How to create bootable USB in solaris

 How to create bootable USB (pen drive) in Solaris 

Why it is required: Sometime there is requirement to boot server using bootable iso media to resolve issues like root password recovery, new installation, server is in maintenance mode, booting server from iso etc. 

Steps:

1. Search in google "Solaris 11.4 iso download". Depending on server hardware (SPARC/X86) select appropriate option. Suppose we have SPARC hardware then we will download SPARC USB Text Installer

If we want to download iso on server for new installation then download below ISO image

SPARC Text Installer 

2. After downloading SPARC USB Text Installer, copy it to any working test Solaris server.

root@cdom3:~# ls -lrth
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root        1.1G Jul 18 13:09 sol-11_4-text-sparc.usb
root@cdom3:~#

3. Attach bootable media (pendrive) to the test server to copy image properly on it.

root@cdom3:~# usbcopy sol-11_4-text-sparc.usb
Image type: dd-able Sparc
Found the following USB devices:
0:      /dev/rdsk/c9t0d0s2      14.7 GB SanDisk  Cruzer Blade     1.00
Enter the number of your choice: 0

WARNING: All data on your USB storage will be lost.

Are you sure you want to install to
SanDisk Cruzer Blade 1.00, 14700 MB at /dev/rdsk/c9t0d0s2 ?  (y/n) y
Copying and verifying image to USB device
Finished 1160 MB in 234 seconds (4.9MB/s)
Successfully completed copy to USB
root@cdom3:~#

Note : We will se message like "Successfully completed copy to USB"

4. As our bootable device is ready with the iso image, remove USB from the test server.

5. Attach the USB to the server which is in maintenance mode. Take login prompt, you will get ok prompt.

Run below commands to scan the devices connected to the servers. Here we are booting server from USB.

{0} ok probe-scsi-all       

Target 9
  Unit 0   Disk   HITACHI  H109030SESUN300G A606    585937500 Blocks, 300 GB
  SASDeviceName 5000cca043487328  SASAddress 5000cca043487329  PhyNum 0
Target a
  Unit 0   Disk   HITACHI  H109030SESUN300G A606    585937500 Blocks, 300 GB
  SASDeviceName 5000cca043487400  SASAddress 5000cca043487401  PhyNum 1

/pci@340/pci@1/pci@0/pci@3/usb@0/hub@8/storage@1
  Unit 0   Removable Disk     SanDiskCruzer Blade1.00

{0} ok devalias

{0} ok show-disks
a) /reboot-memory@0
b) /pci@380/pci@1/pci@0/pci@7/SUNW,qlc@0,1/fp@0,0/disk
c) /pci@380/pci@1/pci@0/pci@7/SUNW,qlc@0/fp@0,0/disk
d) /pci@380/pci@1/pci@0/pci@6/SUNW,qlc@0,1/fp@0,0/disk
e) /pci@380/pci@1/pci@0/pci@6/SUNW,qlc@0/fp@0,0/disk
f) /pci@3c0/pci@1/pci@0/pci@2/scsi@0/disk
g) /pci@300/pci@1/pci@0/pci@2/scsi@0/disk
h) /pci@340/pci@1/pci@0/pci@3/usb@0/hub@8/storage@1/disk
i) /iscsi-hba/disk
q) NO SELECTION
Enter Selection, q to quit: h
/pci@340/pci@1/pci@0/pci@3/usb@0/hub@8/storage@1/disk has been selected.
Type ^Y ( Control-Y ) to insert it in the command line.
e.g. ok nvalias mydev ^Y
         for creating devalias mydev for /pci@340/pci@1/pci@0/pci@3/usb@0/hub@8/storage@1/disk

{0} ok devalias
screen                   /pci@380/pci@1/pci@0/pci@3/display@0
primary-vds0             /virtual-devices@100/channel-devices@200/virtual-disk-server@0
primary-vsw0             /virtual-devices@100/channel-devices@200/virtual-network-switch@0
primary-vc0              /virtual-devices@100/channel-devices@200/virtual-console-concentrator@0
net3                     /pci@3c0/pci@1/pci@0/pci@1/network@0,1
net2                     /pci@3c0/pci@1/pci@0/pci@1/network@0
disk5                    /pci@3c0/pci@1/pci@0/pci@2/scsi@0/disk@p1
disk4                    /pci@3c0/pci@1/pci@0/pci@2/scsi@0/disk@p0
scsi1                    /pci@3c0/pci@1/pci@0/pci@2/scsi@0
cdrom                    /pci@3c0/pci@1/pci@0/pci@2/scsi@0/disk@p3
net1                     /pci@300/pci@1/pci@0/pci@1/network@0,1
net                      /pci@300/pci@1/pci@0/pci@1/network@0
net0                     /pci@300/pci@1/pci@0/pci@1/network@0
disk3                    /pci@300/pci@1/pci@0/pci@2/scsi@0/disk@p3
disk2                    /pci@300/pci@1/pci@0/pci@2/scsi@0/disk@p2
disk1                    /pci@300/pci@1/pci@0/pci@2/scsi@0/disk@p1
disk                     /pci@300/pci@1/pci@0/pci@2/scsi@0/disk@p0
disk0                    /pci@300/pci@1/pci@0/pci@2/scsi@0/disk@p0
scsi                     /pci@300/pci@1/pci@0/pci@2/scsi@0
scsi0                    /pci@300/pci@1/pci@0/pci@2/scsi@0
virtual-console          /virtual-devices/console@1
name                     aliases

{0} ok boot mydev
Boot device: /pci@300/pci@1/pci@0/pci@2/scsi@0/disk@p0  File and args: mydev
/
Can't open mydev

 

Evaluating:
The file just loaded does not appear to be executable.
{0} ok boot /pci@340/pci@1/pci@0/pci@3/usb@0/hub@8/storage@1/disk

Regards,

Kiren Jadhav