What's New in Troubleshooting?

This section describes new or changed troubleshooting information in this Solaris release.

For information on new or changed troubleshooting features in the Solaris 10 release, see the following:

• Dynamic Tracing Facility

• kmdb Replaces kadb as Standard Solaris Kernel Debugger

x86: Error Message Upon System Boot if Multiboot Module From the Previous GRUB Implementation Is Loaded

Solaris 10 11/07: Changes have been made to the GRUB bootloader that enable the direct loading and booting of the unix kernel. The GRUB multiboot module is no longer used. If the multiboot module from the previous GRUB implementation is loaded by GRUB, the console displays an error message upon system boot. For more information about what to do if this error message is displayed when the system boots, see x86: What to Do if the Multiboot Module From Previous GRUB Implementation Is Loaded at Boot Time.

For more information about what's new in booting and changes to GRUB in this Solaris release, see Chapter 9, Booting a System (Overview), in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.

Common Agent Container Problems

Solaris 10 6/06: The common agent container is a stand-alone Java program that is now included in the Solaris OS. This program implements a container for Java management applications. The common agent container provides a management infrastructure that is designed for Java Management Extensions (JMX) and Java Dynamic Management Kit (Java DMK) based functionality. The software is installed by the SUNWcacaort package and resides in the /usr/lib/cacao directory.

Typically, the container is not visible. However, there are two instances when you might need to interact with the container daemon:

• It is possible that another application might attempt to use a network port that is reserved for the common agent container.

• In the event that a certificate store is compromised, you might have to regenerate the common agent container certificate keys.

For information about how to troubleshoot these problems, see Troubleshooting Common Agent Container Problems in the Solaris OS.

x86: SMF Boot Archive Service Might Fail During System Reboot

If a system crash occurs in the GRUB based boot environment, it is possible that the SMF service svc:/system/boot-archive:default might fail when the system is rebooted. If this problem occurs, reboot the system and select the Solaris failsafe archive in the GRUB boot menu. Follow the prompts to rebuild the boot archive. After the archive is rebuilt, reboot the system. To continue the boot process, you can use the svcadm command to clear the svc:/system/boot-archive:default service. For instructions, see x86: What to Do if the SMF Boot Archive Service Fails During a System Reboot. For more information on GRUB based booting, see Booting an x86 Based System by Using GRUB (Task Map) in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.

Dynamic Tracing Facility

The Solaris Dynamic Tracing (DTrace) facility is a comprehensive dynamic tracking facility that gives you a new level of observerability into the Solaris kernel and user processes. DTrace helps you understand your system by permitting you to dynamically instrument the OS kernel and user processes to record data that you specify at locations of interest, called, probes. Each probe can be associated with custom programs that are written in the new D programming language. All of DTrace's instrumentation is entirely dynamic and available for use on your production system. For more information, see the dtrace(1M) man page and the Solaris Dynamic Tracing Guide.

kmdb Replaces kadb as Standard Solaris Kernel Debugger

kmdb has replaced kadb as the standard “in situ” Solaris kernel debugger.

kmdb brings all the power and flexibility of mdb to live kernel debugging. kmdb supports the following:

• Debugger commands (dcmds)

• Debugger modules (dmods)

• Access to kernel type data

• Kernel execution control

• Inspection

• Modification

For more information, see the kmdb(1) man page. For step-by-step instructions on using kmdb to troubleshoot a system, see How to Boot the System With the Kernel Debugger (kmdb) in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration and How to Boot a System With the Kernel Debugger in the GRUB Boot Environment (kmdb) in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.