pfinstall(1M)						  System Administration Commands					     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 command 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 particular 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 installation profiles, you have to boot a system from a Solaris 2.6 CD image and temporarily create a Solaris 2.6 install envi-
       ronment. 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 installation image to disk or mounted the CD-ROM on a directory 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 WARNINGS). This option cannot  be  used
		       with  an upgrade profile (install_type upgrade). You must always test an upgrade profile against a system's disk configura-
		       tion ( -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 program.

       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 systems 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 pfinstall 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 attributes:

       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     |	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Availability		     |SUNWinst			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

SEE ALSO

       fdisk(1M), prtvtoc(1M), attributes(5)

       Solaris 10 Installation Guide: Basic Installations

WARNINGS

       If the -d or -D option is not specified, pfinstall may perform 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 platform 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 output 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

SunOS 5.10							    28 Jan 2003 						     pfinstall(1M)