SUMMARY: Pb with boot

From: Alberto Ferrari (FERRARIA@mz.astra.com.ar)
Date: Mon Mar 31 1997 - 18:09:11 CST


Dear Friends:
I asked you about the following problem

> Date: Wed, 26 Mar 1997 11:40:31 -0300
> From: Alberto Ferrari <ferraria@mz.astra.com.ar>
> To: sun-managers@ra.mcs.anl.gov
> Subject: Pb with boot
>
> Dear friends:
>
> I' m having problem with one (remote) SUN (SunOS 4.1.3)
I support. The
> local Sysad changed /etc/hosts
> localhost 127.0.0.1
> to
> localhost 127.0.0.2
>
> The result is the machine does boot, but the following
message appears ad infinitum:
> rpc.lock: cannot contact status monitor
>
> It finally reaches the login prompt, but (apparently) dies
shortly after - no
> way to login in.
>
> We succesfully boot from SunOS CD and get into
single-user shell, but
> found no way to "mount" /dev/sd0a and correct
/etc/hosts
> Any help will be greatly appreciated
> Thank you
> Alberto Ferrari

Thanks a lot to all who answered. Here's the synthesis:

ANALYSIS:
>>>Glenn Satchell - Uniq Professional Services
<Glenn.Satchell@Uniq.com.au>
>>>Marc S. Gibian <gibian@stars1.hanscom.af.mil>
Yes, Localhost must be defined as 127.0.0.1 on all systems.

>>>Daniel Baker <dbaker@hobbes.cuckoo.com>
No, I had no copy of fstab. Now I have.
>>>John Reynolds <reynolds@acetsw.amat.com>
Yes, the local sysad wiped out the standard loopback
address.
That's defined in the TCP/IP protocols, and all the utilities
that monitor the network on the local system will use it.

ALTERNATIVES:
>>>Stephen Harris <sweh@mpn.com>
>>>Ira Childress <irac@nis.comdata.com>
>>>Robin Marquis <rmarquis@ordsvy.gov.uk>
"boot -sw cdrom" or "boot (0,6,2) -sw" to make the CD
"pseudo writeable"
(this allows the swap area which the kernel boots into to be
writable.
when in shell) and so "mount /dev/sd0a /a" (/a being the
mount point).

from prom mode
OR "boot -s" to bring it up in the single user mode with all
the filesystems intact
<<THIS IS THE ONE WE DID AND WORKED!!!!>>

>>>Margaret Shinkle <marge@meitca.com>
I suppose as a drastic measure, you could change the
scsi id on the drive and temporarily install it on another,
bootable workstation. There you can mount the drive and
correct the file on the other workstation. Long way of doing
it, but it should work.

I thought you *should* be able to mount the drive when
booting
from the CD rom. Does it lack the mount command? have
you
tried mounting it and specifying that it should mount rw?
Sorry, it's been ages since I've booted 4.1.3 from CDROM.
I do recall that I did this once and had to use sed instead
of vi, but I don't recall any other details.

Another option is to boot your machine using the new
LINUX
for SUN hardware. A small linux kernel can fit on a floppy..
enough to get to your hard drive also.

These are equivalent:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>Mark A. Baldwin
(mark.baldwin@aur.alcatel.com)
>>>Tim Carlson <tim@santafe.edu>
boot off CD,
mkdir /mnt
/etc/mount /dev/sd0a /mnt (maybe need an fsck
/dev/sd0a first)
cd /mnt/etc
mv hosts hosts.old
echo 127.0.0.1 localhost > hosts
/etc/umount /mnt
reboot.
>>>Sophia Sameera Corsava
<106625.3502@compuserve.com>
1) mount -F ufs /dev/xxxx /tmp
cd /tmp/etc
I restored from tap. You can try to change the hosts file with
vi.

Another way :
mount /dev/rroot /root or /tmp depending on the
configuration of your
system.

>>>Gary Richardson <gpr@agile.com>
If you're running SunOS (and not Solaris) you should be
able to get
into the CD shell. Here's what I'd do:

- boot from CD. Install miniroot and reboot using the "just
installed miniroot".

- One you get the # prompt, do these commands:

        mkdir /mnt
        mount /dev/sd0a /mnt

- That should mount / onto /mnt.

- cd to /mnt/etc and vi the hosts file. It might not know the
terminal
  type so you'll have to suffer thru it's bogus line by line
mode. But
  it should be enough to allow you to change the localhost
entry.

Why you couldn't mount / before is a mystery. My only
thought would be
when you booted from the CD it gives you a list of options
(not exact):

1. Run Format
2. Install miniroot
3. Exit to shell

If you exited to shell I can see how the mount won't work.
You need to
install the miniroot and reboot to that before you can do
things such
as mounting filesystems.



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