Chapter 3. Understanding the Flash Install and Live Upgrade Features

The Solaris 9 release provides two new installation configurations.

• Flash installation. With Flash installation, you can create a base configuration and install it on a master system. This base installation includes the Solaris Operating Environment and can install other, third-party, software. You then use the master system to create a Flash archive that you can use to replicate the configuration as an initial installation on clone systems. You can create as many Flash archives as you need to accommodate any number of standard configurations for your site.

• Solaris Live Upgrade. With Solaris Live Upgrade, you create a duplicate boot environment. You can perform JumpStart installs, install and remove patches, and perform regular suninstall installations and upgrades on an inactive boot environment. You can also install Flash archives on the inactive boot environment. When you are ready, you activate the duplicate boot environment. At the next reboot, it becomes the active boot environment. If a failure occurs, you can recover your original boot environment with a simple activate and reboot.

As a security enhancement, starting with the Solaris 9 Operating Environment, the base installation package has been divided into smaller packages so that you can install commands, such as telnet, as an individual package. This division provides finer granularity and enables system administrators to create a base installation and deselect some packages. With this new arrangement, you can create more secure installations.