Shutting Down and Booting a System for Recovery Purposes

The following procedures are provided in this section:

• SPARC: How to Stop a System for Recovery Purposes

• x86: How to Stop and Reboot a System for Recovery Purposes

• How to Boot to a Single-User State to Resolve a Bad root Shell or Password Problem

• How to Boot From Media to Resolve an Unknown root Password

• x86: How to Boot From Media to Resolve a Problem With the GRUB Configuration That Prevents the System From Booting

In the following instances, you must first shut down a system to analyze or troubleshoot booting and other system problems.

• Troubleshoot error messages when the system boots.

• Stop the system to attempt recovery.

• Boot a system for recovery purposes.

• Force a crash dump and reboot of the system.

• Boot the system with the kernel debugger.

You might need to boot the system for recovery purposes.

The following are some of the more common error and recovery scenarios:

• Boot a system to a single-user state to resolve a minor problem, such as correcting the root shell entry in the /etc/passwd file or changing a NIS server.

• Boot from the installation media or from an install server on the network to recover from a problem that is preventing the system from booting or to recover from a lost root password. This method requires you to mount the boot environment after importing the root pool.

• x86 only: Resolve a boot configuration problem by importing the root pool. If a problem with the file exists, you do not have to mount the boot environment, just import the root pool, which automatically mounts the rpool file system that contains the boot-related components.

SPARC: How to Stop a System for Recovery Purposes

1. Bring the system to ok PROM prompt by using the shutdown or init 0 command.
2. Synchronize the file systems.

   ok sync

3. Type the appropriate boot command to start the boot process.

   For more information, see the boot(1M) man page.

4. Verify that the system was booted to the specified run level.

   # who -r
    .       run-level s  May  2 07:39     3      0  S

5. If the system does not respond to any input from the mouse, do one of the following:
   • Press the Reset key to reboot the system.
   • Use the power switch to reboot the system.

Example 6-1 Powering Off a Server

If you are running Oracle Solaris 11 on a host system (server), after shutting down the system, you must switch from the system console prompt to the service processor prompt. From there, you can stop the service processor, as shown in this example:

# shutdown -g0 -i0 -y
# svc.startd: The system is coming down. Please wait.
svc.startd: 91 system services are now being stopped.
Jun 12 19:46:57 wgs41-58 syslogd: going down on signal 15
svc.stard: The system is down.
syncing file systems...done
Program terminated
r)eboot o)k prompt, h)alt?
# o

ok #.
->

-> stop /SYS
Are you sure you want to stop /SYS (y/n)? y
Stopping /SYS
 
->

If you need to perform an immediate shutdown, use the stop -force -script /SYS command. Before you type this command, ensure that all data is saved.

Example 6-2 Powering On a Server

The following example shows how to power on the server. You must first be logged in to Oracle ILOM. See http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E19166-01/E20792/z40002fe1296006.html#scrolltoc.

If you have a modular system, make sure that you are logged into the desired server module.

-> start /SYS
Are you sure you want to start /SYS (y/n) ? y
Starting /SYS
 
->

If you do not want to be prompted for a confirmation, use the start -script /SYS command.

x86: How to Stop and Reboot a System for Recovery Purposes

1. Assume the root role.

   See How to Use Your Assigned Administrative Rights in Oracle Solaris 11.1 Administration: Security Services.

2. If the keyboard and mouse are functional, type init 0 to stop the system.

   # init 0

3. If the system does not respond to any input from the mouse, do one of the following:
   • Press the Reset key to reboot the system.
   • Use the power switch to reboot the system.

How to Boot to a Single-User State to Resolve a Bad root Shell or Password Problem

1. Assume the root role.

   See How to Use Your Assigned Administrative Rights in Oracle Solaris 11.1 Administration: Security Services.

2. Depending on the platform, do one of the following:
   • For SPARC platforms:
     1. Bring the system to the ok PROM prompt.

        # init 0

     2. Boot the system to a single-user state.

        ok boot -s

   • For x86 platforms:
     1. Reboot a running system with the -p option of the reboot command.

        # reboot -p

     2. When the GRUB menu is displayed, select the appropriate boot entry, then type e to edit that entry.
     3. Using the arrow keys, navigate to the $multiboot line, then type -s at the end of the line.
   • To exit the GRUB edit menu and boot the entry you just edited, press Control-X. If you have a system with UEFI firmware, and you are not using a serial console, pressing F10 also boots the entry.
3. Correct the shell entry in the /etc/passwd file.

   # vi /etc/password

4. Reboot the system.

How to Boot From Media to Resolve an Unknown root Password

Use the following procedure if you need to boot the system to correct an unknown root password or similar problem. This procedure requires you to mount the boot environment after importing the root pool. If you need to recover a root pool or root pool snapshot, see How to Replace a Disk in a ZFS Root Pool (SPARC or x86/VTOC) in Oracle Solaris 11.1 Administration: ZFS File Systems.

1. Boot from the Oracle Solaris media by using one of the following options:
   • SPARC: Text installation – Boot from the installation media or from the network, then select the Shell option (option 3) from the text installation screen.
   • SPARC: Automated installation – Use the following command to boot directly from an installation menu that allows you to exit to a shell:

     ok boot net:dhcp

   • x86: Live Media – Boot from the installation media, and use a GNOME terminal for the recovery procedure.
   • x86: Text installation – From the GRUB menu, select the Text Installer and command line boot entry, then select the Shell option (option 3) from the text installation screen.
   • x86: Automated installation – Boot from an install server on the network. This method requires a PXE boot. Select the Text Installer and command line entry from the GRUB menu. Then, select the Shell option (option 3) from the text installation screen.
2. Import the root pool.

   zpool import -f rpool

3. Create a mount point for the boot environment.

   # mkdir /a

4. Mount the boot environment on the mount point /a

   # beadm mount solaris-instance|be-name /a

   For example:

   # beadm mount solaris-2 /a

5. If a password or shadow entry is preventing a console login, correct the problem.
   1. Set the TERM type.

      # TERM=vt100
      # export TERM

   2. Edit the shadow file.

      # cd /a/etc
      # vi shadow
      # cd /

6. Update the boot archive.

   # bootadm update-archive -R /a

7. Unmount the boot environment.

   # beadm umount be-name

8. Halt the system.

   # halt

9. Reboot the system to a single-user state, and when prompted for the root password, press Return.
10. Reset the root password.

    root@system:~# passwd -r files root
    New Password: xxxxxx
    Re-enter new Password: xxxxxx
    passwd: password successfully changed for root

11. Press Control-D to reboot the system.

See Also

If there is a problem with the GRUB configuration that requires you to boot the system from media, follow the same steps for x86 platforms that are in this procedure> However, you

x86: How to Boot From Media to Resolve a Problem With the GRUB Configuration That Prevents the System From Booting

If your x86 based system will not boot, the problem might be caused by a damaged boot loader or a missing or corrupt GRUB menu. Use the following procedure in these types of situations.

If you need to recover a root pool or root pool snapshot, see How to Replace a Disk in a ZFS Root Pool (SPARC or x86/VTOC) in Oracle Solaris 11.1 Administration: ZFS File Systems.

1. Boot from the Oracle Solaris media.
   • Live Media – Boot from the installation media and use a GNOME terminal for the recovery procedure.
   • Text installation – From the GRUB menu, select the Text Installer and command line boot entry, then select the Shell option (option 3) from the text installation screen.
   • Automated installation – Booting from an install server on the network requires a PXE boot. Select the Text Installer and command line entry from the GRUB menu. Then, select the Shell option (option 3) from the text installation screen.
2. Import the root pool.

   # zpool import -f rpool

3. To resolve a GRUB configuration issue, do one of the following:
   • If the system will not boot, but no error messages are displayed, the boot loader might be damaged. To resolve the problem, see x86: Installing GRUB 2 by Using the bootadm install-bootloader Command.
   • If the GRUB menu is missing, a “cannot open grub.cfg” error message is displayed at boot time. To resolve this problem, see x86: How to Manually Regenerate the GRUB Menu.
   • If the GRUB menu has become corrupted, other error messages might be displayed as the system attempts to parse the GRUB menu at boot time. See also x86: How to Manually Regenerate the GRUB Menu.
4. Exit the shell and reboot the system.

   exit
           1  Install Oracle Solaris
           2  Install Additional Drivers
           3  Shell
           4  Terminal type (currently sun-color)
           5  Reboot
   
   Please enter a number [1]: 5