These installation instructions show how to install Solaris 10 on a PC together with Windows and Linux. Please note that two separate hard drives are needed.
Part 1 covers how to prepare for the Solaris install.
Part 2 is the step-by-step Solaris install process.
PART 1 – PREPARING FOR INSTALLATION
System requirements
Before we begin you must first be aware of a few system requirements and Solaris-specific quirks. Your system must have at least 64MB of RAM to run Solaris. However if you have between 64 and 127MB of RAM you will have to install Solaris via a text console. If you have between 128 and 383MB of RAM you will still have to go through the console but you will also have a few graphical options. Finally, if you have 384MB of RAM or more you'll get a full GUI installation environment. It is a bit bizarre that in our day and age one has to have that much RAM to get a simple GUI. However, this shows that Solaris doesn't really cater for inexperienced users.
In terms of hard disk space you should allocate at least 8 to 10 gigabytes for Solaris. Check that the CPU in your computer is faster than 200 MHz. We recommend a 1+ GHz CPU. The official minimum system requirements issued by Sun are: 128MB of RAM, 12GB Hard Disk, 120+ MHz Processor. Finally, have a look at the hardware compatibility list at http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/hcl/data/sol/.
Solaris can be installed via a network or a number of CD-ROMS or a DVD. This workshop assumes you are working from the CDs created by the ISO files provided by Sun Microsystems.
Also be aware that Solaris requires two partitions when it installs. One partition must be the Solaris boot partition which only needs to be about 10MB in size (In Linux's fdisk its partition type is be). The other is the main Solaris partition (In Linux's fdisk its partition type is 82). In the Linux world, partition type 82 represents a Linux swap partition. There is also a third partition, called the Diagnostic Partition, which is sometimes set up, but in this workshop we will ignore it. On the same note the Solaris boot partition also isn’t strictly necessary. In most cases it can be done without.
Installation Method: Solaris is installed on a PC with Windows and Linux (Two Separate Drives are needed)
For this method to work you have to start with two empty hard drives and install Solaris first. It must be installed on to the second hard drive. The BIOS might refer to it as drive D and Linux might refer to it as drive /dev/hdb. Solaris should be allowed to take over the whole drive and install its own master boot record (MBR). After that by changing the boot sequence order in the BIOS, for example, from: CD-ROM, A, C to D, A, SCSI you will be able to boot Solaris without installing anything else. In this case if something happens to the first drive you can always go back to Solaris. The boot loader that we will use to boot all three Operating Systems will be LILO.
After Solaris has been installed, use your Linux media to start its installation procedure and get to the partitioning setup. With fdisk or another partitioning tool create two partitions on the first drive (or you can create just one partition and leave the rest as raw or unpartitioned). The first partition should go towards Windows. The second partition should go towards Linux. You can split it up to make the swap partition later. Once the two partitions have been created and changes written to disk restart the computer. In the BIOS don't forget to change the boot order so drive C comes first. Install Windows, select the appropriate partition and let the installer finish the installation. Without asking anyone Windows will insert its own MBR and boot.
The final step is to install Linux. During its installation procedure destroy the second empty partition and create two new ones. One, as usual, should be a Linux partition and the other a swap partition. The most vital step now is the installation of the boot loader. You must configure it to boot Windows and Solaris as well as Linux. Depending on your distribution you may be able to configure the boot loader during the installation phase. On other distributions you may need to boot into Linux first. If during the installation phase the installer asks you to choose where to install the boot loader select the Master Boot Record (it can also be shown as /dev/hda). Do not select local partition (it can also be shown as /dev/hdaX where X is 1, 2, 3, etc…) if you want LILO (or Grub) to be your main boot loader.
If you are using LILO you have to configure it to chain-boot Solaris’ boot loader. Add the following lines to /etc/lilo.conf.
other=/dev/hdb1
label=”Solaris”
table=/dev/hdb
map-drive=0x80
to=0x81
map-drive=0x81
to=0x80
The map-drive option is needed because Solaris is installed on another physical disk. The first map-drive line tells LILO to remap the primary master device (80) to primary slave (81). The second line is the opposite. It remaps slave to master. To add an option for Windows, if it isn’t there, add something like the following:
other=/dev/hda1
label=”Windows”
table=/dev/hda
At the end of it all don't forget to execute /sbin/lilo. Caveat: if you are going to install an old version of Linux it may complain if you place its partition after the 1024th cylinder. To solve this problem you can put the Linux partition first and the Windows partition second and appropriately change /etc/lilo.conf.
If you use Grub add the following to its configuration file (usually /etc/grub.conf or /boot/grub/grub.conf):
title Solaris
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1
The first line tells grub to load the first partition (0) on the second hard disk (1). The second line tells grub to mark the Solaris boot partition as active.
What if I have Windows already installed and don’t have Linux?
No problem. Most of what was written above applies to your problem as well. Install Solaris to another hard disk, change the boot order in the BIOS and try to boot it. If it works fine, change the order back and try Windows to make sure that it is also fine. Now you just need to install a boot manager to help you select which system to start at boot time. There are many commercial boot managers available that you can install under Windows.
You can try: Acronis Disk Director Suite (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/diskdirector/) or VCOM Partition Commander (http://www.v-com.com/product/Partition_Commander_Home.html).
You can also try the following free or shareware boot managers: Master Boot (http://www.masterbooter.com/download/sharewareversion_en.html) and Smart Boot Manager (http://btmgr.webframe.org/).
Proceed to Part 2 - Operating System Install
