[Sunhelp] dual boot on sparc

[James Lockwood]

On Thu, 15 Jun 2000, [iso-8859-1] Steve Parker wrote:

> Is it possible to have install 8 on another
> partition(s) ( i have enough disk space to keep all

Yes.  With Solaris 8 Live Update it's even possible to install it while
you keep running 7.

> file systems separate), if so how?? and how do I boot
> the different OS's.

Just specify the different partition to install to during the installation
process.  The installer will ask to change the PROM boot device, you can
let it if you want the default OS to boot to be the new one.

Once the install finishes, halt the system to the "ok" prompt.  You can
boot either OS by (assuming your OS is on the disk with the alias "disk"):

boot disk:x
boot disk:y

where x or y are the root partitions for the different OS.  Usually your
current OS has the root partition on slice "a", so you would type
"boot disk:a" (or simply "boot disk") to boot it.

If you want to get fancy you can use the nvalias command to make aliases
for the different boot slices so you can type "boot sol7" or "boot sol8".
Consult the OpenBoot documentation (available on docs.sun.com) for the
details.

> What successes/failures have other had. Any 'gotchas'
> or pitfalls I need to be aware of??

No real problems, this has always been easy in my experience.

-James