Installing Solaris x86 11.2 from an ISO in Virtualbox – part 2 – Patching Solaris, the new easy way

Years ago Solaris admins had one dreaded task, patching systems! Patching required hours of down time, with even more hours preparing the backout plans. We often looked at the Linux systems, and how easily we could patch them. As of Solaris 11, Oracle made life easy! Patching is even BETTER than Linux now. With the new patching system we not only can patch with a simple reboot, the back out plan is also built INTO the OS. So reverting back is as simple as a reboot! Also, the new tool is smart, we no longer take hours while cluster patches try to install updates for components that are not on the system. Best of all, this is all built into the OS, and supported by Oracle. No need to unsupported tools.

First, we will make a backup of the OS before patching. Managing boot environments is simple, with the new beadm command. First let’s make a copy of the running OS, just in case.

We will use the beadm command to create a new BE called demo1.

 

root@Solaris112:~# beadm create demo1

 

 

Now lets look and make sure it is there, using the beadm command to list all the Bes on the server.

 

root@Solaris112:~# beadm list

BE Active Mountpoint Space Policy Created

— —— ———- —– —— ——-

demo1 – – 70.0K static 2014-10-08 22:28

solaris NR / 3.33G static 2014-07-04 19:57

root@Solaris112:~#

 

We can see that we have the install environment called “solaris” and a new environment called “demo1”. The R flag, shows that this is the active environment, and the N flag shows that this environment will be used when the system next reboots.

By default Solaris systems are connected to the public patch repository, and we can patch against that. Updating the system is a simple as running a sing command! “pkg update” will update all packages against the repo as long as the server can reach Oracle’s public system. You can also create an internal system, or connect to private repos that contain additional software and more current patch levels. As a bonus pkg will automatically make a new BE!

Now lets patch! Note, the first time you use the public repo, you will need to accept the OTN license. This is done ny adding in –accept into the pkg command;

“pkg update –accept”

 

root@Solaris112:~# pkg  update --accept

 

 

The first time you will get all the legalize from OTN, which being Oracle can be lengthy. Start scrolling down.

 

------------------------------------------------------------

Package: pkg://solaris/consolidation/osnet/osnet-incorporation@0.5.11,5.11-0.175.2.0.0.42.2:20140624T183842Z

License: lic_OTN

 

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Now after it finished, you will get a summary of how many packages were updates, and the number of files. In this example, I patched from Solaris 11.2 BETA to Solaris 11.2, so there were a good bit of updates.

 

            Packages to remove:   1

            Packages to update: 535

       Create boot environment: Yes

Create backup boot environment:  No

 

DOWNLOAD                                PKGS         FILES    XFER (MB)   SPEED

Completed                            536/536     9333/9333  237.4/237.4  481k/s

 

PHASE                                          ITEMS

Removing old actions                       3719/3719

Installing new actions                     4339/4339

Updating modified actions                15017/15017

Updating package state database                 Done

Updating package cache                       536/536

Updating image state                            Done

Creating fast lookup database                   Done

Updating package cache                           1/1

 

 

 

 

We also see that the pkg tool created a new BE!

 

A clone of solaris exists and has been updated and activated.

On the next boot the Boot Environment solaris-1 will be

mounted on '/'.  Reboot when ready to switch to this updated BE.

 

Updating package cache                           1/1

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTE: Please review release notes posted at:

 

http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=E26502&id=SERNS

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

We can use “beadm list” and see the new environment. “solaris-1” will be used on the next reboot.

 

root@Solaris112:~# beadm list

BE        Active Mountpoint Space Policy Created

--        ------ ---------- ----- ------ -------

demo1     -      -          70.0K static 2014-10-08 22:28

solaris   N      /          7.24M static 2014-07-04 19:57

solaris-1 R      -          5.23G static 2014-10-08 22:51

 

 

 

We can also check the current version of the kernel, using the pkg command, looking at the branch, to tell the specific version.

 

root@Solaris112:~# pkg info kernel

          Name: system/kernel

       Summary: Core Kernel

   Description: Core operating system kernel, device drivers and other modules.

      Category: System/Core

         State: Installed

     Publisher: solaris

       Version: 0.5.11

 Build Release: 5.11


										Branch: 0.175.2.0.0.37.1

Packaging Date: April 23, 2014 05:15:55 PM

          Size: 33.60 MB

          FMRI: pkg://solaris/system/kernel@0.5.11,5.11-0.175.2.0.0.37.1:20140423T171555Z

root@Solaris112:~#

 

 

Now let’s reboot

 

root@Solaris112:~# reboot

 

Once we are backup, lets check the version again;

 

root@Solaris112:~# pkg info kernel

          Name: system/kernel

       Summary: Core Kernel

   Description: Core operating system kernel, device drivers and other modules.

      Category: System/Core

         State: Installed

     Publisher: solaris

       Version: 0.5.11

 Build Release: 5.11

        Branch: 0.175.2.0.0.42.2
									

Packaging Date: June 24, 2014 06:55:42 PM

          Size: 33.62 MB

          FMRI: pkg://solaris/system/kernel@0.5.11,5.11-0.175.2.0.0.42.2:20140624T185542Z

 

 

You can see we are running on a new branch! All patched with only a reboot!

Now, let’s look at beadm

 

root@Solaris112:~# beadm list

BE        Active Mountpoint Space  Policy Created

--        ------ ---------- -----  ------ -------

demo1     -      -          70.0K  static 2014-10-08 22:28

solaris   -      -          10.52M static 2014-07-04 19:57

solaris-1 NR     /          5.31G  static 2014-10-08 22:51

root@Solaris112:~#

 

 

solaris-1 is now active and will remain active on the next reboot. But WAIT! What happens if we want to go back?

We can use beadm to active another environment, and simple reboot! Let’s go back to the “solaris” BE.

 

root@Solaris112:~# beadm activate solaris

 

Now let’s check the beadm status.

 

broot@Solaris112:~# beadm list

BE        Active Mountpoint Space Policy Created

--        ------ ---------- ----- ------ -------

demo1     -      -          70.0K static 2014-10-08 22:28

solaris   R      -          4.23G static 2014-07-04 19:57

solaris-1 N      /          1.08G static 2014-10-08 22:51

 

 

 

We see that while solaris-1 is active, Solaris will be the current version after the next reboot. Now we can reboot, and we will be back on the OS before we patched! So much easier than linux! If you have any questions please drop via the “Contact Me/ Ask a Question” link on the top of the page.

4 Replies to “Installing Solaris x86 11.2 from an ISO in Virtualbox – part 2 – Patching Solaris, the new easy way”

  1. Live Upgrade has come a long way since its introduction back in Solaris 2.6! I remember having to debug stuff like swap file entries in vfstab causing failures (LU_DEBUG is your friend).

    With ZFS snapshots things are a LOT easier. Great article Erik!

  2. Appreciating the hard work you put into your blog and in depth information you
    provide. It’s nice to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same
    out of date rehashed information. Fantastic read!
    I’ve bookmarked your site and I’m adding your RSS feeds to my Google account.

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