Initial Installation, or Upgrade?
You can choose to perform an initial installation or, if your system is
already running the Solaris OS, you can upgrade your system.
Initial Installation
An initial installation overwrites the system's disk with the new version of the
Solaris OS. If your system is not running the Solaris OS, you
must perform an initial installation.
If the system is already running the Solaris OS, you can choose
to perform an initial installation. If you want to preserve any local modifications, before
you install, you must back up the local modifications. After you complete the
installation, you can restore the local modifications.
You can use any of the Solaris installation methods to perform an
initial installation. For detailed information about the different Solaris installation methods, refer to Choosing a Solaris Installation Method.
Upgrade
You can upgrade the Solaris OS by using two upgrade methods: standard and
Solaris Live Upgrade. A standard upgrade maintains as many existing configuration parameters as
possible of the current Solaris OS. Solaris Live Upgrade creates a copy of
the current system. This copy can be upgraded with a standard upgrade. The
upgraded Solaris OS can then be switched to become the current system by
a simple reboot. If a failure occurs, you can switch back to
the original Solaris OS with a reboot. Solaris Live Upgrade enables you to
keep your system running while you upgrade and enables you to switch back
and forth between Solaris OS releases.
For more information about upgrading and the list of upgrade methods, see Upgrade Planning.
