Articles, notes and random thoughts on Software Development and Technology
After going through all the setup options but before it gets to starting the actual install on an ESXi VM I get the error:
“ERROR: The disc you inserted is not a Solaris OS CD/DVD”
From this post here about the same error on a Dell server (I’m installing on a VM on an HP DL380 G7) with Solaris driver issues with ATAPI CD/DVD devices, I changed the virtual CD drive on my VM from SATA to IDE, and can now get past the error.
It arrived a couple of days earlier than expected, ahead of the other multiple parts that I needed (keyboard, mouse, scsi disk etc).
It’s a bit grubby and scratched up, but not that bad for an older machine:
It’s incredibly heavy though, wow, it must way at least 60 pounds.
Inside looks like there is the Creator 3D graphics card, and a SunPCI card (more on that later).
I have a Sun5c keyboard and mouse, so plugging them in, attaching a monitor and powering on …. nothing.
Uh oh.
I started to go down the path of running the diags over the serial connection, and using my Atari ST as a terminal, but before I got to far with that I though I should check basics and make sure everything is well seated.
Turns out both cards were only half in their slots. One more try, but still nothing. Next, pulled the CPU board out and gave it a blow and then reinserted…. power on, fans running, diags run and we have a banner:
Next up, waiting until Monday for my SCSI disk to arrive with disk sled, and then we’ll start a Solaris install!
I was shopping for one of these on ebay:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPARCstation_20
But then got caught up on the idea that an Ultra 5 with IDE disk support might be a better idea:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra_5/10
After a lively discussion in the Facebook Vintage Unix Machines group about the pros and cons of older Sparcstations, Ultra 1 and 2, vs Ultra 5/10, I decided to shop for an Ultra 1 or 2. I made an offer on one but didn’t get it. And then I decided to go for an Ultra 60 since it was cheaper than anything else I could find, although in a unknown working condition, other than ‘it powers on’. So when it turns up it will be a learning experience to see if it’s actually in working condition or not.
I believe from photos from the ebay listing that there’s a SunPCI card in there, so that will be interesting to play with, and also the Creator 3D graphics card.
On my shopping list of needed parts:
By default, MongoDB usually stores it’s data files when running on MacOS under /data/db. After upgrading to Catalina 10.15, when starting MongoDB I get this error:
STORAGE [initandlisten] exception in initAndListen: 29 Data directory /data/db not found., terminating
According to this question and answer here, Catalina no longer allows apps to read or write to non-standard folders beneath / so you need to move the data files elsewhere. After my upgrade, the files were moved to a ‘Relocated Items/Security’ folder. Moving them into my user dir and then starting up with the suggested:
mongod --dbpath ~/data/db
fixes the issue.