Nebula 1994 June/NEBULA_SE.ISO/Documents/FAQ/Solaris2-faq/FAQ

Text File | 1993-06-17 | 39.5 KB | 1,039 lines

Newsgroups: comp.unix.solaris,comp.sys.sun.admin,comp.answers,news.answers
Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!enterpoop.mit.edu!usc!cs.utexas.edu!utnut!utzoo!sq!ian
From: [e-mail] (Ian Darwin)
Subject: Solaris 2.1 Frequently Answered Questions (FAQ) $Revision: 1.20 $
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Followup-To: poster
Summary: This posting contains a list of Frequently Asked Questions
    (and their answers) about Sun Microsystem's Solaris 2.x system.
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 93 21:43:46 GMT
Approved: [e-mail]
Lines: 1023
Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu comp.unix.solaris:4589 comp.sys.sun.admin:16521 comp.answers:1028 news.answers:9495

Archive-name: Solaris2-FAQ
Version: $Id: solaris2.faq,v 1.20 93/06/16 17:43:10 ian Exp $ -----
Maintained-by: Ian F. Darwin <[e-mail]>

[Note: this is the first posting to comp.sys.sun.admin, comp.answers,
and news.answers - the former to benefit more system admins, and the latter
for archiving.  It isn't much different from the latest version posted
to comp.unix.solaris; apologies to those who see it twice in a week on
that newsgroup. -- ian]

The following is a list of questions that are frequently asked about
Solaris 2.x.  You can help make it an even better-quality FAQ by writing a
few lines on one topic that burned you while moving to Solaris 2.1 and
sending it BY EMAIL ONLY to me, [e-mail]. Thanks!

CONTENTS
    GENERAL
    1) A real list of questions will be here someday)
    FOR MORE INFO
    1) ditto
    SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION
    1) ditto
    NETWORKING
    1) ditto
    SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
    1) ditto

PART ONE - GENERAL

What's a Solaris anyway?

    Solaris(tm) is Sun's name for their UNIX-based user environment,
    including the UNIX(tm) operating system, window system (X11-based),
    and other stuff too.

    Solaris 1.x is a retroactive (marketing?) name for SunOS4.1.x (x>=1),
        a version of UNIX that is BSD-like with some SVR4 features.
    Solaris 2.x (which is what most everybody means by "Solaris")
        includes SunOS5.x, which is an SVR4-derived UNIX.
    For more details, see the chart in the next-to-next question.

What is Solaris 2? Is it really SVR4 based?
    Solaris 2.1 is an "operating environment" that includes the
    SunOS 5.1 operating system and the OpenWindows 3.1 window environment.

    SunOS 5.0 and 5.1 are based on USL's SVR4.0. SVR4.0, in turn, was
    developed jointly by AT&T and Sun while Sun was developing 4.1.0,
    which is why things like RFS, STREAMS, shared memory, etc.,
    are in SunOS 4.1.x, and why things like vnodes, NFS and XView
    are in SVR4.0.

What machines does Solaris 2.x run on?

    Solaris 2.0 only ran on desktop SPARCstations and a few other Sun
    machines.

    Solaris 2.1 and later comes in two flavors, SPARC and "x86".

    Solaris 2.1 (and 2.2, ...) for SPARC run on all SPARCstations and
    clones, as well as all models of the Sun-4 family. The old FPU
    on the 4/110 (and 260??) is not supported, so floating point
    will be SLOW, but it does work.

    Solaris 2.1 for x86 has recently been released to end users.
    It runs on a wide range of high-end PC-architecture machines.
    "High-end" means: 16MB of RAM and an 80486 (or 33MHz or faster
    80386DX).  It will not run on your 4 MB 16MHz 386SX, so don't
    bother trying! Also, floating point hardware (80387-style) is
    absolutely required. All three buses are supported: ISA, EISA, MCA.

    To summarize all this, Jim Prescott gave this chart, which I've updated:
    Solaris    SunOS    OpenWin        Other    Comments
    1.0    4.1.1B    2.0            (sun3 EOL)
    1.0.1    4.1.2    2.0            (6[379]0-1[24]0 MP)
    1.1    4.1.3    3.0            SP Viking support
    2.0    5.0    3.0.1        ONC+    sun4c only
       2.1SPARC    5.1    3.1         ONC+    Late '92?
    2.1x86    5.1    3.1         ONC+    May '93
       2.2SPARC    5.2    3.2        ONC+    May '93
    2.?    5.?    4.0            Fall 1993??
                    According to remarks at the March '93
                    Solaris Developer's Conference,
                    OpenWin 4 will be X11R5 based: Display
                    PostScript instead of NeWS, no SunView.
                    It will still be primarily OPEN LOOK.
                    The Spring 1994 OpenWin will be Motif
                    and COSE-based.

Will my XXX applications from 4.1.x run on Solaris 2?

    There is quite a bit of support in SunOS 5.x for running 4.1.x
    binaries in an emulation mode called "Binary Compatibility"
    (BCP).  This works by dynamically linking the 4.1.x binaries
    with a shared library that emulates the 4.1.x binary interface
    on top of 5.x, so there is some overhead. Programs will only
    work if they were dynamically linked, and if they meet certain
    other criteria. Best bet: try it and see.

    Be aware, though, that Sun WILL drop the binary compatibility
    package someday soon.  Try to wean yourself and your users from
    depending on it, even if it means beating on your software
    vendors to offer "native" Solaris2 applications.

Will my XXX applications from SVR3 on the 386 run on Solaris 2/Intel?

    As with SPARC, there is an emulation mode that should run the
    majority of well-behaved SVR3 and Xenix binaries. I've not
    had time to test it.

    Applications from any other vendor's standards-conforming
    386/486 SVR4 should also run.

Where is the XXX command gone now?

    There are too many of these changes to include in this FAQ, but
    here are some key ones:

        a. locations are often different
                 hostid         /usr/ucb/hostid
                 whoami         /usr/ucb/whoami
                 hostname       /usr/ucb/hostname

        b. some old commands don't exist or have replacements

                 4.1.X          Solaris 2.X

                 hostname       uname -n
                 pstat -s       swap -s  (how much swap space?)
                 dkinfo         /usr/sbin/prtvtoc raw_dev_name
                 trace          truss
                 mount -a       mountall
                 exportfs       share
                 bar            cpio -H bar (read only)

    The file "whatlist" is included in the "Admigration" package
    (see below), was posted to Newsgroups comp.unix.solaris and
    comp.sys.sun.admin by [e-mail] (frederick.d.true)
    with the subject line

    Subject: INFO: Command summary, SunOS 4.x --> 5.x

    You can also FTP this file from ftp.cs.toronto.edu in
    /pub/darwin/solaris2/whatlist.

Should I upgrade?

    That depends - on you, your situation, your application mix, etc.
    Eventually SunOS4.1.x will go the way of the 3/50 - it'll still
    be around, but Sun will no longer support it.

Is Solaris 2.2 reliable/stable enough to use?

    The concensus seems to be that yes, it is, for many applications
    and most users. Your mileage may vary.

    And the performance in 2.2 is very close to that of SunOS 4.1.x.

PART TWO - FOR MORE INFO

How can I RTFM when I don't have it anymore?

    "RTFM" is an old saying: Read The Manual.  Sun still sells
    printed manuals, but don't automatically distribute them. A
    smaller, lighter, bookshelf-friendly :-) CD-ROM called "The
    AnswerBook"(tm) contains all the printed documents in
    machine-readable (PostScript) form, and a keyword search
    engine. 90% of your introductory questions are answered therein!

    Note there are (at least) two answerbooks. The Solaris 2.2 CD itself
    includes the "OpenWindows Answerbook", which has a few
    OpenWindows book. There is also the "Solaris 2.2 System Software
    AnswerBook" (SUNWabook) which has almost *ALL* of the documents
    (including another copy of /usr/man, but indexed for searching).

    As distributed, the Answerbook search engine runs only with the
    OpenWindows server, not with MIT X11. This will change; for now,
    if you are using the MIT server instead of what Sun provides,
    you'll have to use one of several "answerbook workaround" scripts
    that are in circulation.

    You should buy (or print from within Answerbook) at least the
    reference manual and the System and Network Administration books,
    because if your system becomes disabled you won't be able to
    run the Answerbook to find out how to fix it...

What Software is available for Solaris 2.x?

    Most commercial software that ran on 4.x either will run in BCP
    mode, or is available for Solaris 2.x, or is being ported now.

    You can obtain a list of official 3rd party porting
    commitments, maintained by Sun's "Solaris Demand Center"
    (whatever that is), by sending electronic mail to
    "[e-mail]" -- this is an automatic reply server.  The list
    shows what third party applications are currently available for
    Solaris, and lists expected dates for many more.

    A list of freeware (some "public domain", but mostly copyright-
    but-freely-distributable) [as well as commercial software??]
    that has been ported to Solaris 2.x
    is posted monthly to the newsgroup comp.unix.solaris by
    [e-mail] (Richard Steinberger). Look for this:

        Subject: Solaris SW list.  Monthly Post.

    If you can't wait, the list is also available via anonymous FTP
    from updike.sri.com.

What FTP sites do I need to know about?

    SunSite (sunsite.unc.edu) - Sun sponsors an FTP site at the
    University of North Carolina. Lots of good stuff here.

    OpCom. (opcom.sun.ca) - run by Sun Microsystems' OpCom group - lots
    of stuff. Here is an extract from their README:

    pub/binaries    - binaries/man pages for Solaris 2.0 native binaries.

    pub/Cygnus      - the Cygnus port of gcc (has been removed!)

    pub/newsletter  - issues of the monthly OpCom newsletter.

    pub/docs        - assorted documentation, papers, and other information.
            - all of the RFCs

    pub/drivers     - information related to device driver writing under
              under Solaris 2.0 as well as a skeleton SCSI driver.

    ls-lR.Z         - compressed recursive listing of files available
              on the server.

    pub/tars        - compressed tars.

    pub/tmp         - place for uploading things to the server.

    pub/R5          - the unadultered MIT x11r5 distribution.

    pub/x11r5       - port of X11r5 to Solaris 2.0, binaries, libraries
              and headers.  A compressed tar of this tree can
              be found in tars.

    export.lcs.mit.edu - the master X11 site

    ftp.uu.net    - UuNet communication archives

What other FAQ's do I need to know about?

    All of them :-). But in particular you should see these FAQ's:

    1) Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.admin,comp.sys.sun.misc,comp.unix.solaris,
        comp.answers,news.answers
    Subject: FAQ: Sun Computer Administration Frequently Asked Questions

    2) comp.windows.open-look - Anything related to OpenWindows or the
        OPEN LOOK Graphical User Interface.

    3) The Sun-Managers mailing list (see below) has its own FAQ,
        maintained by John DiMarco <[e-mail]>.
        FTP from ra.mcs.anl.gov in the sun-managers directory.

    *) See also the "Solaris SW list. Monthly Post" above and the
        "whatlist" file.

What mailing lists should I get?

    First, read all the USENET newsgroups with "sun" in their name :-)

    1) The Florida SunFlash is a "closed" mailing list for Sun owners.
    It contains mostly press releases from Sun and third-party
    vendors.  This list contains information on conferences such as
    the Solaris Developer's Conference as well.  It is normally
    distributed regionally - to find out about a mail point in your
    area, or for other information send mail to [e-mail].

    Subscription requests should be sent to [e-mail].
    Archives are on solar.nova.edu, ftp.uu.net, sunsite.unc.edu,
    src.doc.ic.ac.uk and ftp.adelaide.edu.au

    2) The Sun Managers list is an unmoderated mailing list for
    *emergency-only* requests. Subscribe and listen for a while,
    and read the regularly-posted Policy statement BEFORE sending
    mail to it, and to get a feel for what kinds of traffic it carries.
    Write to [e-mail].

What books should I read?

    O'Reilly & Associates specializes in UNIX books.  Their "UNIX
    In A Nutshell" has been updated for SVR4 and Solaris 2.0.  Get
    their catalog by calling 800-998-9938 (1-707-829-0515) 7AM to
    5PM PST.

    SunSoft Press carries books specific to Solaris 2. Look for the
    inset with your End User Media Kit that lists the most relevant ones.

    Prentice-Hall has reprints of much of the AT&T documentation.
    I'm not sure how much of this you need - a lot of the same
    material is in the Answerbook (see above).

PART THREE - SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION

How much disk space do I need to install Solaris 2?

    A full install of 2.2 is supposed to be 164 MB, but that doesn't
    include swap. Here is a net exchange between Casper Dik and Gil Tene:

    In article <[e-mail]>, Casper writes:
    |> >How much disc space does SOLARIS take up ? That is should we buy a
    |> >424Mb disc or get a 1Gb disc to put it on :-)
    |>
    |> Solaris 2.x takes about as much diskspace as SunOS 4.x:
    |>
    |> Partition/Slice Solaris SunOS
    |> /        10MB     8MB
    |> /usr        78MB    90MB
    |> /var        10MB    10MB
    |> /usr/openwin    83MB    83MB
    |>

    Gil replies:
    On my system, with a full Solaris installation (EVERYTHING selected)
    + gnu's binary stuff for solaris (off of the Catalyst CD) installed
    in /opt I see a similar situation to the above plus :

    16852   /opt/SUNWabe
    19      /opt/SUNWcg12
    7968    /opt/SUNWdiag
    721     /opt/SUNWgt
    7740    /opt/SUNWits
    14609   /opt/cygnus-sol2-1.0

    (output from "du -k -s /du/*")

    - SUNwabe is the basic answerbook stuff, which you don't need if you
      use the full answerbook.

    - SUNWcg12 is (obviously) cg12 support.

    - SUNWdiag is obvious too.

    - SUNWgt is support for gt boards.

    - SUNWits is the xgl3.0 library (it has libPEX5.so.1 in there too).

    - cygnus-sol2-1.0 is the gcc2.0+tools stuff. I have gcc2.3.3 on
      another partition and that takes about the same space as 2.0 does.

    Another important note : The full Solaris 2.1 answerbook takes up 164MB
    on disk. I highly recommend installing it and not using it off the
    CDROM drive. It's much more usable (faster) this way. And it always
    stays around -- even when you have something else in the CDROm drive.

How can I convert all my local changes that I've made over the years
into their corresponding forms on Solaris 2?

    1) Do it by hand. You did document every single change and
    check it into RCS, didn't you?

    2) Automate it, using the AMToolkit (Administration Migration
    Toolkit) from the OpCom FTP server (q.v.)!

What are "packages"?

    A SVR4 mechanism for "standardizing" the installation of
    optional software. Most vendors are expected to use this
    format for distributing add-on software for Solaris 2.x.

    Packages can be installed/deinstalled with pkgadd/pkgrm which
    are standard SVR4 items, or with swm (CRT) or swmtool (GUI-based)
    which are provided only in Solaris 2.

    Note that the "pkg" system keeps lots of files in /var/sadm/install,
    and in particular the file "contents", which is hundreds of KB,
    and that there are two copies of it while pkgadd is running, so you
    needs lots of free space where /var is, typically the root.
    This file must be kept around if you want, for example, to use
    pkgrm to remove a package, or pkgchk to verify months later that
    all of a a package's files are still intact.

Why can't I write in /home?

    This is a common one! SunOS is delivered with the "automounter"
    enabled. The automounter is designed for NFS sites, to
    simplify maintenance of the list of filesystems that need
    mounting. However it is a burden for standalone sites.

    The automounter takes over /home and in effect becomes the NFS
    server for it, so it no longer behaves like a normal directory.
    This is normally a Good Thing as it simplifies administration if
    everybody's home directory is under /home.

    To kill it off for standalone or small networks, you can comment out
    the three lines in /etc/init.d/nfs.client that start "if" (from the if
    to the fi!!), and reboot.

    To learn about it, read the O'Reilly book
    Managing NFS and NIS, or ftp the white paper 'The Art of Automounting".
    from sunsite.unc.edu in the directory /pub/sun-info/white-papers.

What is this junk mail about an error in the crontab entry?

    Solaris 2.1 (FCS on SPARC and OEM on Intel) shipped with a
    blank line at the end of root's crontab file. The result is
    that root gets mail at boot time and nightly thereafter,
    complaining about an error in the crontab file and that it has
    "ignored the entry".  Pretty hard work ignoring that blank
    line, eh?  If the messages bug you (they should), su to root
    and use "crontab -e" to edit root's crontab and delete the
    blank line at the end of the file. Fixed in FCS on Intel
    and 2.2 on SPARC.

Why are there no passwords in /etc/passwd?

    System V Release 4 includes a feature called "shadow passwords".
    The encrypted passwords are moved out into a shadow password file
    (called /etc/shadow in this release) that is NOT publicly readable.
    The passwd file has always been readable so that, for example, ls -l
    could figure out who owns what. But having the passwd encryptions
    readable is a security risk (they can't be decrypted but the bad guy
    can encrypt common words and names &c and compare them with the
    encryptions).

    The Shadow Password feature is mostly transparent, but if you
    do any passwd hacking you have to know about it!  And DO make
    sure that /etc/shadow is not publicly readable!

Why can't I rlogin/telnet in as root?

    >... when I try to rlogin as root ...
    >it gives me the message "Not on system console
    >Connection closed.".  What have I left out?

    Solaris 2 comes out of the box a heck of a lot more secure than
    Solaris 1.  There is no '+' in the hosts.equiv.  root logins are not
    allowed anywhere except the console.  All accounts require passwords.
    In order to allow root logins over the net, you need to edit the
    /etc/default/login file and comment out or otherwise change the
    CONSOLE= line.

    This file's CONSOLE entry can actually be used in a variety of ways:

        1) CONSOLE=/dev/console (default) - direct root logins only on console
        2) CONSOLE= - direct root logins disallowed everywhere
        3) #CONSOLE (or delete the line) - root logins allowed everywhere

How can I set up anonymous FTP?

    If you need help, ftp the file "solaris2-ftp" from
    ftp.cs.toronto.edu:/pub/darwin/solaris2.

How can I print from a Solaris 2 (or any System V Release 4) system to
a SunOS4.x (or any other BSD) system?

    Hmmm, the lp system is totally different than what you're used to.
    The System V Line Printer System is a lot more, well, flexible.
    A cynic might say "complicated".  Here's a very quick guide --
    see the man pages for each of these commands for the details.

    Let's say your Solaris2 workstation is called "sol" and the
    4.1.x server is called "bertha" and you want the printer name
    to be "printer" (imaginative, eh?).

    sol# lpsystem -t bsd bertha        # says bertha is a bsd system
    sol# lpadmin -p printer -s bertha    # creates "printer" on "sol"
                        # to be printed on "bertha"
    sol# accept printer            # allow queueing
    sol# enable printer            # allow printing
    sol# lpstat -t                # check the status

    Finally, if that's your only printer, make it the default:

    sol# lpadmin -d printer

    On some systems you may have to turn on the port monitor.

I did that. Why does it now complain about invalid content types?

    I said it was complicated!

    For better or for worse, you need to know about printer content types.
    See the man page for "lpadmin".

    To get transparent mode, try this:

    lpadmin -I any -p printer

Isn't there any easier way?

    The GUI-based Admintool has a Printer Manager that is supposed to
    be able to do all this and more. Try it; Sun hopes you'll like it.

Now my jobs print but they stay in the queue after!?

    It's a known bug, and will probably get fixed in 2.3, since
    2.2 is too close to being frozen.

    [Now you want to set up Solaris 2 as a print server?
    You're on your own.]

What happened to /dev/MAKEDEV?
How do I add devices?

    Device drivers are linked in dynamically. When you add new
    devices, just shutdown the system and do
        boot -r    # use drive spec if not default disk
    to *r*ebuild the /devices and /dev directories.

    If you're just adding a SCSI disk, you don't need to reboot.  Run the
    following script (as root):

        #!/bin/sh
        #
        # add-disk
        #
        #       Runs the commands to make Solaris locate a new disk that
        #       has been plugged in after the system was booted.
        #

        _DVFS_RECONFIG=YES; export _DVFS_RECONFIG

        /etc/init.d/drvconfig
        /etc/init.d/devlinks

        exit 0

    Note that this only works if you already have at least one SCSI disk on
    the system.  (This is because the above just makes symbolic links and
    things, it does not load up the SCSI driver kernel modules, etc.)

What happened to /etc/rc and /etc/rc.local?

    They're now fragmented into 12 million tiny little pieces. Look in
    the following files to get oriented:
        /etc/inittab - starting point for init
        /sbin/rcS, /etc/rcS.d/* - booting stuff
        /sbin/rc2, /etc/rc2.d/*,
            /sbin/rc3, /etc/rc3.d/* - stuff for multi-user startup.
    Note that all files in /etc/rc*.d/* are hardlinked from
    /etc/init.d (with better names), so you should grep in there.

    There are many "run levels" to the System V init; the run
    level 3 is normally used for "multi user with networking."

I can't understand that stuff; can't I have /etc/rc.local back?
I just want to keep all my local changes in one place.

    No. You can never have rc.local back the way it was. But then, it
    never really *was* purely a "local" rc file. To have a real
    "local" rc file with just your changes in it, copy this file
    into /etc/init.d/rc.local, and ln it to /etc/rc3.d/S99rc.local.
    Put your startup stuff in the "start" section.

    ----- Cut here -----
    # /etc/init.d/rc.local - to be linked into /etc/rc3.d as
    # S99rc.local -- a place to hang local startup stuff.
    # started after everything else when going multi-user.

    # Ian Darwin, Toronto, November, 1992
    # As with all system changes, use at own risk!

    case "$1" in
    'start')
        echo "Starting local services...\c"

        if [ -f /usr/sbin/mydaemon ]; then
            /usr/sbin/mydaemon 1>/dev/console 2>&1
        fi
        echo ""
        ;;
    'stop')
        echo "$0: Not stopping any service - use ucb shutdown for that."
        ;;
    *)
        echo "Usage: $0 { start | stop }"
        ;;
    esac
    ------ End of Cut Here -----

Speaking of that, why are there two versions of shutdown?
    SVR4 (hence SunOS 5.x) tries to make everybody happy. The
    traditional (slow) System V "shutdown" runs all the rc?.d/*
    shell scripts with "stop" as the argument; many of them run
    ps(!) to look for processes to kill. The UCB "shutdown" tells
    init to kill all non-single-user processes, which is about two
    orders of magnitude faster. Unfortunately, the UCB version does
    everything it should *except* actually halt or reboot in
    SunOS5.1 (and some other SVR4 implementations).

When will somebody publish a package of the BSD (4.3BSD Net2) "init",
    "getty", and "rc/rc.local", so we can go back to life in the
    good old days?

    I dunno. It should be doable. Wanna fund me to develop it?
    Don't try this at home, kids!!!!! Experienced UNIX hackers only.

    If you get it working reliably and securely, let me know so I
    can mention it in this FAQ!

Speaking of what, what have they done to our old friend getty? What is this
damn pmadm thing that keeps cropping up?

    I was hoping you wouldn't ask. PMadm stands for Port Monitor Admin,
    and it's part of a ridiculously complicated bit of software
    over-engineering that is destined to make everybody an expert.

    Best advice for workstations: don't touch it! It works out of the box.
    For servers, you'll have to read the manual.
    This should be in admintool in Solaris2.3.
    For now, here are some basic instructions from Davy Curry.

    "Not guaranteed, but they worked for me."

    To add a terminal to a Solaris system:

    1. Do a "pmadm -l" to see what's running.  The serial ports on the
    CPU board are probably already being monitored by "zsmon".

    PMTAG          PMTYPE         SVCTAG         FLGS ID       <PMSPECIFIC>
    zsmon          ttymon         ttya           u    root     \
        /dev/term/a I - /usr/bin/login - 9600 ldterm,ttcompat ttya \
        login:  - tvi925 y  #

    2. If the port you want is not being monitored, you need to create a
    new port monitor with the command

        sacadm -a -p PMTAG -t ttymon -c /usr/lib/saf/ttymon -v VERSION

    where PMTAG is the name of the port monitor, e.g. "zsmon" or "alm1mon",
    and VERSION is the output of "ttyadm -V".

    3. If the port you want is already being monitored, and you want to
    change something, you need to delete the current instance of the port
    monitor.  To do this, use the command

        pmadm -r -p PMTAG -s SVCTAG

    where PMTAG and SVCTAG are as given in the output from "pmadm -l".  Note
    that if the "I" is present in the <PMSPECIFIC> field (as it is above),
    you need to get rid of it.

    4. Now, to create a specific instance of ttymon for a port, issue the
    command:

    pmadm -a -p PMTAG -s SVCTAG -i root -fu -v 1 -m \
        "`ttyadm -m ldterm,ttcompat -p 'PROMPT' -S YORN -T TERMTYPE \
        -d DEVICE -l TTYID -s /usr/bin/login`"

    Note the assorted quotes.  In the above:

    PMTAG is the port monitor name you made with "sacadm", e.g. "zsmon".

    SVCTAG is the service tag, which can be the name of the port, e.g.,
            "ttya" or "tty21".

    PROMPT is the prompt you want to print, e.g. "login: ".

    YORN is "y" to turn software carrier on (you want this for directly
    connected terminals" and "n" to leave it off (you want this
    for modems).

    TERMTYPE is the value you want in $TERM.

    DEVICE is the name of the device, e.g. "/dev/term/a" or "/dev/term/21".

    TTYID is the line you want from /etc/ttydefs that sets the baud rate
        and stuff.  I suggest you use one of the "contty" ones for
        directly connected terminals.

    5. To disable ("turn off") a terminal, run

        pmadm -d -p PMTAG -s SVCTAG

    To enable ("turn on") a terminal, run

    pmadm -e -p PMTAG -s SVCTAG

    Ports are enabled by default when you "create" them as above.


How do I get the screen to blank when nobody's using it?

    Under 4.1.x you invoke screenblank in /etc/rc.local, but there's no
    screenblank in Solaris 2.1.  Sun recommends that you
    have everybody put `xset s on' in their .xinitrc, but this
    may be hard to police, and in any event it won't work when nobody is
    logged in.  The simplest workaround is to copy /usr/bin/screenblank
    from 4.1.x and run it in binary compatibility mode.  See ``What
    happened to /etc/rc and /etc/rc.local?'' for how to invoke it.

    Another possibility is to use xdm, but you'll have to use your own,
    since the xdm shipped with Solaris 2.1 doesn't work.

    The 4.1.x screenblank didn't work for me; I use Jef Poskanzer's
    freeware screenblank (FTP source from various archive sites).

And what about screendump and screenload?

    They're gone too. Screendump from 4.1.1 works, at least for some
    frame buffers.

So how about etherfind?

    There is a replacement for etherfind, but it has changed name;
    in fact it's a whole new program. It IS better. To find it,
    though, you would have to realize that network snooping is not
    really ethernet-specific.  To end the suspense :-), here it is:

    % man -k snoop
    snoop    snoop (1m)    - capture network packets and inspect them
    %

    It works differently - it has an immediate mode, a capture-to-disk mode,
    and a playback-from-disk mode.  Read the man page for details.

Can I run SunOS4.1.x on my SPARC Classic or LX?

    Not according to Sun - they want you to use Solaris 2. But the
    technology exists, and you can buy it - but you have to go "offshore".
    Contact [e-mail] for info. Note that "TW" is
    the domain address for Taiwan.

The "find" program complains that my root directory doesn't exist - is it mad?

    Yes! Actually, messages like

    find : cannot open /: No such file or directory.

    are due to a bug in the tree walking function (nftw(3)).  If it
    runs into problems traversing the tree, it gives up and
    incorrectly complains about the top level directory of the
    tree.  [The submitter seems] to recall that the most common
    case which caused trouble was a directory somewhere in the
    directory hierarchy which was readable but not executable.
    With the fix it will just complain about the directory to which
    it couldn't chdir and skip descending that subtree.


I'm having troubles with high-speed input on the Sparc serial ports.
What should I do?

    Try using UUCP.  The Solaris 2.x sparc serial driver has trouble
    receiving data at or above 9600 bps.  Symptoms include sluggish
    response, `NOTICE: zs0: silo overflow' console messages, sending
    spurious control-Gs to the serial port, and applications that cannot be
    killed even with `kill -9'.  This problem surfaces in many
    applications, including Kermit and tip.  UUCP seems immune, though,
    because its protocol throttles input sufficiently.

How do I make ksh or csh be the login shell for root?

    Root's shell is /sbin/sh, which is statically linked.
    Don't just insert a 'c' before "sh" as previously, as that would
    look for /sbin/csh, which doesn't exist.  Don't just change it to
    /bin/csh, since that's really /usr/bin/csh, which is dynamically
    linked, because:
        a) /usr may not be mounted initially, and then
           you're in deep (the shared libraries are in /usr!), and
        b) There is code in the startup scripts that assumes that
           everything critical is in /etc/lib, not /usr/lib.
    Approach with caution!

    Safer bet - have an alternate root account, like "rootcsh",
    with uid 0, and /bin/csh as its shell. Put it after root's entry in
    the passwd file.  Only drawback: you now have to remember to
    change all of root's passwds at the same time.

    Third bet - in root's .profile, check if /usr is mounted and, if so,
    exec /bin/ksh or whatever.

What is this message: "automount: No network locking on thathost,
    contact administrator to install server change."?

    The other machine (an NFS server) is running 4.1.x and needs a
    patch from Sun to update its network lock daemon (lockd). If
    you don't install the patch on the server, file locking will
    not work on files mounted from "thathost". The 100075-09 patch
    fixes a bunch of other lock manager problems, so it may be a
    Good Thing To Get; however, it may also cause the machine on
    which the patch is installed to have trouble talking to servers
    with no patch or older patches, so Be Warned.

How do I make Solaris2 use my Toshiba MK538FB drives?

    Append this line to /etc/system and reboot:

    set scsi_option=0x78

    This turns off Command Queueing, which upsets the Toshiba
    something rotten.

How do I make Solaris2 use my old ADAPTEC ACB-4000 and Emulex MD-21 disks?

    As with any hardware addition, first try the obvious (boot -r
    after installing and power-cycling everything).

    The adaptec is no longer supported; man -s7 sd no longer even
    lists it!  So I guess they go over the cliff. Either that, or
    take the drives out and put them on a PC, where ST506 MFM
    drives are still supported.

    The MD21 should work.

PART FOUR - NETWORKING

Can I use DNS with Solaris 2.1?

    1) Instability of in.named on Solaris 2.1.

    It seems that the in.named included in the Solaris 2.1 distribution
    is terribly unstable. The easiest solution for now I have discovered
    is to use the OLD (SunOS 4.1.2 in my case) in binary compatibility
    mode. This works just fine. If it's slower I can't tell.
    There's also a patch (100902-01) available now for 2.1.

    2) Using a Solaris 2.1 host and the DNS for name resolution.

    Under SunOS 4.1 it was next to impossible to run DNS name resolution
    without either a kludge fix or the NIS (V2 I guess). Under Solaris
    2.1 it is incredibly simple, but you must ignore what the manual
    (SunOS 5.1 Administering NIS+ and DNS) says (it should be fixed
    in Solaris 2.2). All that is required to make a non-NIS host
    use the DNS for name resolution is to change the host: line in
    the /etc/nsswitch.conf file to the following:

    hosts:    files dns

    (i.e., when looking for hosts, look in /etc/hosts first, if not
    found there, try DNS, if still not found then give up) and set
    up a correct version of /etc/resolv.conf to tell the resolver
    routines (like gethostbyname) how to contact the DNS
    nameserver. You must have the names of machines which are
    somehow contacted during boot in the files in /etc and files
    must appear first in the hosts: line, otherwise the machine
    will hang during boot (at least ours did). Make sure that
    /etc/netconfig is using switch.so. (It does from the factory.)


Speaking of nsswitch.conf, what is it?

    An idea whose time has come (it came to Ultrix a few years
    ago).  You can control which of the "resolver" services are
    read from NIS (formerly YP), which from NIS+, which from the
    files in /etc, and which are from DNS (but only "hosts" can
    come from DNS).

    A common example would be:

    hosts: nis files

    which means ask NIS for host info and, if it's not found, try
    the local machine's host table as a fallback.

    Advice: if you're not using NIS or DNS, suninstall probably put the
    right version in. If you are, ensure that hosts and passwd come from
    the network. However, many of the other services seldom if ever change.
    When was that last time *you* added a line in /etc/protocols? If your
    workstation has a local disk, it may be better to have programs
    on your machine look up these services locally, so use "files".

    Terminology: Sun worried over the term "resolver", which
    technically means any "get info" routine (getpwent(3),
    gethostbyname(3), etc), but is also specifically attached to
    the DNS resolver.  Therefore they used the term "source" to
    mean the things after the colon (files/DNS/NIS/NIS+) and
    "database" to mean the thing before the colon
    (passwd/group/hosts/services/netgroup etc).

So what does [NOTFOUND=return] in nsswitch.conf mean, and where does it go?

    Type "man nsswitch.conf" for more info.  There is too much
    detail to summarize here.  Briefly, [NOTFOUND=return] means
    that the name service whose entry it *follows* should be
    considered authoritative (so that if it's up and it says such a
    name doesn't exist, believe it and return instead of continuing
    to hunt for an answer).

PART FIVE - SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

Where is the C compiler?

    Where have you been? :-) Sun has dropped their old K&R C
    compiler, supposedly to create a market for multiple compiler
    suppliers to provide better performance and features.  Here
    are some of the contenders:

    1) SunPro C:

    SunPro, SMCC, and various distributors sell a new
    ANSI-standard C compiler on the unbundled (extra cost)
    SPARCcompiler/SPARCworks CD-ROM.  There are some other nice
    tools there too, like a "make tool" and a visual idiff
    (interactive diff).

    You have to license and pay per user.  Here's what seems to be
    their current (June 93) prices per user, in various quantities:

 SunPro:          Q1      Q2      Q5      Q10     Q20     Q25     Q50    Q100
 C, no supp       995     995     950     750     700     680     640     600
 1yr C & supp    1355    1355    1310    1110    1080    1040    1000     960
 2yr C & supp    1835    1835    1790    1590    1560    1520    1480    1440
 3yr C & supp    2315    2315    2270    2070    2040    2000    1960    1920

    (The "no support" price actually includes three months of
    support under warrantee.  One catch with Sun support is that
    to get *any* support, you have to pay for support for *all*
    the users at your site.  The quantity prices are only available
    in fixed size chunks.  You don't actually buy multiple years
    up front, but renew each year if desired.)

    One misfeature is that these tools use a floating license
    manager, so your whole staff can't use them without paying
    large sums of money.  Not only that, but as shipped, the tools
    enforce a 15-minute minimum usage time, to "encourage" you to
    buy a "floating" license for each and every actual user.  This
    caused so much screaming and tearing of hair that Sun was
    forced to fix it.  New compiler releases after May 1993 have a
    default 5 minute setting, changeable all the way to zero by
    having the sysadmin edit the "options file".  However, if you
    set it to zero, the compiler slows down, since it has to talk
    to the license daemon for every file you compile.  Old
    compilers have a patch available from SunPro to eliminate the
    15 minute limit; patch numbers: C: 100966-01; C++: 100967-01;
    Fortran: 100968-01; Pascal: 100969-01.  However, these patches
    don't seem to be available by anonymous FTP.

    2) Cygnus GCC:

    Cygnus Support and the Free Software Foundation make the GNU C
    compiler for Solaris, a free software product.  Source code
    and ready-to-run binaries are available by FTP from
    ftp.uu.net:/vendor/cygnus, or can be installed from the CDware
    CD (Volume 4 or 5).

    Like all GNU software, there are no restrictions on who can
    use it, how many people can use it at a time, what machines it
    can be run on, or how many copies you can install, run, give
    away, or sell.

    Cygnus sells technical support for these tools, under annual
    support contracts.  Price per user (June 93):

 Cygnus:          Q1      Q2      Q5      Q10     Q20     Q25     Q50    Q100
 C, no supp         0       0       0       0       0       0       0       0
 1yr C & supp    1400     700     580     540    ...                      504
 2yr C & supp    2800    1400    1160    1080    ...                     1008
 3yr C & supp    4200    2100    1740    1620    ...                     1512

    (If you get the compiler from one of the free distribution
    sites, there is no cost but no warrantee.  Cygnus lets you buy
    support for any number of users, at $500/user after the first
    two users at $1400.  You don't actually buy multiple years up
    front, but renew each year if desired.)

    The Cygnus distribution includes:
    gcc (ansi C compiler), gdb (good debugger), byacc (yacc repl),
    flex (lex repl), gprof, makeinfo, texindex, info, patch,
    cc (a link to gcc)

    The Cygnus compiler on uunet is starting to show its age a
    bit.  If you want to compile X11R5, you can get the latest
    version of GCC in source code, from the usual places
    (prep.ai.mit.edu or one of the many mirrored copies of it).
    Build and install that compiler using the Cygnus gcc binaries.
    Or get tech support from Cygnus; they produce a new version
    for their customers every three months, and will fix any
    bug you find.

    3) Info on Apogee, Lucid C, etc will be added if you send us some.

Speaking of that, what else do I need to compile X11R5?

    There are several "patch kits" for X11R5 under Solaris 2.1.
    Most of them require gcc 2.3.3 and you must have
    run "fixincludes" when you install the gcc software.

What happened to NIT? What new mechanisms exist for low-level network access?

    See man page DLPI(7). Try NFSWATCH 4.0 for sample code using DLPI.
        FTP from harbor.ecn.purdue.edu (128.46.128.76, 128.46.154.76):
                pub/davy/nfswatch4.0.tar.Z
        or gatekeeper.dec.com (16.1.0.2):
                pub/net/ip/nfs/nfswatch4.0.tar.Z

    Better yet, FTP the paper "How to Use DLPI in Solaris 2.x" by
    Neal Nuckolls of Sun Internet Engineering.  It's available from
    newstop.ebay.sun.com in /sun/SunOS5.0/dltest.tar.Z.

[Other questions as they get summarized.]

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
    Most of this material is either written by me or sent to me
    directly. Some of it is cribbed shamelessly (with collective
    credit below) from USENET postings in several groups.

Thanks to:
    Guy Harris <[e-mail]>
    Lee Quin <[e-mail]>
    Dean Kemp at Sun Canada
    Jim Prescott
    Warren Strange, Sun Microsystems of Canada, Inc., Vancouver.
    Dave Miner  <[e-mail]>
    Pete Hartman <[e-mail]>
    [e-mail] (Paul Eggert)
    [e-mail] (Geert Jan de Groot)
    Steve Bellenot <[e-mail]>
    Jennine Townsend <[e-mail]>
    [e-mail] (Bill Hunter)
    Dave Miner <[e-mail]>
    [e-mail] (Richard Elling)
    [e-mail] (Jens Petersohn)
    [e-mail] (Carl Smith)
    [e-mail] (Thomas Maslen)
    [e-mail] (Chin-Tang Chang)
    Casper H.S. Dik, FWI, University of Amsterdam
    [e-mail]
    Mike Kupfer  <[e-mail]>
    Bill Hunter <[e-mail]>
    [e-mail] (Oon-Gil Paik)
    Dave Curry <[e-mail]>
    Win Strickland <[e-mail]>
    Tim Steele <[e-mail]>
    John Gilmore <[e-mail]>

----- End of Solaris 2.x FAQ -- Maintained by Ian Darwin, [e-mail] -----