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Article

Booting Solaris Systems to Either the 64-Bit Kernel or the 32-

Bit Kernel

Print-friendly VersionBy Paul Buckley, May 2002

This document provides answers to frequently asked questions about booting the

Solaris Operating Environment (OE) to either the 64-bit kernel or the 32-bit kernel.Booting the 64-bit kernel has been available on Ultra workstations with UltraSPARC

processors (Sun4U systems or higher) since the first release of the Solaris 7 OE.

The questions answered here include the following.

Number Category Question

Q1Requirements Are there systems that only support a 64-bit kernel?

Q2Requirements

How can I tell if the currently installed Solaris 7 orgreater system has the hardware and software capable

of running the 64-bit kernel?

Q3Requirements

The necessary 64-bit packages are not installed. How

can the 64-bit packages be installed?

Q4Requirements

Is there a minimum Software Group (Metacluster)

required for 64-bit support?

Q5Requirements

What about UltraSPARC processors of less than 200MHz?

Q6Configuration

How do I configure the system to boot a 64-bitkernel?

Q7Configuration

How do I configure the system to boot a 32-bit

kernel?

Q8Operations

How can I tell if the system is already running the 64-bit kernel?

Q9Troubleshooting

Even though boot-file is correctly set, the system is

still booting the wrong kernel. Why?
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Q10AdditionalInformation

Where can additional information on the 64-bit kernelbe found?

Q1. Are there systems that only support a 64-bit kernel?

Yes, any system with a UltraSPARC IIe or III processor and later will only boot from

a 64-bit kernel.

Q2. How can I tell if the currently installed Solaris 7 or greater system has the

hardware and software capable of running the 64-bit kernel?

Check the hardware, OBP (Open Boot PROM) revision, and software.

Hardware

Currently, the only platforms capable of supporting the 64-bit Solaris Operating

Environment are those that have an UltraSPARC processor. You can identify the

processors using the psrinfo -v command. The string "sparcv9" must appear in the

output to support 64-bit booting.

# /usr/sbin/psrinfo -v

Status of processor 0 as of: 10/30/00 17:50:17

Processor has been on-line since 10/12/00 19:38:18.

The sparcv9 processor operates at 440 MHz,and has a sparcv9 floating point processor.

Note: sparcv9 is only output from psrinfo on Solaris 7 or greater OE.

Note: If the CPU speed is 200 MHz or less, refer to question #5, "What about

UltraSPARC processors of less than 200 MHz?"

OBP Revision

The only Ultra machines that have a minimum OBP revision requirement to support

64-bit boot are Ultra 1, Ultra 2, Ultra 450, and all Ultra Enterprise workstations. If the

64-bit kernel packages are installed and boot detects that the platform needs afirmware upgrade to run 64-bit, boot displays a message on the console and the 32-bit

kernel is booted by default.

To determine the system type, use the uname -i command. To check the OBP

revision, use the prtconf -V command. If the OBP revision is a down rev from the
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minimum requirement, a flash PROM update can be performed.

You can download the latest version of the indicated patch from the SunSolve Onlineservice; see: SunSolve patches access. Flash PROM upgrade instructions are included

in the patch README file.

The following table shows the minimum OBP version requirement.

System uname -i Output

Minimum OBP

Revision for 64-Bit

Boot

Flash PROM

Update Patch #

Ultra 1 (non-

Enterprise)SUNW,Ultra-1 3.11.1 104881

Ultra 1

EnterpriseSUNW,Ultra-1 3.11.1 104288

Ultra 2 SUNW,Ultra-2 3.11.2 104169

Ultra 450 SUNW,Ultra-4 3.7.107 106122

Ultra Enterprise

Server

SUNW,Ultra-

Enterprise3.2.17 103346

Software

Booting the 64-bit kernel has been available since the first release of Solaris 7. The

system must be running Solaris 7 release or later.

Identify the Solaris release with the uname -a command:

/usr/bin/uname -a

Output should show 5.7 or greater.

If the hardware is 64-bit capable, a new software install will, by default, install the 64-

bit packages. To check to see if the 64-bit packages have been installed, use thepkginfo command.

/usr/bin/pkginfo | grep "64-bit"

system SUNWarcx Archive Libraries (64-bit)system SUNWauddx Audio Drivers (64-bit)

.

.

If no package names are returned, then only 32-bit packages are installed.
http://sunsolve.sun.com/pub-cgi/show.pl?target=patches/patch-accesshttp://sunsolve.sun.com/pub-cgi/show.pl?target=patches/patch-access


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Q3. The necessary 64-bit packages are not installed. How can the 64-bit packages

be installed?

If the 64-bit packages are not installed, then the supported method of installation is

either by means of an initial install, or by running a Solaris upgrade and making surethe 64-bit option is selected. This is true even if you are upgrading the same version of

the operating environment.

For example, if Solaris 7 11/99 is installed without the 64-bit packages, run the

upgrade option from the Solaris 7 11/99 CDROM, making sure to select the 64-bit

option.

Q4. Is there a minimum Software Group (Metacluster) required for 64-bit

support?

Solaris 8 Update 3 (1/01) has 64-bit support bundled into the core Solaris system

software through the Support Software Group (SUNWCreq).

Prior to Solaris 8 Update 3, the minimum Software Group requirement is End User

Support System (SUNWCuser).

Q5. What about UltraSPARC processors of less than 200 MHz?

On systems containing 200-MHz or lower UltraSPARC I processors, the 32-bit kernelis booted by default. Configuring these systems to boot 64-bit requires an extra step.

The file /platform/sun4u/boot.conf must have the following line uncommented:

ALLOW_64BIT_KERNEL_ON_UltraSPARC_1_CPU=true

Before making this modification, read Sun's disclaimer on this modification also in the/platform/sun4u/boot.conf file.

Note: With either the OBP variable boot-file set to kernel/sparcv9/unix or with

the OBP boot command line argumented with kernel/sparcv9/unix the system will

boot to the 64-bit kernel regardless of the setting in boot.conf. A boot.conf file

dependency will exist only when either of these options is not utilized.

Q6. How do I configure the system to boot a 64-bit kernel?


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If the system hardware and software support 64-bit, the system will, by default, boot

the 64-bit kernel. The OBP boot-file parameter will, by default, be set to a null

value. boot-file may also be set to kernel/sparcv9/unix. Check the boot-file

variable by using either the Solaris eeprom command or the OBP setenv command.

Using eeprom

Log in as root and enter:

# /usr/sbin/eeprom | grep boot-file

64-Bit

The system is configured to boot the 64-bit kernel if the output from the eeprom

command is either:

boot-file: data not available

or

boot-file=kernel/sparcv9/unix

The boot-file does not have to be set to kernel/sparcv9/unix. A null value

works.

32-Bit

The system is configured to boot a 32-bit kernel if the output from the eeprom

command comes back as:

kernel/unix

Set the boot-file to either null orkernel/sparcv9/unix using either:

/usr/sbin/eeprom boot-file=""

or

/usr/sbin/eeprom boot-file="kernel/sparcv9/unix"

Using setenv

From the system's OBP OK> prompt, use the printenv command to check the boot-

file parameter and if necessary use the setenv orset-default commands to set the

64-bit kernel:OK> printenv boot-file

OK> setenv boot-file kernel/sparcv9/unix

or

OK> set-default boot-file


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Also check the diag-switch? setting by using the eeprom command. Log in as root

and enter:

# /usr/sbin/eeprom | grep diag-switch?

# /usr/sbin/eeprom | grep diag-file

If the eeprom output returns diag-switch?=true, then the diag-file variable isbeing used to boot the system.

If you have a requirement or preference to leave the key switch set to Diagnostic mode

or to leave the diag-switch? variable set to true, then set the diag-file to the

appropriate value. Log in as root and enter:

# /usr/sbin/eeprom diag-file="kernel/unix"

# /usr/sbin/eeprom diag-file="kernel/sparcv9/unix"

To turn Diagnostic mode off, set the key switch to the on position and also set thediag-switch? variable to false. Log in as root and enter:

# /usr/sbin/eeprom diag-switch?=false

There is another reason why the boot-file setting can be ignored. This happens

when another argument to the boot command is used, as in the case of a

reconfiguration boot (boot -r). The following are valid "multi-argument" boot

options:

ok> boot -r -D kernel/unix

ok> boot -r -D kernel/sparcv9/unix

Q10. Where can additional information on 64-bit kernel be found?

The boot man page is very informative.

In addition, view Sun's online documentation at http://docs.sun.com/ by navigating to

either the Solaris 7 or Solaris 8 System Administration Collections, Volume 1, andthen search for 64-bit. From there you can locate the section on "The 64-bit Solaris

Operating Environment."
http://docs.sun.com/http://docs.sun.com/

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