SUMMARY:Booting a sun box having a defective CD-ROM.

Hi,
Thanks to all who responded, especially:

"Suresh Vuthamaraju" <svuthamaraju@synapsemail.com>
"Kevin Reichhart" <KReichhart@Yantra.com>
"Peter Stokes" <peter@ashlyn.co.uk>
"UnixAdmin" <sunixadm@yahoo.com>
"Jed Dobson" <jed@wgtech.com>
"Paul Richards" <p.richards@ukonline.co.uk>

The solution:

If you are able to read/mount your CDROM on another
server on the same LAN .. you can do network 
installation of OS.

Note: Make sure that rpc and nfs services and tftp
services are running on Network Server machine.and
also client name should be present in /etc/hosts

Insert Solaris 7 CDROM and share it (from other
server):

echo "share -F nfs -o ro /cdrom/cdrom0" >>
/etc/dfs/dfstab
/etc/init.d/nfs.server start

cd /cdrom/cdrom0/*/*/Tools/add_install_client -e
NETRA_MAC_ADDRESS
Netra_hostname sun4u

You shouldn't need to setup /etc/ethers, but make sure
you have a correct hosts entry.

At the ok prompt on the Netra type boot net -s

You will now install the bootblocks (if it is corrupt)

cd /usr/platform/sun4u/lib/fs/ufs

installboot bootblk /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s0 

(If c0t0d0s0 is your boot disk)

This should get you back up and running

Original Question:
Hi,
I am running solaris 2.7 on a sun netra i150.
Yesterday some thing went wrong and the system got
stuck. When tried to reboot, the system failed to
reboot as the bootblk on root partition seems to have
got damaged. I tried to boot the system from CD-ROM by
issuing 'boot cdrom -s', the system did not boot. It
does not even read the cd-rom drive as the LED of
cdrom does not light up. Then I tried to run
probe-scsi-all at ok prompt and it detects the cdrom
drive fine along with all other scsi hard drives and
tape drive.
I am totally puzzled by this scenario. I want to
re-install the machine but the cdrom is not working.
However the tape drive is working and I have a working
backup of this machine on a tape. My questions are:

1) How can I boot the system for restoration of
backup.

2) Can I boot system from floppy drive and then
restrore the backup from tape. If yes, then guide on
how can I produce a bootable floppy for solaris 7.

3) I have another ultra enterprise 450 on the LAN, can
I use the cdrom of that machine for installation of os
(over the net) on this (netra) machine?

4) What is the recommended procedure for recovering
this machine in the prevailing scenario.

I am searching the faqs and the other resources but am
unable to get any step-by-step procedure so far. I
will appreciate an early response as the machine is
down for quite  some time and I am nervous.

I will summarize.


puzzled.


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Check out Yahoo! Shopping and Yahoo! Auctions for all of
your unique holiday gifts! Buy at http://shopping.yahoo.com
or bid at http://auctions.yahoo.com