Minimizing Domains for Sun Fire V1280, 6800, 12K, and 15K Systems, Part II

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This article is the second part of a two-part series that provides information and recommendations for minimizing domains for Sun Fire™ V1280, 6800, 12K, and 15K systems. This part describes the package configurations needed for the various applications, describes the profiles produced for performing JumpStart installations of domains, and provides a case study as an example of applying the minimization methodology to an application. Part II provides background information, describes how to qualify a minimized Solaris™ configuration for an application, covers how to automate installations using JumpStart technology, and details a recommended methodology for minimizing a system.

This document contains the following topics:

• "Application Package Configurations"

• "Understanding Profiles and Application Dependencies"

• "Case Study: Minimizing Sun Validation Test Suite 5.1"

• "About the Authors"

• "Related Resources"

• "Ordering Sun Documents"

• "Accessing Sun Documentation Online"

Application Package Configurations

This section contains a listing of all the packages that need to be installed to allow the applications discussed in Part I, "Qualifying a Solaris Configuration," to function on minimized domains. These are the results that were found by applying the minimization methodology.

The packages needed are structured into the areas for which they are required.

• The smallest bootable set of packages to get a domain running, error free.

• Device drivers needed for full functionality of add-in cards and hardware.

• Commonly needed packages required by most applications.

• Useful network tools that a user often needs.

• Packages needed for Sun Fire V1280, 6800, 12K, and 15K functionality to be available.

• Packages needed for support software to function.

• Packages needed for additional applications to function.

The packages detailed in this article are recommended always to be installed on a minimized domain to provide a consistent baseline, unless it mentions the packages are optional. For convenience, various JumpStart profiles have been produced as a baseline for adding packages that a customer's application would need. These profiles are detailed in the section "Understanding Profiles and Application Dependencies" on page 29.

For more information on supported configurations, see the section "What Software Is Supported?" in Part I of this article.

Solaris 9 OE

To get applications installed and working, a minimum baseline system is required to bring the system up in an operational state with configured hardware. This section describes the minimized set of packages to achieve this, and it is divided into the following subsections:

• "Solaris 9 OE Booting" on page 3

• "Hardware Device Drivers" on page 5

Solaris 9 OE Booting

The following packages define the smallest subset of 32- and 64-bit Solaris 9 OE packages that can be selected as a bootable install and that are supportable. These are all the packages that cannot be removed from metacluster SUNWCreq by specifying them with the delete keyword in a JumpStart profile.

The 32-bit packages cannot be deselected. The 64-bit versions of packages are included where available, because domains must be booted and run in 64-bit mode. The domains do not support 32-bit booting for the domain-specific software components.

Solaris 9 OE running in 64-bit mode requires the packages listed in TABLE 1.

TABLE 1 Required Packages for 64-Bit Mode Solaris 9 OE

In addition to the packages listed in TABLE 1, a Sun Fire 12K or 15K domain install adds the following packages automatically.

TABLE 2 Packages Installed Automatically With Sun Fire 12K and 15K Domains

Hardware Device Drivers

Sun Fire V1280, 6800, 12K, and 15K domains support a wide variety of hardware. The most common hardware that is critical to the domain normally has the hardware device drivers stored in core Solaris packages, such as SUNWkvmx or SUNWcarx. However, add-on hardware normally has device drivers stored in separate packages that are part of the Solaris OE.

Add the packages listed in this section to a profile containing the Solaris 9 OE booting packages.

The audio device drivers are required to prevent console error messages when booting Solaris on the domain. TABLE 3 lists these packages.

TABLE 3 Required Audio Device Drivers

The packages listed in TABLE 4 are required for the Sun FCP SCSI Fibre Channel adapter.

TABLE 4 Required Packages for Sun FCP SCSI Fibre Channel Adaptor

The packages listed in TABLE 5 are required for the Sun Gigabit Ethernet adapter.

TABLE 5 Required Packages for Sun Gigabit Ethernet Adaptor

The packages listed in TABLE 6 are required for the Sun Expert3D graphics card.

TABLE 6 Required Packages for Sun Expert3D Graphics Card

The packages listed in TABLE 7 are required for PCI cards.

TABLE 7 Required Packages for PCI Cards

The packages listed in TABLE 8 are for Sun Quad FastEthernet adapters cards.

TABLE 8 Packages for Supporting Sun Quad FastEthernet Adaptor Cards

The packages listed in TABLE 9 are for Sun WCI RSM.

TABLE 9 Required Packages for Sun Fire Link

Commonly Needed Packages

Solaris has some common commands and libraries that are prerequisites for many of the applications discussed in this article. These are as follows:

• "Miscellaneous Commands" on page 8

• "Library Packages" on page 8

• "Platform Information and Control Library (PICL)" on page 9

• "Java Runtime Environment" on page 10

Miscellaneous Commands

The showrev command is called whenever patches already installed need to be examined. This process occurs during the install process of Solaris Patch Manager and Sun Remote Services Net Connect 3.0.

Sun Management Center 3.5 requires the /usr/ucb/whoami command to check if the user is root during install. SRS Net Connect 3.0 requires /usr/ucb/ps for its install process to run properly.

The packages containing miscellaneous executables and dynamic libraries are listed in TABLE 10.

TABLE 10 Miscellaneous Executables and Dynamic Libraries

Library Packages

Several packages contain dynamic libraries that are typically mandatory for executing applications.

The major one is the standard C runtime library, needed by Sun Explorer 4.1, Sun Remote Services Net Connect 3.0, Sun Validation Test Suite 5.1, ORACLE 9i, and Sun ONE Application Server 7.0.

Another important library is the mathematical library, libm, needed by Sun Validation Test Suite 5.1, ORACLE 9i, and Sun ONE Application Server 7.0.

The zlib is a compression library that is required by Solaris Secure Shell and Sun Validation Test 5.1.

The packages listed in TABLE 11 contain these libraries.

TABLE 11 Dynamic Library Packages Typically Required

Platform Information and Control Library (PICL)

The picld is a root running daemon process that is a database repository for system configuration information.

The Sun Fire V1280 relies on picld running on its domain for allowing Sun Management Center 3.5 agent software to be installed. Sun Explorer 4.1 software also has a need for picld to be running, for information to be gathered properly on the Sun Fire range.

Sun Validation Test Suite 5.1 software requires dynamic libraries in SUNWpiclu to function correctly.

PICL makes use of FRU information for a domain. Each platform has its own libraries for accessing this information. These are contained in the three SUNWfru* packages and need to be installed.

PICL provides limited information on the Sun Fire V1280, but this might change in the future, so it is recommended that it be installed.

Add the packages listed in TABLE 12 to allow picld to run on a domain.

TABLE 12 Packages Necessary for picld to Run on a Domain

Java Runtime Environment

Many Solaris programs use the Java™ Runtime Environment (JRE) for carrying out operations. Often processes open libjvm.so to carry out FRU diagnostics.

Sun Explorer 4.1 is one application that does this. The program rprtfru.sparc requires libjvm.so or it fails.

Sun Remote Services Net Connect 3.0 has a similar requirement for it when the install process tries to install package SUNWfrunc. If libjvm.so is missing, then the install fails.

The JRE has dependencies on the packages listed in TABLE 13.

TABLE 13 JRE Package Dependencies

Sun Validation Test Suite 5.1 requires these dependencies to be installed, because it needs SUNWmfrun.

Network Tools

This section describes the following important and useful network access tools for file transfers, secure communication, application configuration tracing, and X-Window application export over the network:

• "NFS Client" on page 11

• "ping and ftp Client" on page 12

• "sendmail" on page 12

• "truss" on page 12

• "X-Windows Basic Applications" on page 13

• "Solaris Secure Shell" on page 13

NFS Client

It is often useful to NFS mount remote server directories to a domain. TABLE 14 lists the packages required.

TABLE 14 Packages for NFS Mounting of Remote Server Directories

ping and ftp Client

For the ability to be able to ping and ftp from domain calls, the SUNWbip package (basic IP commands) is required.

sendmail

Often it is a requirement for an application to be able to send email. Add the packages listed in TABLE 15 for this functionality.

TABLE 15 Packages for sendmail Functionality

truss

The truss is an important tool for troubleshooting system configurations by analyzing system calls. The packages listed in TABLE 16 install truss.

TABLE 16 Packages for Installing truss

X-Windows Basic Applications

To run X-based applications, such as xterm, add the packages listed in TABLE 17.

TABLE 17 Packages for Running X-Windows Applications

Common Desktop Environment (CDE) based packages, such as dtterm, are not supported in minimized profiles.

Solaris Secure Shell

Starting with Solaris 9 OE, Secure Shell is included with the software distribution. The packages listed in TABLE 18 allow Secure Shell client and server to operate in a domain.

TABLE 18 Packages for Operating Secure Shell in a Domain

Secure Shell can tunnel X-applications over a secure channel. This action allows insecure commands like xterm to be run with confidence over an unsecured network. To do this requires X-application packages to be installed.

Domain-Specific Components

The following are specialized domain-dependent components that are needed to allow a domain to be fully operational and to allow full domain functionality, such as dynamic reconfiguration (DR) and remote monitoring.

• "Common Dynamic Reconfiguration Components" on page 14

• "Sun Fire 12K and 15K Dynamic Reconfiguration" on page 15

• "Sun Fire 12K and 15K Network Console" on page 15

• "Sun Fire 6800 Packages" on page 16

• "Sun Fire V1280 Packages" on page 16

• "Capacity On Demand 2.0" on page 16

• "Sun Management Services 1.3" on page 16

• "Sun Management Center 3.5" on page 17

Common Dynamic Reconfiguration Components

The packages listed in TABLE 19 must be installed on Sun Fire V1280, 6800, 12K, and 15K domains for remote DR requests to succeed.

TABLE 19 Packages Required for Dynamic Reconfiguration Requests (All Platforms)

Sun Fire 12K and 15K Dynamic Reconfiguration

Infrastructure services for the Sun Fire 12K and 15K domains, such as DR, have core drivers and daemons that are part of Solaris OS core.

The packages listed in TABLE 20 are not required for minimized Sun Fire V1280 and 6800 domains.

TABLE 20 Additional Packages Required for Sun Fire 12K and 15K Dynamic Reconfiguration

Sun Fire 12K and 15K Network Console

The packages listed in TABLE 21 are required for the network console.

TABLE 21 Packages Required for the Network Console

Sun Fire 6800 Packages

There are no Sun Fire 6800 specific packages in Solaris OE version 8 or 9.

Sun Fire V1280 Packages

The Sun Fire V1280 uses Sun Advanced Lights Out Management 2.0 software, and there are several packages that need to be installed to use this software on the domain. These are installed from the Solaris install supplemental CD and consist of the packages listed in TABLE 22.

TABLE 22 Packages for Sun Advanced Lights Out Management 2.0 Software

Sun Fire 6800, 12K, and 15K do not support Sun Advanced Lights Out Management 2.0 software.

Capacity On Demand 2.0

There are no package requirements on the domain.

Sun Fire 12K and 15K Capacity On Demand 2.0 commands, for example, showcodusage, showcodlicense, and addcodlicense, are executed from the SC and installed as part of Sun Management Services 1.3 software.

Sun Fire Capacity On Demand 2.0 software is built into the SC firmware.

Sun Management Services 1.3

Sun Management Services 1.3 is installed on Sun Fire 12K and 15K system controllers only. It is not needed on Sun Fire V1280, 6800, 12K, or 15K domains, therefore, it should not be installed on domains.

Sun Management Center 3.5

The Sun Management Center 3.5 domain agent software is installed by executing the command es-inst -a from the Sun Management Center 3.5 install CD.

Sun Management Center 3.5 is made up of domain, server, and console software. Domain agent software is the only software that should be installed on the domain. All components of the agent software were installed during software qualification.

The Sun Management Center 3.5 server software should be installed and configured on another Solaris system to allow Sun Management Center 3.5 console to be invoked and to allow the domain configuration to be manipulated.

The Sun Management Center 3.5 agent software installation process installs a domain-specific component. This component is unique for a Sun Fire V1280, 6800, 12K, and 15K chassis.

The packages listed in TABLE 23 are required for Sun Management Center 3.5 agent software.

TABLE 23 Packages for Sun Management Center Software

Support Software Components

This section lists packages for the following reliability, availability, and scalability RAS-D (Diagnostics) software.

• "Solaris Patch Manager 1.0" on page 18

• "Sun Explorer 4.1" on page 18

• "Sun Remote Services Net Connect 3.0" on page 18

• "Sun Validation Test Suite 5.1" on page 19

Solaris Patch Manager 1.0

Patch utilities patchadd, patchrm, and unzip are needed by Solaris Patch Manager 1.0. The Solaris Patch Manager 1.0 software installs the JRE only if it is not already installed; it does not try to display any GUI windows.

The packages list installed by Solaris Patch Manager 1.0 on a full system is much less than that installed on a minimized system, because Solaris Patch Manager 1.0 requires a JRE. If one is not found, then Solaris Patch Manager 1.0 installs it with dependent packages.

Sun Explorer 4.1

There are no domain-specific packages required for Sun Explorer 4.1 to work correctly other than those detailed in "Commonly Needed Packages" on page 8. To make use of the sendmail capability, then the sendmail packages must be installed.

Sun Remote Services Net Connect 3.0

Sun Remote Services Net Connect 3.0 installs a specific version of Sun Explorer data collector software, if it is not already installed. If a different version is installed, then it asks to replace it. Otherwise, installation of Sun Remote Services Net Connect 3.0 aborts.

Installing Sun Remote Services Net Connect 3.0 software requires SUNWstade (storage automated diagnostic environment) or else the SUNWsrssp (part of Sun Remote Services Net Connect 3.0) will fail to be installed.

Sun Validation Test Suite 5.1

Sun Validation Test Suite 5.1 installs many kernel modules that perform diagnostic operations. These operations touch every part of the system hardware; for this reason, the package requirements for Sun Validation Test Suite 5.1 are substantial.

The packages listed in TABLE 24 are required for Sun Validation Test Suite 5.1

TABLE 24 Required Packages for Sun Validation Test Suite 5.1

Sun Validation Test Suite 5.1 is installed without Kerberos. If Kerberos is enabled during installation of Sun Validation Test Suite 5.1, then the packages listed in TABLE 25 are required.

TABLE 25 Packages Required for Kerberos

Additional Applications

The following are the package requirements for additional applications that customers typically want installed.

• "ORACLE 9i" on page 20

• "Sun ONE Application Server" on page 21

ORACLE 9i

ORACLE9i requires the linker to be available during install. It needs make, ar, ld, and nm to be available for this purpose.

ORACLE9i does not have a client-only install, other than by supplying a configured response file. This is not supported in this article.

So, to do an interactive install, it requires a few X-packages be installed to allow the Java GUI to be displayed. ORACLE9i installs its own JRE in preference to any system-wide version.

The packages listed in TABLE 26 are required for ORACLE9i to install and work correctly.

TABLE 26 Packages Required for ORACLE9i

Sun ONE Application Server

The packages listed in TABLE 27 are required for a Sun ONE Application Server to function.

TABLE 27 Packages Required for Sun ONE Application Server

Solaris 8 OE

Solaris 8 has limited support for minimization through package deletion from a defined package metacluster. It does not allow any packages to be deselected from metacluster SUNWCreq. This whole metacluster is the minimal set of packages that can be installed via suninstall. Due to this restriction in suninstall, all packages must be included in this set for it to be supported.

This section describes the differences between the Solaris OE version 8 and 9 for the following topics:

• "Solaris 8 OE Booting" on page 22

• "Hardware Device Drivers" on page 26

• "NFS, ping, and FTP Client" on page 26

• "X-Windows Basic Applications" on page 27

• "Secure Shell" on page 27

• "Sun Validation Test Suite 5.1" on page 28

Solaris 8 OE Booting

Although the package clusters SUNWCcs and SUNWCnis can be deselected successfully from suninstall, when the system is rebooted, the packages that make up those clusters are installed regardless.

Additionally, packages such as SUNWftpr (FTP server root files) cannot be deselected via suninstall. These packages should by default not be installed on a minimized system; however, there is no option for not installing them.

These packages could be removed manually using the command pkgrm after the JumpStart installation of the domain has occurred or via a finish script, but this practice is not supported. TABLE 28 provides a partial set of candidates that could be deleted this way.

TABLE 28 Solaris 8 OE: Candidate Packages for Removing After Installation

TABLE 29 lists packages installed on a domain as part of metacluster SUNWCreq.

TABLE 29 Solaris 8 OE: Packages Installed as Part of SUNWCreq

Hardware Device Drivers

Hardware device driver packages for Solaris 8 OE match those of Solaris 9 OE. For a list, see "Hardware Device Drivers" on page 5.

Additional Packages Needed by Solaris 8 OE

SUNWter is required by applications that manipulate the terminal. SUNWesxu is the 64-bit version of SUNWesu, and it is not included by default in SUNWCreq for Solaris 8 OE. TABLE 30 lists the additional packages.

TABLE 30 Solaris 8 OE: Additional Packages Needed

NFS, ping, and FTP Client

The NFS client software, ping, and FTP are mandatory for installation in Solaris 8 OE. They are installed as part of the Solaris core package SUNWcsu.

X-Windows Basic Applications

To use X-based applications such as xterm, add the packages listed in TABLE 31.

TABLE 31 Solaris 8 OE: Packages Required for running X-Windows Applications

Common Desktop Environment (CDE) based packages, such as dtterm, are not supported in minimized profiles.

Secure Shell

Secure Shell is not part of Solaris 8 OE; however, a mechanism for logging into domains remotely is required. This mechanism is achieved with the open source version of SSH, OpenSSH. The open source version that we tested consists of OpenSSH v3.5p1 and OpenSSL v0.9.6g. Because these are third-party products, they are unsupported by Sun.

Sun Validation Test Suite 5.1

The packages listed in TABLE 32 are required for Sun Validation Test Suite 5.1.

TABLE 32 Solaris 8 OE: Packages Required for Sun Validation Test Suite

As with Solaris 9 OE, Sun Validation Test Suite 5.1 is installed without Kerberos. If Kerberos is enabled during installation of Sun Validation Test Suite 5.1, then the packages listed in TABLE 33 are required.

TABLE 33 Solaris 8 OE: Packages Required for Kerberos