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Asset ID: 1-73-1001327.1
Update Date:2010-07-06
Keywords:

Solution Type  FAB (standard) Sure

Solution  1001327.1 :   The new PCI+ IB_SSC IO Assembly is not properly supported by any release of Solaris 8.  


Related Items
  • Sun Fire V1280 Server
  •  
  • Sun Fire E2900 Server
  •  
Related Categories
  • GCS>Sun Microsystems>Sun FAB>Standard>Reactive
  •  

PreviouslyPublishedAs
201789


Product
Sun Fire E2900 Server
Sun Fire V1280 Server

Bug Id
<SUNBUG: 5076027>, <SUNBUG: 6241837>, <SUNBUG: 6243897>

Part
  • Part No: 541-0382-03
  • Part Description: PCI+ IB_SSC
Xoption
  • Xoption Number: X2765A
  • Xoption Description: PCI+ IB-SSC

Impact

While booting Solaris 8 2/04 from the CD or DVD, the boot sequence terminates with the following error messages :

{0} ok boot cdrom

Rebooting with command: boot cdrom
SunOS Release 5.8 Version Generic_108528-29 64-bit
Copyright 1983-2003 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Cannot assemble drivers for root
/ssm@0,0/pci@18,700000/pci@4/ide@2/cdrom@0,0:b
Cannot mount root on /ssm@0,0/pci@18,700000/pci@4/ide@2/cdrom@0,0:b
fstype ufs

panic[cpu0]/thread=10408000: vfs_mountroot: cannot mount root

0000000010407970 genunix:vfs_mountroot+70 (104b7c00, 0, 0, 104bac88, 10, 14)
%l0-3: 00000000104b7c00 00000000104bb5e0 0000000000992000 00000000104b80e8
%l4-7: 0000000000000000 0000000010423f68 00000000000d137c 000000000000137c
0000000010407a20 genunix:main+8c (104208f0, 2000, 10407ec0, 10408030,
fff2, 100549b4)
%l0-3: 0000000000000001 0000000000000001 0000000000000015 0000000000000f3b
%l4-7: 00000000104aad60 00000000104fcf88 00000000000ee220 0000000000000220
skipping system dump - no dump device configured

rebooting...

Resetting ...


Symptoms

Installation or booting Solaris 8 2/04 from DVD or CD will fail on E2900/ V1280 systems that have PCI+ IB_SSC IO Assembly installed. Since no released version of Solaris 8 properly supports the PCI+ IB_SSC IO Assembly, customers cannot install or boot Solaris 8 on systems with the PCI+ IB_SSC IO Assembly via DVD or CD.

Systems installing or booting Solaris 8 2/04 via Jumpstart will not recognize the DVD-ROM, will not recognize all of the hardware, and will be likely to eventually panic.


Root Cause

Full support for the PCI+ IB_SSC was added to Solaris 8 after the Solaris 8 2/04 release.


Workaround

Support for the new PCI+ IB_SSC IO Assembly was added primarily via Change Requests 5076027, 6241837, and 6243897. Prior driver versions will not recognize all of the components of the new hardware or operate reliably.


Resolution

Please note that while installing patches 116962-09, 108974-47, 111792-13, and 117000-05 will allow the system to recognize the DVD-ROM device and the PCI+ IB_SCC IO Assembly in general, many other patches are needed to bring the system up to date from the revisions installed in the Solaris 8 2/04 release. In particular, the system will be well behind the current kernel version contained in patch 117350.

Use of the Enterprise Installation Standards (EIS) to set up the system is recommended.

A) Comprehensive Field Instructions:

In order to get the system to recognize the new hardware, the easiest solution is to perform a network based, Jumpstart install, and then patch the system. Option 1 is to add the patch manually. Option 2 is to modify the Jumpstart process to add the patch automatically. Option 3 is to create a Flash Archive of a patched system.  Option 4 describes obtaining an alternate DVD0 when necessary.

Option 1) Patch the OS installation on the system to recognize the DVD-ROM drive

1a) Create a network installation image from the customer's Solaris 8 2/04 Media. - See the "Preparing to Install From the Network" chapters of the Solaris 8 Advanced Installation Guide for instructions.  

1b) Install Solaris 8 2/04 via Jumpstart from this image.  

1c) After the system boots, install patches 116962-09, 108974-47, 111792-13, and 117000-05 or later, and do a reconfiguration reboot.

Option 2) Create a Jumpstart finish script to add patches 116962-09, 108974-47, 111792-13, 117000-05 or later as part of the installation process.

2a) Create a network installation image from the customer's Solaris 8 2/04 Media. - See the "Preparing to Install ... From the Network" chapters of the Solaris 8 Advanced Installation Guide for instructions.

2b) Create a finish script to install patches 116962-09, 108974-47, 111792-13, 117000-05 or later. - See the "Adding Packages or Patches With a Finish Script" section of the "Using Optional Custom JumpStart Features" chapter of the Solaris 8 Advanced Installation Guide.

2c) Install Solaris 8 2/04 via Jumpstart image which will use the the finish script to install the patches.

Option 3) Create a Flash Archive of a patched system.

3a) Set up a system as described in option 1.

3b) Use this patched system to create a Flash archive.

3c) Use this archive to install Solaris 8 on the remaining systems as discussed in the "Solaris Flash (Overview and Planning)" chapter of the Solaris 8 Advanced Installation Guide.

Option 4) If the installation must be done using the DVD-ROM, then the user must first obtain a copy of an alternate Solaris 8 2/04 DVD0, part number 708-0124-10. They can then boot from this DVD and follow the instructions presented at the console before inserting the standard installation DVD.

B) Additional Comments:

This issue does not affect booting or installation of Solaris 10 3/05 HW1 on E2900/V1280 systems with the PCI+ IB_SSC IO Assembly.  Booting and installation of Solaris 9 9/05 on E2900/V1280 is covered in FIN 102100.

Regardless of the installation method chosen, the Enterprise Installation Standards (EIS) are recommended for setting up the system.

For reference, the alternative Solaris 8 DVD0 includes the patches needed for proper operation of the PCI+ IB_SSC as well as those required to properly install from the alternative DVD0. This list is explicitly not intended to be a complete listing of all patches recommended for V1280/E2900 systems.

117000-05
117350-28
108993-49
110900-12
111792-13
108974-47
109007-21
110369-08
110826-12
111335-30
108987-17
111111-04
111317-06
113648-04
110842-12
112161-04
116959-11
116965-14
116971-03
116991-03
116962-09
115275-06

C) Special Considerations:

Due to changes in the device paths between the PCI and PCI+ IB_SSC IO Assemblies, it not possible to patch or upgrade an existing installation to support the new PCI+ IB_SSC IO Assembly. A new install of Solaris is required.

If you want the system to always reboot Solaris from the boot device that you've specified, you may need to change the system's default boot device (OBP boot-device parameter) using the eeprom(1M) command after installing Solaris software. In particular, if the chosen boot device is not the current default boot device, you must update the boot-device parameter.


Modification History
Date: 12-JUL-2006
  • Updated implementation type to reactive

 



Previously Published As
102133
Internal Comments
Related Information
  • Manual: 819-5110-10
  • URL: http://sunweb.germany/EIS/Web

Internal Contributor/submitter
Chad.Lewis@sun.com

Internal Eng Business Unit Group
KE Authors

Internal Eng Responsible Engineer
Patrick.Morrisey@Sun.COM

Internal Services Knowledge Engineer
sean.hassall@sun.com

Internal Resolution Patches
116962-09, 108974-47, 111792-13, 117000-05

Internal Kasp FAB Legacy ID
102133

Internal Sun Alert & FAB Admin Info
Critical Category:
Significant Change Date:
Avoidance: Workaround
Responsible Manager: null
Original Admin Info: null

Product_uuid
63ff680d-0598-11d8-84cb-080020a9ed93|Sun Fire E2900 Server
6a74b2f9-bbd8-4b2c-870d-b6b73d6e224f|Sun Fire V1280 Server

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