Here is how to put more than one device on the variable devalias

root@solaris:/ # eeprom “nvramrc=devalias vx-rootdisk /pci@1c,600000/scsi@2/disk@0,0:a (press <Enter>)
> devalias vx-rootmirr /pci@1c,600000/scsi@2/disk@3,0:a” (press <Enter>)

Put more than one device to boot the system

root@solaris:/# eeprom “boot-device=vx-rootdisk vx-rootmirr”

List all the OpenBoot parameters

root@solaris:/# eeprom
asr-policy=normal
test-args: data not available.
diag-passes=1
local-mac-address?=true
fcode-debug?=false
scsi-initiator-id=7
oem-logo: data not available.
oem-logo?=false
oem-banner: data not available.
oem-banner?=false
ansi-terminal?=true
screen-#columns=80
screen-#rows=34
ttyb-rts-dtr-off=false
ttyb-ignore-cd=true
ttya-rts-dtr-off=false
ttya-ignore-cd=true
ttyb-mode=9600,8,n,1,-
ttya-mode=9600,8,n,1,-
output-device=ttya
input-device=ttya
auto-boot-on-error?=true
error-reset-recovery=sync
load-base=16384
auto-boot?=true
network-boot-arguments: data not available.
boot-command=boot
diag-file: data not available.
diag-device=disk0:a
boot-file: data not available.
boot-device=vx-rootdisk vx-rootmirr
use-nvramrc?=false
nvramrc=devalias vx-rootdisk /pci@1c,600000/scsi@2/disk@0,0:a
devalias vx-rootmirr /pci@1c,600000/scsi@2/disk@3,0:a
security-mode=none
security-password: data not available.
security-#badlogins=0
verbosity=normal
diag-trigger=error-reset power-on-reset
service-mode?=false
diag-script=normal
diag-level=max
diag-switch?=false

Discovering which disk is used when booting

In the case of this server, it is using vx-rootdisk and if it fails, it will use the next one, the vx-rootmirr

root@solaris:/:> eeprom | grep boot-device
boot-device=vx-rootdisk vx-rootmirr

I need to find the hardware address of these two alias

root@solaris:/:> eeprom | grep vx-root
boot-device=vx-rootdisk vx-rootmirr
nvramrc=devalias vx-rootdisk /pci@1c,600000/scsi@2/disk@0,0:a
devlias vx-rootmirr /pci@1c,600000/scsi@2/disk@3,0:a

Now with the hardware address, I invoke the format command and see that this particular system is using disks 2 and 5 to boot.

root@solaris:/:> echo | format
Searching for disks…done

AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS:
0. c1t0d0 <SUN-StorEdge3310-413B cyl 65533 alt 2 hd 64 sec 340>
/pci@1e,600000/scsi@3/sd@0,0
1. c1t1d0 <SUN-StorEdge3310-413B cyl 65533 alt 2 hd 64 sec 340>
/pci@1e,600000/scsi@3/sd@1,0
2. c2t0d0 <SUN72G cyl 14087 alt 2 hd 24 sec 424>
/pci@1c,600000/scsi@2/sd@0,0
3. c2t1d0 <SUN72G cyl 14087 alt 2 hd 24 sec 424>
/pci@1c,600000/scsi@2/sd@1,0
4. c2t2d0 <SUN146G cyl 14087 alt 2 hd 24 sec 848>
/pci@1c,600000/scsi@2/sd@2,0
5. c2t3d0 <SUN146G cyl 14087 alt 2 hd 24 sec 848>
/pci@1c,600000/scsi@2/sd@3,0
Specify disk (enter its number): Specify disk (enter its number):

To create the alias as stated in the beginning of this post, it will be necessary to get the hardware address and replace “sd” for “disk”.
Also Specify which disk slice that holds the root (/) filesystem. The slice 0 is the letter a, the slice 1 is b and so on.

5. c2t3d0 <SUN146G cyl 14087 alt 2 hd 24 sec 848>
/pci@1c,600000/scsi@2/sd@3,0

root@solaris:/:> ls -l /dev/dsk/c2t3d0s0
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root     root          43 Feb 22  2006 /dev/dsk/c2t3d0s0 -> ../../devices/pci@1c,600000/scsi@2/sd@3,0:a

To validate this hardware address use boot and specify it on the OpenBoot prompt

ok> boot /pci@1c,600000/scsi@2/disk@3,0:a