliased disk can be named as boot disk or can be used for booting by refering its name .
ok> setenv boot-device disk7
ok>reset
or
ok> boot disk7

3."Timeout waiting for ARP/RARP packet"?

At ok> type printenv and look for these parameters.
boot-device disk
mfg-switch? false
diag-switch? false

If you see "boot-device net” or true value for the other two parameter change it to the values above.
In case you want to boot from network make sure your client is properly configured in boot server and network connections & configuration are proper.

4. The file just loaded does not appear to be executable.

Boot block on the hard disk is corrupted .Boot the system in single user mode with cdrom and reinstall boot block.

#installboot /usr/platform/`uname -i`/lib/fs/ufs/bootblk /dev/rdsk/c0t3d0s0

5. Bootblk: can't find the boot program

Boot block can not find the boot program - ufsboot in Solaris .Either ufsboot is missing or corrupted. In such cases it can be restored from the cdrom after booting from cdrom & mounting the hard disk
# cp /platform/`uname -i`/ufsboot /mnt/platform/`uname -i`

6.boot: cannot open kernel/unix

Kernel directory or unix kernel file in this directory is not found .Probably deleted during fsck or deleted by mistake .Copy it from the cdrom or restore from the backup tape.
#cp /platform/`uname -i`/kernel/unix /mnt/platform/`uname -i`/kernel

7."Error reading
ELF header."?

Kernel directory or unix kernel file in this directory is corrupted. Copy it from the cdrom or restore from the backup tape.
# cp /platform/`uname -i`/kernel/unix /mnt/platform/`uname -i`/kernel

8."Cannot open '/etc/path_to_inst'

System can not find the /etc/path_to_install file .It might be missing or corrupted and needs to be rebuild.
To rebuild this file boot the system with -ar option:
ok > boot -ar
Press enter to select default values for the questions asked during booting and select yes to rebuild /etc/path_to_install
The /etc/path_to_inst on your system does not exist or is empty. Do you want to rebuild this file [n]? y
System will continue booting after rebuilding the file.

9."Can't stat /dev/rdsk/c0t3d0s0"

When booted from cdrom and done fsck the root partition comes out to be fine but on booting from root disk this error occurs. The device name for / is missing from /dev/dsk directory and to resolve the issue /dev & /devices directories has to be restored from root backup tapes.

Solaris Basics:

1) In Solaris how many disk slices a disk can have?
a) 8 b) 7 c) 6 d) 1


2) Which file is used to set the default mask in Solaris?
a)/etc/profile b) .profile c) /etc/system d) /etc/inittab

3) What are the advantages for making disk partitions?
a) Easy to maintain b) Easy for backing up
c) Limits problems to one partition only d) Space can be monitored easily.

4 )What does a + sign in /etc/hosts.equiv indicates ?
a) All hosts are allowed b) Only known hosts are allowed c) All users are allowed d) Unknown hosts are also allowed .

5 )Which command is used to mount local file system ?
a) mount -l b) mountall c) mount d) mount -r

6) Which command line option gives a run level and output headings?
a) who -b b) who -r c) who -rh d) who -rH

7) Which command is used to change the auto-boot feature in sun ultra?
a) eeprom "auto-boot?"=true b) eeprom auto-boot?=true c) eeprom autoboot? true d) eeprom auto-boot = true

8) If patch id is 123456-10 then its revision number is -
a)123 b)456 c)10 d)6-10

9) Which commands can be used to make a device alias
a) devalias ay ok prompt b) dvalias at root prompt
c) nvram at ok prompt d) drvconfig at root prompt.

10) Where in Solaris encrypted passwords are stored?
a) /etc/passwd b) /etc/shadow c)/etc/default/passswd d)/etc/initttab

11) What is required in a diskless workstation for Solaris Workstation?
a) cpu, monitor, keyboard, hard disk b) cpu, monitor, keyboard, cdrom drive
c) cpu, monitor, keyboard, Ethernet card d) cpu and Ethernet card only.

12) Which of the following points to virtual file system?
a) /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s3 b) /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s3
c) /dev/md/dsk/c0t0d0s3 d) /dev/vx/rdsk/data/vol1

13) Which Solaris command is used to correct file system problems?
a) newfs b) fsck c) mkfs d) format

14) Which is the configuration file for the tip command?
a)/etc/tip.conf b) /etc/remote c) /etc/inittab.d d) .profile

15) When automounter daemon needs to be restarted?
a) When direct map is changes b) when indirect map is changes
c) No need to restart d) when a new user is created

16) What is the default configuration cluster in Solaris installation?
a) Developer b) Core c) End user d) Entire Distribution

17) Which utility is used to administer the port monitor?
a)sacadm b) pmadm c) ttyadm d) admintool

18) What is the command to assign a ip address to qfe network interface?
Write the command

19) 10 30 * * 4 /usr/bin/loginfo entry in crontab will execute the program
a) Every Friday at 10.30 b) Every Thursday at 10.30
c) Every Saturday 10.30 d) Every Wednesday at 10.30

20) What do you need for a fresh Solaris Installation?
a) Host Name b) IP Address c) Net mask d) Domain name

21) How can you see the prom version?
a) show version b) prom c) banner d) version

22) Which file enables you to disable root login on terminals?
a) /etc/profile b) .profile
c) /etc/default/login d) /etc/system

23) Which directory contains run level control scripts?
a) /etc/rc2.d b) /etc/init.d c) /etc/rc3.d d) /usr/bin

24) Which command show the patch installed in the system?
a) patchadd -p b) showrev -p c) showpatch d) patchlist

25) What is the advantage of having a virtual file system?
a) Large capacity volumes b) Increased File system size
c) Performance enhancement d) backup becomes easy

26) Which file is used to define default run level for init process at booting time?
a) /etc/ttyyab b) /etc/ttyadm
c) /etc/inittab d) /etc/profile

27) Which command shows kernel parameters and and driver module information?
a) sysconfig b) prtconfig
c) dmesg d) prtconf

28) A multiuser operating system is one - in which
a) Many users can work simultaneously b) Many Processes can work simultaneously
c) A large number of users can be created d) A number of user home directories can be created.

29) What is true about software packages?
a) It is group of files & directories b) They are grouped to form clusters
c) It is standard way of delivering software in Solaris d) they can be installed using pkgadd command.

30) What type of names are used for administering disk drives in Solaris environment a) Physical b) Logical c) Virtual d) disk instance

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