Solaris (SunOS 5.x) Operating System Pre Installation

Determining System Information

To successfully install Solaris there are a few installation decisions that will need to be made before beginning. The Solaris installation defines these system types:

Server: Specifying the server provides root (/), swap and /usr for diskless or dataless clients.
Standalone: The standalone system has local disk and does not require system files from a server.
Diskless client: The diskless client does not have local disk and must load all the system software from a server.
Dataless client: The dataless client has local disk for root and swap. But need to get /usr and /usr/kvm from a server.

The standalone will be describe here. Please consult the online manual answerbook or the Installing Solaris Software manual for the installation guidelines for the other system types.

Required Hardware:

Memory - minimum 16MB (recommended minimum 32MB).
Disk Space - There are 4 different software groups to choose form on the Solaris Installation CDROM.

	
		Software Group		Approximate Disk Space

		Core System Support 		70MB 
		End User System Support	        180MB 
		Developer System Support	270MB
		Entire Distribution		360MB

Please remember that this does not include user's home directories, mail and print spooling, or swap space.

The Developer System is recommended if disk space allows.

Select method of Installation:

Jumpstart - This options is used to automatically install the system via the network and a Sun installation server.
Interactive - The hands-on method from a local CD-ROM drive.
Custom Jumpstart - For the advanced user, by creating profiles and rules files, you can setup systems to automatically install Solaris software via the network from a Server.

The Interactive installation will be describe here. Please consult the online manual answerbook or the Installing Solaris Software manual for the installation guidelines for the other methods.

Site specific information needed to install the system.

Host name of the system.
Network interface used by the system. This is most commonly le0.
Interet Protocol (IP) number
Name service used. Since NIS+ and NIS can be activated after the installation and are not usually necessary, the None option should be selected.
Domain name for this system. The Fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for this system.
Name server used to map IP numbers to hostnames.
Subnet number and netmask used by the system.
Time zone. (US/East-Indiana)

Backing up your System Before Installation

If your are re-installing or upgrading it is very important that current backups of the files on the system are created.