Solaris Tips : Assembler, Format, File Descriptors, Ciphers & Mount Points

1. Most Oracle software installers need assembler

Assembler (as) is not installed by default on Solaris 11.
     Find and install

eg.,

# pkg search assembler
INDEX       ACTION VALUE                           PACKAGE
pkg.fmri    set    solaris/developer/assembler     pkg:/developer/assembler@0.5.11-0.175.1.5.0.3.0

# pkg install pkg:/developer/assembler

Assembler binary used to be under /usr/ccs/bin directory on Solaris 10 and prior versions.
     There is no /usr/ccs/bin on Solaris 11. Contents were moved to /usr/bin

2. Non-interactive retrieval of the entire list of disks that format reports

If the format utility cannot show the entire list of disks in a single screen on stdout, it shows some and prompts user to - hit space for more or s to select - to move to the next screen to show few more disks. Run the following command(s) to retrieve the entire list of disks in a single shot.

format < /dev/null

    -or-

echo "\n" | format

3. Finding system wide file descriptors/handles in use

Run the following kstat command as any user (privileged or non-privileged).

kstat -n file_cache -s buf_inuse

Going through /proc (process filesystem) is less efficient and may lead to inaccurate results due to the inclusion of duplicate file handles.

4. ssh connection to a Solaris 11 host fails with error Couldn't agree a client-to-server cipher (available: aes128-ctr,aes192-ctr,aes256-ctr,arcfour128,arcfour256,arcfour)

Solution: add 3des-cbc to the list of accepted ciphers to sshd configuration file.

Steps:

1. Append the following line to /etc/ssh/sshd_config

   Ciphers aes128-ctr,aes192-ctr,aes256-ctr,arcfour128,arcfour256,arcfour,3des-cbc

2. Restart ssh daemon

   svcadm -v restart ssh

5. UFS: Finding the last mount point for a device

fsck utility reports the last mountpoint on which the filesystem was mounted (it won't show the mount options though). The filesystem should be unmounted when running fsck.

eg.,

# fsck -n /dev/dsk/c0t5000CCA0162F7BC0d0s6
** /dev/rdsk/c0t5000CCA0162F7BC0d0s6 (NO WRITE)
** Last Mounted on /export/oracle
** Phase 1 - Check Blocks and Sizes
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