installation guide open solaris 2010.11

8/7/2019 Installation Guide Open Solaris 2010.11

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Installation Guide

Learn OpenSolaris SXCE

(SunOS 11 code name Nevada )


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Installation

Hi,In this beginning chapter of Learning OpenSolaris Express Community Edition (SXCE) - Iwould like to cover some things that we should grab in order to get better general

understanding of OpenSolaris nor SunOS operating systems installation. The specific targetare to get in-depth in these certain areas :1. Installation stages : install options, systems identification, softwares2. Disks : partitions, file systems layout and format

Our target operating system is OpenSolaris Express Community Edition (SXCE) aka SunOS

11 code name Nevada . Why? I'm trying to get the benefits of understanding older

(predecessor) version of SunOS such as Solaris OS 9-like environment and some newer (stillat development stage version) SunOS such as 2008.n releases (aka Solaris "Linux") as wellas newer applications/software enhancement like ZFS (Zetabyte File Systems) etc, and we'll

try to be as close as possible to SunOS SPARC (CPU platform) operating systems eventhough we are using an x86 version of SunOS.

You can download the SXCE (SunOS 11) here :http://opensolaris.org/os/downloads/sol_ex_dvd_1/

Download note :Yes a free registration required by SUN Microsystems. The download is about 4GB ofDVD image that you can burn it as bootable CD/DVD using your CD/DVD writer (there arealso CD image as well).

Our SXCE (SunOS 11) installation learning path :1.System boot : GRUB, boot options.2.Configuring systems identification : NIC settings and networking.3.Configuring systems security policy : Authentication.4.Configuring name service/name lookup : DNS or other?5.Configuring Solaris software installation method : standard install or flash? extra software?software locations?6.Configuring target disk.

A note about learning SXCE (SunOS 11) :Almost current operating systems today were heavily designed to be used for any level of

users (eg. basic/beginner users, intermediate to advanced) with animated Graphical UserInterface (GUI) or let us say with "X-Windows" so that those operating systems can be easyto use : "user friendly interface".

But, in a certain areas of operating system administration, or as a UNIX-based OSuser/administrator candidate - we have to be well prepared using non-GUI environment socalled CLI (Command Line Interface) - which is a text based console for systemoperations/administration.
http://opensolaris.org/os/downloads/sol_ex_dvd_1/http://opensolaris.org/os/downloads/sol_ex_dvd_1/


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What is a Console?Some introduction to basic computing :In basic computing (probably in other activities as well) - we have some terms called INPUTand OUTPUT - for short I/O. In physical computing (that is the hardware - the physical the

touchable part of computer-related things) - any INPUT can be in form of your keyboard -mouse - scanner - finger print devices etc. All of those give your computer (or let us say :CPU plus Operating System) some INPUT to be process. The result - we called OUTPUT -can be in form of your screen display eg. your mouse is moving around the screen as youmove your mouse device, you see letters on the screen as you type - your printed paper etc.

Then what is a Console :A console is your computer software environment where you can perform certain task/jobs.A console can be in text-based mode or CLI (Command Line Interface) where you do yourtask/jobs by typing a bunch of commands as INPUT on the screen to be process - and you'llsee the OUTPUT on that screen also, or it can be in animated Graphical User Interface (or

GUI) where you give INPUT by using mouse clicks.

There is nothing to be afraid of - relax, InsyaAlloh ... we'll cover up some basic CLIoperation step-by-step later as we learn UNIX-based OS.

For an SXCE (SunOS 11) installation starter - we will use a virtual machine with a minimumof 8GB of hard disk space (greater disk space the better), at least 512MB of RAM (memory -more RAM is better, if you have below this 512MB RAM requirement -> you'll have a verypoor installation experience) - and of course at least equipped with 1 network adapter (NIC)for SunOS networking.

What is a virtual machine?Virtual machine is a computer software installed on our computer that enables us to emulateanother operating system inside our computer just like having 2 or more computer (alongwith its hard disks, memory/RAM, mouse, screen etc) on a single physical machine, but itsa virtual its a software emulation.

You can use any available (the free or paid version) software virtualization (VM) as long asthe VM does support the operating system (OS). Please confirm to your VM website aboutthis - and do read their manual/documentation on how-to-create and use a virtual machine.I'm using VMware Server version 1.0.5 VM for this lab under Linux Ubuntu 7.10 OS on aPentium 4 at 1,7GHz of speed and 1GB of RAM. InsyaAlloh, Alhamdulillah ... I have not

find any trouble/difficulties so far.

Download links :VMware Server software at http://www.vmware.com/download/server/VMware Server manual : http://www.vmware.com/pdf/server_vm_manual.pdfLinux Ubuntu OS at http://www.ubuntu.com/GetUbuntu/download
http://www.vmware.com/download/server/http://www.vmware.com/pdf/server_vm_manual.pdfhttp://www.ubuntu.com/GetUbuntu/downloadhttp://www.ubuntu.com/GetUbuntu/downloadhttp://www.ubuntu.com/GetUbuntu/downloadhttp://www.vmware.com/pdf/server_vm_manual.pdfhttp://www.vmware.com/download/server/


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A note about SunOS installation procedure :Unlike any other OS installation procedure - SXCE (SunOS 11) installation proceduredivides by 3 main stages - which starts with systems identification first (eg. system hostname,time zone, network settings etc.), followed up by software package install options - and thelast the most important stage is : target disk, partitions and file systems option. So we haveto be prepared with all those in the beginning of any installation.

Before we start any OS installation - you must check that specific OS system requirement(including Hardware Compatibility List (HCL)). Why? Simply we don't want to waste ourtime for a thing that just doesn't fit one to the other. To check SXCE (SunOS 11) systemrequirement - here . To check SXCE (SunOS 11) HCL - here .

OK ... let us start.

1. System boot.

After we created our guest OS environment on our VM (disks, RAM, CD/DVD drive, NIC,etc.) - we boot our VM from CD/DVD. Yes, you can also boot the VM using saved SXCE(SunOS 11) OS image (.iso image) - please refer to your VM documentation on how to dothis boot.


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We'll be presented with GRUB boot-loader - which is a small application installed on yourhard disk Master Boot Record (MBR) or on the edge of a disk partition - to perform certainsystem boot administration eg. choosing an operating system image to boot, editing systemboot parameter etc.

A note about Master Boot Record (MBR) :MBR is a small system inside (on the edge of) the hard disk containing some records aboutdisk partitions (layout), which disk is in active state to boot etc. If you are in a physicalmachine (eg. not in a VM) while you perform this SunOS installation (or in a dual-bootscenario) - and want to make/write any changes to MBR - make sure you know what you aredoing or otherwise none of your operating system will boot up. So, be careful.

GRUB screenshot - asking which OS image that the system has to boot from. Since we arejust starting - we pick the "Solaris Express" option using up, down keyboard arrow and press[ENTER].

Please read the GRUB instructions carefully : to navigate the option -> simply use thekeyboard up, down arrow - to perform some GRUB editing press "e", and so forth.Warning!!! A GRUB editing knowledge is required to use this feature - as any committed

mistakes will results a system boot failure (your OS will not boot at all). After we have chosethe option - press [ENTER].

As you can also see from GRUB - I have a approx. 512MB of RAM (upper screen).

A note about Grand Unified Boot-loader (GRUB) on SXCE (SunOS 11) :resides on /boot //later


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Power On Self Test (POST).After we succeeded with GRUB boot loader - now its time for the system boots up - doingPOST probing any hardware/devices (CPU, RAM, Disks, NIC etc) that attached to thesystem, and presents us with system installation options.

A note about POST on SXCE (SunOS 11) :Just like any other UNIX-based system - SXCE (SunOS 11) POST hardware detectionresults (eg. disks, NICs, USB devices etc.) will be recorded and mapped to "/dev" directoryinside the OS file system - so that any software/applications who wants to communicate withsome hardware devices attached to the system will look their (hardware devices) naminginside that "/dev" directory and followed up by communicate to the device using devicedrivers and system kernel. Details about File systems and Directory structures will bediscussed later on Part ???

Introduction to inter-process communication :Our computer system consist of 2 main part : Software part the higher part (eg. Operating

systems, or user applications) and the lower-part hardware. And there is a layer (a bridge)in between those 2 called : kernel, that manage software and hardware resources inside ourcomputer.

What is a device drivers?A device drivers is a low-level software/application that has been build using a low-levelprogramming language that act as an interpreter (or as a higher bridge) for higher-levelsoftware language (user applications) to talk to any hardware inside the system.

What is a Kernel?Kernel is an application environment that act as a bridge/broker between high-level

programming language (let us say : software or user applications) and the low-level(hardware devices). It translate software command so it can be understood by anyhardware/devices attached to the system (or let us say : signal control), and the mostimportant part : it is the operating system heart-beat.


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As you can see - it provides us 6 different install method which each one of them hasdifferent usage. For now let us start with option number 4 "Solaris Interactive Text (Consolesession)" ---> press "4" and the system identification (as I have mentioned earlier - SunOSinstallation procedure will start with this stage) will begin .

Why option number 4?Install option number 1, 3 and 4 is almost the same actually in terms of providing user SXCE(SunOS 11) installation wizard - but, option # 1 and 3 use the Java-based X-Windows GUI

(just like common desktop interface) - so it will consume much more CPU utilization andRAM (memory). Since we only have a very limited resources - we will manage it usingoption # 4 "Text - Console session". Relax - its not really a low-level CLI - its still has CLI-based GUI, and very nice too


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here it is :

Configuring Keyboard Layout.Our first text-based console session is to configure keyboard layout.

After a while the installer configuring devices - we'll be seeing a blue screen SunOSinstallation console asking our keyboard layout - for the most part selecting "US-English"layout will be safe. We navigate the option using our keyboard up-down arrow and pressspace-bar to select the item. To continue - press F2 ...

A note about SunOS 11 installation console navigation :For the rest of this OS installation stage - we'll be using text-based console and navigation.The basic (mostly used) console navigation are our keyboard [up-down arrow] for up-downnavigation, [space-bar] to select/dis elect items, [tab] button to jump to other section ofoptions, [ENTER] to confirm action, [F2] to continue, [F3] to go backward, [F4] toedit/change and so forth. You can always read the console instruction on the screen - andread it carefully as any mistakes may give fatal results.

Selecting installation Language.I think its clear enough - just pick and press a number : "1" as in English, and press[ENTER].

The Solaris Installation Program.

Our main console-based installation wizard is the Solaris Installation Program . It gives

you a brief explanation about installation sections, console-based navigation such as therewill be no mouse usage/clicks, use function keys like F2, F3 etc.


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2. Configuring systems identifications.Since I can't put every SXCE (SunOS 11) installation steps detailed screen shot over here -so let us stripped down using text-based manual but without degrading our learning material.

System identification step includes several configuration process eg. whether the new OSwill be joining the network, whether the NIC (IP address assignment) using a DHCPconfiguration, which router will be the gateway etc. Below are the exact same explanation asthe one on the console screen - so please read it thoroughly.

Network connectivity :POST detects every hardware attached to the system that is including our network adapter(NIC). If POST found it then it will try to configure the device (install their matched devicedrivers) so any applications can use the hardware.

In Network Connectivity screen the wizard asking whether our next computer will join

a network?

If you choose NO then we should provide only your system hostname eg.

rabbit.animals.local or mouse.animals.local or something like

elephant.animals.local . ---> please note that its a full sentence including the . (dot)sign in between words.

A note about system hostname on SXCE (SunOS 11) :Just like any other OS - system hostname in SXCE (SunOS 11) is pretty much a computeridentifier to the network but, unlike the other //later

A note about hostname naming on SXCE (SunOS 11) :


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FQDN versus NFS domain name (NT domain name) //later

If you choose Yes - then you should provide which networking method will you choose

for the NIC. There are 2 options : to use the DHCP setting or doing a manual NIC

configuration.

What is a DHCP?Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a Client-Server application that providesautomatic administration of Internet Protocol (IP) address assignment for any device on thenetwork. For a computer that wants to have an automatic IP address assigned to it (as aDHCP client) it should has at least 1 DHCP Server on the network. Details about DHCPand other network service will be discuss later on Part ???.

If you choose to use the DHCP setting then you should configure nothing else as the NIC(including systems hostname, IP address/subnets and gateway (router)) configuration will be

handled by the DHCP server.

A note about Internet Protocol (IP) address subnets and gateway ://later

If you choose to use the manual setting then we have to prepare & configure our systemshostname (eg. wings.bird.local or something like tails.bird.local and the like), our IP version4 address (for short : IPv4) for the specific NIC (eg. 10.10.10.10 or 172.16.10.10 orsomething like 192.168.100.100), our IPv4 subnets (eg. 255.255.255.0) and our IPv4gateway or router IP address (eg. 10.10.10.1 or 172.16.10.1 or 192.168.100.1 or you canleave the system to auto-detect its gateway). If you have any working computer network

and wants your SXCE computer to join your network can you just assign its IP address subnets and gateway to be the same as your network.

SXCE (SunOS 11) has been build with next-generation of IP addressing scheme capability which is IP version 6 (IPv6) and if you have IPv6 capable router you can turn IPv6enablement option on.

After you have configured all the option make sure you confirm your setting before youapply them permanently or else it may caused some systems service will not work correctly(of course you can fix or change that setting later, but : why wasting time when you can doit right away?). Details about systems services that related to these system hostname,

IP/subnets and gateway will be discussed later on Part ???


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passwd program for user login. For now we choose NO to Kerberos. Details about

Kerberos and other authentication system will be discussed on Part ???

A note about passwd authentication program :

//later

4. Name lookup.

What is a name lookup?Name lookup is a mechanism for computer to get (query) itself as well as its friends nameand or address by using some kind of an established map service. The name lookup processcan be both computer name to IP (we called it : Forward lookup query) address mapping orvice versa (IP address to computer name) ---> we called it : Reverse lookup query.

Name lookup can be either statically define or dynamic. Details about name lookup will be

discussed later on Part ???

The Name Service screen guides us to pick which name lookup service to be use by the

OS. There are Network Information System Plus (NIS+) service, NIS (the old version ofNIS+), Domain Name Systems (DNS), Light Weight Directory Access Protocol (or for short

LDAP) or none of them to be use as name lookup service. For now we pick NONE .

Details explanation about all of those name lookup service will be discussed later on Part ???

Why NONE for the Name Lookup service?

The installation wizard will look our newly create SunOS name on a name lookup service(eq. DNS etc) since were only just begin we haven't created our new SunOS name on thatname lookup service the wizard can't find our new SunOS computer name that will result

to nothing hence we use NONE .


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here it is :

NFS version 4 Domain Name.

What is NFS v4 Domain Name?Network File Systems (NFS) domain name is the native UNIX-based computer networkdomain just like Windows NT NetBIOS domain we have in Microsoft Windows computer

network eg. WORKGROUP or MYGROUP etc. Remember that a Microsoft

Windows NT NetBIOS domain is not the same as Microsoft Windows Active Directorydomain (LDAP-based domain) although they can co-exist in single domain, and the samegoes to UNIX-based domain. Using NFS we can create and browse our native UNIX-basednetwork shares.

The NFSv4 Domain Name screen guides us to specify what domain name to be use by

the OS to join itself in the network. There are 2 choices : Derived from the systems hostname

or we specify one. For now we pick DERIVED from the system hostname . Details

about NFSv4 will be discussed later on Part ???


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Please note that there are system services that depends on this NFS domain name eg. SecureShell (SSH) service so be sure you give your system hostname correctly as I have guided

you to do (eg. Ear.human.local or mouth.human.local and so forth). If you don't pay

attention to this system hostname convention you'll probably see the result later rightafter the system reboot.

Time Zone.I think its clear enough //later


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Setting the systems Root password for administration.

What is systems Root ?

In UNIX-based system there is a very famous word pronounce : ROOT

, and there are 2ROOT :

1.ROOT refers to file systems / (ROOT ) directory.

2.ROOT refers to the super user in our UNIX-based system as the Systems

Administrator that can manage services, manage users (add/delete them), manage

directories and files etc.

This screen instruct us to give our systems administrator a password for login into thesystem. For now we give it a simple : admin123 -> so when you log on into the system -your username is : root ,with the password : admin123

password warning!!!in a real life situation (that is outside our lab) please make a strong (hard to type and to

guess) password containing numbers (0 to 9), letters (aA to zZ) and non alpha-numeric

character eg. ~!@#$%^&*(){}_ :?>


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XYZ , or xyZ and so forth. So please be careful of what you type since it will make a

huge difference.

5. Solaris Interactive Installation.

This screen guides us to the most important stage where we will be configuring which SXCE(SunOS 11) software package that we want to install, where will be the source, andconfiguring disk layout.

As you can see there are 2 options : Standard or Flash which I think it should be clear

enough for us to choose the Standard install option since we are just trying to do a fresh

clean install from scratch. Even if you already have a previous SunOS installation you canstill doing a system upgrade.

The second question in this stage is whether the system should eject CD/DVD drive

automatically? Just choose YES .

Whether the system should reboot after installation? You should check your own requirement

first for the most part choosing YES

will be just fine.

Specify your installation media (source)In this section we define our SunOS installation source : whether we install the software froma CD/DVD drive or from a network location. Since we were from the very beginning startthis SunOS installation from a CD/DVD drive then we choose our installation source fromCD/DVD drive.


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If you did have a working NFS shares (on your network location) providing this SunOSinstallation source you may choose it as well using this guide :

After this section our installation wizard will configure the system for a while to detect anyexisting SunOS installation on the disk drive, if the wizard found it it will give you awarning prompt :

It is OK not too worry ... we can still choose some options whether we want to keep(upgrade) any existing SunOS installation using F2 function key or surely, we just want to


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install a new SunOS (use the F4 key).

If the wizard did not find any existing SunOS installation it will continue to provide End

User License Agreement (EULA) prompt just ACCEPT it or else you can not install

this operating system.

Select geographic region for support.I think it should be clear enough choose your country region.

Select system locale.What is this system locale?System locale is a software environment that supports/help defines your country-region-language-date-time-currency and other related kind of things for the system itself. So, justleave it that way

Select product to install.Don't confuse this question with the real SXCE OS software install selection (no, not yet). Itwas asking you whether you have other Sun Microsystems product/application (other thanthe SXCE (SunOS 11) operating system itself) that you want the installation wizard to installit for you beside SXCE (SunOS 11) installation. So, I think it should be clear enough wedon't have any of those so, we leave it empty.

Additional products.This next question is pretty much the same with the previous questions, so we choose

NONE . But, if you did have one you may install it also either from CD/DVD drive or

NFS share on your network :


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5. Select software.OK now we are entering the real SXCE installation step.As a precaution, starting from this screen we'll have some serious questions to answer, andlet us do it correctly!!! This is the most important part of SXCE (SunOS 11) installationstage.

Since we are only a beginner let us start with Entire Distribution software installation

option so that we can learn and get benefits from all SXCE (SunOS 11) features from a

single installation so we will not be bother doing additional software installation any more.Relax we still have plenty of room to learn software package installation or removal lateron Part ???

Please notice the function key options :F2 if you feel you don't need to modify (adding or remove some parts of the package) thesoftware this will continue to our next installation step.F4 if you feel that you don't need or you do need other software package (or you arecurious about what software will be installed) :


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You can browse (navigate) up-down the software package to see what software are there, oradd or remove (select or unselect) some packages. But for now let us skip this we need allthe SXCE (SunOS 11) features to be explore later on as we learn forward.

6. Select Disks.This is the most difficult and the longest part of our SunOS installation journey.

As you can see from above screen our IDE disk is named as c0d0 - which is in short of

Controller #0 and Disks #0 - and the systems marked it as bootable. The disk has 8GB


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space compares to SunOS software requirement at approximately 4067MB of disk space (orSXCE (SunOS 11) requires at least about 4GB of disk space).

Introduction to Disks and disks controller :What is a disk controller?

A disk controller is a small computer system interface (please not to confuse with other

SCSI term its only an approach to disk controller explanation even though there is

real SCSI device) which installed on our computer mainboard to govern/manage anycommunication to and from our computer hard drives.

There are (currently) 2 main types of disk controller and disks member :1.IDE-ATA (Integrated Drive Electronics AT-Attachment) controller or PATA (Parallel-ATA) :using 40 pins, regular disks for home/desktop computer.2.SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) controller :

using 50 (older SCSI) or 68 (newer) pins for internal connector, common expensive disks formore advanced computer like servers platform.

And there are newer controller such as SATA (Serial-ATA), and so on. Usually commonly there are 2 disk controllers exist on our home/desktop computer mainboard named eg.IDE#0 and IDE#1, but for the SCSI controller usually only 1. Details about target disk partitions format will be discussed later on Part ???

OK, back to the topic. Note that c0d0 is our whole blank disk without any partition

inside. As you might know already every operating system needs to be installed on aformatted partition well, for this SXCE its almost the same whether a disk with single

huge partition or a disk with multiple partitions or a multiple disk with single very hugepartition and so forth. So the next step is very obvious : we need to create disk partition --->press F4 to create disk partitions.


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Yes, we create disk partitions using fdisk software. Details about fdisk software later

on part ???Press F2 to continue ...

As you can see that we have an empty 8GB disk at c0d0 with no partitions. Note thatpartitions number 1 to 4 with type and 0 size. Partition numbers notate that we canonly have at a maximum of 4 primary partitions exist on a single disk. And the partition typewas either SOLARIS partitions or DOS. Details about disk later on part ???

A note about any existing partitions inside a disk :If you have any previous partitions inside your disk the installation wizard will detect it and


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it will prompt you with screen below and now, its our job to make a decision about the disk whether we want to make another new partition on the disk or we just simply want todelete any existing partition :

To delete any existing partition inside a disk simply press F3, and the wizard will promptyour confirmation :

OK, I think it should be clear enough. But, if you don't want to delete any existing partitioninside your disk and just want to install SunOS 11 over any existing data inside a partition


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the wizard will prompt you whether you want to preserve your old data or erase them all :

To create Solaris partitions press F4

Please note that partition type is SOLARIS. You can also create a certain amount diskpartitions size in our case we use the whole disk (8GB). After we are done creating

partition press F2 to continue to back to previous Select Disk screen.

OK we continue to create a file system layout press F2 ...


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Introduction to system layout.What is this system layout?A system layout is the directory structure inside a disk partition where the OS installer or theOS itself will be putting or reading all operating system related files. I guess some of you

might know already that there are Program Files , WINNT , WINDOWS ,

Documents and Settings directories inside a Microsoft Windows NT operating systems

like Windows 2000 or XP those are system layout, and those will hardly change orotherwise your OS will not operate correctly.

The same goes in a UNIX-based systems like SunOS, FreeBSD or GNU/Linux. There are

/ (or ROOT ) - which may contain any other directories as well, /dev , /bin ,

/sbin , /usr , /var and so forth which has their own function or usage so those

were not just a directory name. Details on file systems and directory structures will be

discussed on Part ???

From the picture above the installer has marked (select) 2 directories to be use by the

systems : / and swap.

Introduction to swap.What is swap?Swap or paging file is amount of disk space that has been allocated by the systems as OStemporary physical memory (RAM) replacement. The OS will put and or read someinformation into this swap file. A swap or paging file uses its own file system format.


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OK ... now, we need to see the detail press F2 :

OK ... at this point please make a good observation at the screen. There are / , swap ,

overlap and /export/home directories, and c0d0s0 , c0d0s1 , c0d0s2 and

c0d0s7 along with their size in Megabytes (MB).

What are these / , overlap , /export/home ?

Introduction to a basic system layout.

/ or ROOT is the main directory inside the system that act as a container to other

directories (that is if we are not separating those other directories partitions or those other

directories reside on the same partition as / or ROOT ).

overlap is a virtual directory that represent a single partition on a disk. Please note on

above picture that there is overlap directory on c0d0s2 with the same size of the

whole disk partition (8GB). Since we were only beginning we leave this overlap

directory untouch. Details about File Systems and Directories Structures will be discussedlater on Part ???

/export/home is a directory that contains regular computer users home directories and or

users profiles.

At a very minimum SunOS needs those system layout on the screen which are : / ,


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swap , overlap and /export/home .

What are these c0d0s0 , c0d0s1 and the like - thing?

Introduction to UNIX disk slice :

Like I said previously that every OS needs to be installed on a formatted partitions that isvery true. But, unlike any other OS which installed on a primary partitions (like MicrosoftWindows, and or GNU/Linux OS) some UNIX-based OS installed on disk slices eg.SunOS and FreeBSD.

So what is disk slice?Disk slice is more like partitions (independent rooms) inside a primary partition with theirown fixed size. On some UNIX-based OS (like SunOS and FreeBSD) we format our filesystems in this partitions (disk slice). So, don't get confuse with primary partition (or evenbasic directories) like in ordinary OS.

Take some excerpt from our previous note - that c0d0s0 refers to Controller#0 Disk#0

Slice#0 - meaning? As simple as our first disk slice inside our first disk attached on our firstdisk controller.

OK, go back to our partitions details :

Note those slice numbers (0 to 7) their mount point directories (/ , swap ,

overlap and /home/export ) and their size, and the total real disk partition size

(8188MB or 8GB). Compare the real size for / directory (4966MB) and the


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recommended size (4768MB) or minimum size (4068MB). Or, compare any other

directory except overlap - leave this untouch. What does that mean? It means that our

automatically created system layout size is too tight it merely doesn't allow us to furtherexpand the system features nor capability eg. Installing new software, storing a huge amount

of files etc in the future so we need to modify this according our requirement.

What is a mount point?A mount point is simply a link to which directory where some files systems or other

directories be the member of eg. Our mounted CD ROM will be on /cdrom directory.

You modify this screen by navigate using [tab] key, reset any numeric value using the[backspace] key, and change any numeric value using numeric key. But, please remember :

DONT change the overlap directory value just skip it. When you modify any value

make sure you observe the Free space section on the lower screen. You can change the

value just like mine below :

review once more ...


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/ has been expanded to 6,5GB size, swap to 768MB, /export/home to 910MB,

but look carefully the overlap remains the same. After you review it is correct we

proceed to next step : F2 to continue ...

Mount remote file system.As I said previously if you have a working NFS on the network and can access it you canmount any shares at system boot after this SXCE installation. But, for now I think its notvery important.


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Profile view.Its the last chance to review our SXCE installation after you confirm this screen the wholeSunOS installation will begin.

To begin the installation press F2 ...


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Installation process :

Wait for a while as the installation continue until finish then it will automatically reboot thesystem. After all POST tests has succeeded then we will be presented with a very nice

eye-catching Sun Microsystems OpenSolaris Community Edition (SXCE aka SunOS 11)

login screen :


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As you can see from previous screen on the option tab, we have choices of :1.Sessions type : Common Desktop Environment (CDE), OpenSolaris GNOME (previously

known as Sun Java Desktops or JDE in SunOS 10), and a Failsafe session.

2.Remote login where we can remotely login to other machine on the network.3.Command Line login where we can enter CLI-based console and do some tasks orsystems administrations.4.Reset login screen where we try to refresh the Login screen.

A full introduction details on CDE, JDE and CLI will be discussed on the next chapter juststay tuned.

For a review of OpenSolaris GNOME (JDE) here we go ...


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Its beautiful don't you think?And here is the Common Desktop Environment (CDE) GUI :


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Well, that was it. We have reached the end of Learn OpenSolaris SXCE - Part 1 : Installation.Alhamdulillah, I really do hope this free tutorial helps, InsyaAlloh. And if it did help you I

would be very thankful if you do consider some shodaqoh (donation) to those the Poor

and Orphaned , or some infaq (donation) to any Mosque or Musholla near you, may

Alloh SWT bless us all, Amin.

About the author and this document :I personally am not a writer and just start learning this writing thing couple weeks ago, soplease bare with me if there are typos and the like. This document is still in constant revision so I do apologize if there are technical mistakes. You may read and redistribute thisdocument freely but please don't change, extract nor copy it for your own benefits. Anycritics and comments nor guidance are welcome.

Wishlist :I wrote this document from my old IBM T21 laptop @ P3 800GHz with 256MB of RAM. Itwould be very wonderful if I could get more power laptop so I can write anytutorials/documentations on the road, and not to mention saving my electric bill for the lab.Not necessarily a new one but an old (or refurbished) Compaq nc610 or IBM T41 that canhandle bigger (>1GB) RAM will do. And I will be thanking you a lot. Alhamdulillah.