pfinstall(1M)
NAME
pfinstall - tests installation profiles
SYNOPSIS
/usr/sbin/install.d/pfinstall -D | -d disk_config [
-c CDpath] profile
DESCRIPTION
After you create a profile, you can use the pfinstall com-
mand to test the profile and see if it does what you want
before using it to install or upgrade a system. pfinstall
enables you to test a profile against:
o The system's disk configuration where pfinstall is
being run.
o Other disks by using a disk configuration file that
represents a structure of a disk. See NOTES on how to
create a disk configuration file.
To successfully and accurately test a profile for a particu-
lar Solaris release, you must test a profile within the
Solaris environment of the same release. For example, if you
want to test a profile for Solaris 2.6, you have to run the
pfinstall command on a system running Solaris 2.6.
So, on a system running Solaris 2.6, you can test Solaris
2.6 initial installation profiles. However, if you want to
test a Solaris 2.6 upgrade profile on a system running a
previous version of Solaris, or if you don't have a Solaris
2.6 system installed yet to test Solaris 2.6 initial instal-
lation profiles, you have to boot a system from a Solaris
2.6 CD image and temporarily create a Solaris 2.6 install
environment. Then, you can run pfinstall in the Solaris 2.6
install environment to test your profiles.
To create a temporary Solaris 2.6 install environment, boot
a system from a Solaris 2.6 CD image (just as you would to
install), answer any system identification questions, choose
the Solaris Interactive Installation program, and exit out
of the first screen that is presented. Then, from the shell,
you can execute the pfinstall command.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported:
-c CDpath
The path to the Solaris 2 installation image. This is
required if the image is not mounted on /cdrom. (For
example, use this option if you copied the installa-
tion image to disk or mounted the CD-ROM on a direc-
tory other than /cdrom.)
-d disk_config
pfinstall uses a disk configuration file, disk_config,
to test the profile. See NOTES on how to create a disk
configuration file. You must specify either this
option or the -D option to test the profile (see WARN-
INGS). This option cannot be used with an upgrade pro-
file (install_type upgrade). You must always test an
upgrade profile against a system's disk configuration
( -D option).
-D pfinstall uses the system's disk configuration to test
the profile. You must specify either this option or
the -d option to test the profile (see WARNINGS).
OPERANDS
The following operands are supported:
profile
The file name of the profile to test. If profile is
not in the directory where pfinstall is being run, you
must specify the path.
EXAMPLES
Example 1: Testing an Upgrade Profile
The following example tests an upgrade profile,
upgrade.prof, on a system with a previous version of the
Solaris software installed.
1. Boot the system to be upgraded from the Solaris image
chosen for the upgrade, just as you would to install. The
image can be located in the system's local CD-ROM or on
an install server.
2. Answer the system configuration questions, if prompted.
3. If you are presented with a choice of installation
options, choose the Solaris Interactive Installation pro-
gram.
4. Exit from the first screen of the Solaris Interactive
Installation program.
After the Solaris Interactive Installation program exits,
a shell prompt is displayed.
5. Create a temporary mount point:
example# mkdir /tmp/mnt
6. Mount the directory that contains the profile(s) you want
to test.
If you want to mount a remote NFS file system (for sys-
tems on the network), enter:
mount -F nfs server_name:path /tmp/mnt
If you want to mount a UFS-formatted diskette, enter:
mount -F ufs /dev/diskette /tmp/mnt
If you want to mount a PCFS-formatted diskette, enter:
mount -F pcfs /dev/diskette /tmp/mnt
7. Change directory to /tmp/mnt where the profile resides:
example# cd /tmp/mnt
8. Test the upgrade.prof profile:
/usr/sbin/install.d/pfinstall -D upgrade.prof
Example 2: Testing the basic.prof Profile
The following example tests the basic.prof profile against
the disk configuration on a Solaris 2.6 system where pfin-
stall is being run. The path to the Solaris CD image is
specified because Volume Management is being used.
example# /usr/sbin/install.d/pfinstall -D -c /cdrom/cdrom0/s0 basic.prof
Example 3: Testing the basic.prof Profile
The following example tests the basic.prof profile against
the 535_test disk configuration file. This example uses a
Solaris CD image located in the /export/install directory,
and pfinstall is being run on a Solaris 2.6 system.
example# /usr/sbin/install.d/pfinstall -d 535_test \
-c /export/install basic.prof
EXIT STATUS
0 Successful (system rebooted).
1 Successful (system not rebooted).
2 An error occurred.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:
____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Availability | SUNWinst |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
SEE ALSO
fdisk(1M), prtvtoc(1M), attributes(5)
Solaris 9 9/04 Installation Guide
WARNINGS
If the -d or -D option is not specified, pfinstall may per-
form an actual installation on the system by using the
specified profile, and the data on the system may be
overwritten.
NOTES
You have to test a profile on a system with the same plat-
form type for which the profile was created.
SPARC
To create a disk configuration file (-d option) for a SPARC
based system:
1. Locate a SPARC based system with a disk that you want to
test.
2. Create a disk configuration file by redirecting the out-
put of the prtvtoc(1M) command to a file.
example# prtvtoc /dev/rdsk/c0t3d0s2 > 535_disk
3. (Optional.) Concatenate disk configuration files into a
single file to test a profile against multiple disks. The
target numbers in the disk device names must be unique.
example# cat 535_disk 1G_disk > mult_disks
x86
To create a disk configuration file (-d option) for an x86
based system:
1. Locate an x86 based system with a disk that you want to
test.
2. Create part of the disk configuration file by saving the
output of the fdisk(1M) command to a file:
example# fdisk -R -W 535_disk /dev/rdsk/c0t3d0p0
3. Append the output of the prtvtoc(1M) command to the disk
configuration file.
example# prtvtoc /dev/rdsk/c0t3d0s2 >> 535_disk
4. (Optional.) Concatenate disk configuration files into a
single file to test a profile against multiple disks. The
target numbers in the disk device names must be unique.
example# cat 535_disk 1G_disk > mult_disks
To test a profile with a specific system memory size, set
SYS_MEMSIZE to the specific memory size (in Mbytes) before
running pfinstall:
example# SYS_MEMSIZE=memory_size
example# export SYS_MEMSIZE
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