Installation Guide

Learn OpenSolaris SXCE

(SunOS 11 code name “Nevada
)
Installation

Hi,
In this beginning chapter of Learning OpenSolaris Express Community Edition (SXCE) - I
would 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 target
are to get in-depth in these certain areas :
1. Installation stages : install options, systems identification, softwares
2. 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 (still
at development stage version) SunOS such as 2008.n releases (aka Solaris "Linux") as well
as 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 even
though 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 of
DVD image that you can burn it as bootable CD/DVD using your CD/DVD writer (there are
also 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 User
Interface (GUI) or let us say with "X-Windows" so that those operating systems can be easy
to use : "user friendly interface".

But, in a certain areas of operating system administration, or as a UNIX-based OS

user/administrator candidate - we have to be well prepared using non-GUI environment so
called CLI (Command Line Interface) - which is a text based console for system
operations/administration.
What is a Console?
Some introduction to basic computing :
In basic computing (probably in other activities as well) - we have some terms called INPUT
and 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 you
move 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 your
task/jobs by typing a bunch of commands as INPUT on the screen to be process - and you'll
see 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 CLI
operation 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 minimum
of 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 very
poor 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 emulate
another operating system inside our computer – just like having 2 or more computer (along
with its hard disks, memory/RAM, mouse, screen etc) on a single physical machine, but – its
a virtual – its a software emulation.

You can use any available (the free or paid version) software virtualization (VM) as long as
the VM does support the operating system (OS). Please confirm to your VM website about
this - 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 a
Pentium 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.pdf
Linux Ubuntu OS at http://www.ubuntu.com/GetUbuntu/download
A note about SunOS installation procedure :
Unlike any other OS installation procedure - SXCE (SunOS 11) installation procedure
divides 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 the
last – the most important stage is : target disk, partitions and file systems option. So we have
to 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 our
time for a thing that just doesn't fit one to the other. To check SXCE (SunOS 11) system
requirement - 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 do
this boot.
We'll be presented with GRUB boot-loader - which is a small application installed on your
hard disk Master Boot Record (MBR) or on the edge of a disk partition - to perform certain
system boot administration eg. choosing an operating system image to boot, editing system
boot 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 about
disk partitions (layout), which disk is in active state to boot etc. If you are in a physical
machine (eg. not in a VM) while you perform this SunOS installation (or in a dual-boot
scenario) - and want to make/write any changes to MBR - make sure you know what you are
doing 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 are
just 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 the
keyboard 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 chose
the 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
Power On Self Test (POST).
After we succeeded with GRUB boot loader - now its time for the system boots up - doing
POST probing any hardware/devices (CPU, RAM, Disks, NIC etc) that attached to the
system, 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 detection
results (eg. disks, NICs, USB devices etc.) will be recorded and mapped to "/dev" directory
inside the OS file system - so that any software/applications who wants to communicate with
some hardware devices attached to the system will look their (hardware devices) naming
inside that "/dev" directory and followed up by communicate to the device using device
drivers and system kernel. Details about File systems and Directory structures will be
discussed 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 our
computer.

What is a device drivers?

A device drivers is a low-level software/application that has been build using a low-level
programming language – that act as an interpreter (or as a higher bridge) for higher-level
software 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 any
hardware/devices attached to the system (or let us say : signal control), and the most
important part : it is the operating system heart-beat.
As you can see - it provides us 6 different install method which each one of them has
different usage. For now let us start with option number 4 "Solaris Interactive Text (Console
session)" ---> press "4" and the system identification (as I have mentioned earlier - SunOS
installation 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 and
RAM (memory). Since we only have a very limited resources - we will manage it using
option # 4 "Text - Console session". Relax - its not really a low-level CLI - its still has CLI-
based GUI, and very nice too
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 SunOS
installation 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 press
space-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-down
navigation, [space-bar] to select/dis elect items, [tab] button to jump to other section of
options, [ENTER] to confirm action, [F2] to continue, [F3] to go backward, [F4] to
edit/change and so forth. You can always read the console instruction on the screen - and
read 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 there
will be no mouse usage/clicks, use function keys like F2, F3 etc.
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 OS
will be joining the network, whether the NIC (IP address assignment) using a DHCP
configuration, which router will be the gateway etc. Below are the exact same explanation as
the 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 device
drivers) 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 computer
identifier to the network – but, unlike the other //later

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

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 provides
automatic administration of Internet Protocol (IP) address assignment for any device on the
network. For a computer that wants to have an automatic IP address assigned to it (as a
DHCP client) – it should has at least 1 DHCP Server on the network. Details about DHCP
and 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 systems
hostname (eg. wings.bird.local or something like tails.bird.local and the like), our IP version
4 address (for short : IPv4) for the specific NIC (eg. 10.10.10.10 or 172.16.10.10 or
something like 192.168.100.100), our IPv4 subnets (eg. 255.255.255.0) and our IPv4
gateway or router IP address (eg. 10.10.10.1 or 172.16.10.1 or 192.168.100.1 – or you can
leave 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 IPv6
enablement option on.

After you have configured all the option – make sure you confirm your setting before you
apply 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 do
it right away?). Details about systems services that related to these system hostname,
IP/subnets and gateway will be discussed later on Part ???
Here it is :

As you can see from the previous screen :

the “pcn0
information on upper screen is our first (and only) network adapter (NIC) name
(our VMs NIC vendor or NIC chipset name to the system - “pcn
is a NIC chipset name
that is manufactured by AMD) – others can be “pcn1
for the second NIC attached to the
system. If you have other NIC – then it can be something like “sfe0
for SIS-based chipset,
“rtls0
or “rh0
for RealTek, “iprb0
for Intel, “bnx0
or “bcf0
for Broadcom,
“elxl0
for 3com, and so forth. Just to remember – that is our NIC name and its number in
the system. Details how to detect NIC will be discussed later on Part ???

A note about NIC locations and its number inside UNIX-based system :
Some UNIX-based OS (eg. SunOS, GNU/Linux, FreeBSD system etc.) detects NIC attached
to the system (either PCI, or PCI-X or PCI-Express slot in our mainboard) and numbers it in
order from the edge of the mainboard and move closer to the CPU location. So the farthest
NIC from CPU location will get the smaller number eg. “0
and increment of “1
– until
CPU location .

Other information on that screen – I think it should be clear enough to explain what we have
already configured previously.

3. Security Policy Configuration.

Security Policy Configuration wizard guide us whether we want to use Kerberos as our
authentication system, or just using the basic “old-style
plain-text UNIX-based
“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 name
and or address by using some kind of an established map service. The name lookup process
can be both computer name to IP (we called it : Forward lookup query) address mapping or
vice 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 of
NIS+), 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 that
name lookup service – the wizard can't find our new SunOS computer name that will result
to nothing – hence we use “NONE
.
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 network
domain – 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 Directory
domain (LDAP-based domain) although they can co-exist in single domain, and the same
goes to UNIX-based domain. Using NFS we can create and browse our native UNIX-based
network 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 ???
Please note that there are system services that depends on this NFS domain name eg. Secure
Shell (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 – right
after the system reboot.

Time Zone.
I think its clear enough //later
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 2
“ROOT
:
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 the
system. 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. ~!@#$%^&*(){}_
:?><[]+. At least 9 or more characters containing all those
in combinations.

A note about UNIX-based systems type character :

UNIX-based systems is a case-sensitive systems – that is an “xyz
is not the same as
“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, and
configuring 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 can
still 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 from
a CD/DVD drive or from a network location. Since we were from the very beginning – start
this SunOS installation from a CD/DVD drive then we choose our installation source from
CD/DVD drive.
If you did have a working NFS shares (on your network location) providing this SunOS
installation 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 any
existing SunOS installation on the disk drive, if the wizard found it – it will give you a
warning 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
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, just
leave it that way

Select product to install.

Don't confuse this question with the real SXCE OS software install selection (no, not yet). It
was asking you whether you have other Sun Microsystems product/application (other than
the SXCE (SunOS 11) operating system itself) that you want the installation wizard to install
it for you beside SXCE (SunOS 11) installation. So, I think it should be clear enough – we
don'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 :
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, and
let us do it correctly!!! This is the most important part of SXCE (SunOS 11) installation
stage.

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 later
on 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) the
software – 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 are
curious about what software will be installed) :
You can browse (navigate) up-down the software package to see what software are there, or
add or remove (select or unselect) some packages. But for now – let us skip this – we need all
the 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
space compares to SunOS software requirement at approximately 4067MB of disk space (or
SXCE (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 any
communication 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 for
more 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 a
formatted 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 huge
partition and so forth. So the next step is very obvious : we need to create disk partition --->
press F4 to create disk partitions.
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 that
partitions number 1 to 4 with type <unused> and 0 size. Partition numbers notate that we can
only have at a maximum of 4 primary partitions exist on a single disk. And the partition type
was 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
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 to
delete any existing partition :

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

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

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 the
OS 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 – or
otherwise 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 OS
temporary physical memory (RAM) replacement. The OS will put and or read some
information into this swap file. A swap or paging file uses its own file system format.
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 discussed
later 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 : “/
,
“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 is
very true. But, unlike any other OS which installed on a primary partitions (like Microsoft
Windows, 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 their
own fixed size. On some UNIX-based OS (like SunOS and FreeBSD) – we format our file
systems in this partitions (disk slice). So, don't get confuse with primary partition (or even
basic 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 first
disk 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
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 further
expand 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 ...

“/
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 can
mount any shares at system boot after this SXCE installation. But, for now – I think its not
very important.
Profile view.
Its the last chance to review our SXCE installation – after you confirm this screen the whole
SunOS installation will begin.

To begin the installation – press F2 ...

Installation process :

Wait for a while as the installation continue until finish then it will automatically reboot the
system. 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 :
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 or
systems 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 – just
stay tuned.

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

Its beautiful don't you think?
And here is the Common Desktop Environment (CDE) GUI :
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, so
please 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 this
document freely – but please don't change, extract nor copy it for your own benefits. Any
critics and comments nor guidance are welcome.

Wishlist :
I wrote this document from my old IBM T21 laptop @ P3 800GHz with 256MB of RAM. It
would be very wonderful if I could get more power laptop so I can write any
tutorials/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 can
handle bigger (>1GB) RAM will do. And I will be thanking you a lot. Alhamdulillah.