Solaris 11 Procedure for Creating Sparse Root Zone

Last session we understand the concept of configuring the Zone with the zone components, In this article we

will be creating the Sparse root zone. As we discussed more about the sparse root zone in earlier session, let we can start creating pre-requesties list for creating the Sparse root zone.

Pre-Requesties :
• Zonepath ( /export/zones/zone1 FS with atleast approx 300MB Size)
• Interface (e1000g0)
• Ip address with subnetmask  (192.168.10.35   255.255.255.0)
Lets we start creating the sparse root zones from Global zone.

bash-3.00# zonecfg -z zone1
zone1: No such zone configured
Use 'create' to begin configuring a new zone.
zonecfg:zone1> create
zonecfg:zone1> set autoboot=true
zonecfg:zone1> set zonepath=/export/zones/zone1
zonecfg:zone1> add net
zonecfg:zone1:net> set address=192.168.10.35
zonecfg:zone1:net> set physical=e1000g0
zonecfg:zone1:net> end
zonecfg:zone1> verify
zonecfg:zone1> commit
zonecfg:zone1> exit

When we set zone as autoboot=true function, the zone service needs to be enabled. we can check the status with using "svcs" command.

bash-3.00# svcs -a|grep -i /zones
online         22:27:25 svc:/system/zones:default

Another rule is zones home directory permission should be as 700.

bash-3.00# chmod 700 /export/zones/zone1
bash-3.00# ls -ld /export/zones/zone1
drwx------   3 root     root          96 Jun 27 01:41 /export/zones/zone1
bash-3.00#

Now the zone status is configured status

bash-3.00# zoneadm list -cv
  ID NAME             STATUS     PATH                           BRAND    IP
   0 global           running    /                              native   shared
   - zone1            configured /export/zones/zone1            native   shared
bash-3.00#

Now we are ready to install the sparse root zone

bash-3.00#
bash-3.00# zoneadm -z zone1 install
Preparing to install zone .
Creating list of files to copy from the global zone.
Copying <5988> files to the zone.
Initializing zone product registry.
Determining zone package initialization order.
Preparing to initialize <1114> packages on the zone.
Initialized <1114> packages on zone.
Zone <zone1> is initialized.
Installation of <2> packages was skipped.
The file </export/zones/zone1/root/var/sadm/system/logs/install_log> contains a log of the zone installation.
bash-3.00#

Now the zone status is changed to installed status

bash-3.00# zoneadm list -cv
  ID NAME             STATUS     PATH                           BRAND    IP
   0 global           running    /                              native   shared
   - zone1            installed  /export/zones/zone1            native   shared
bash-3.00#

Now the configuration looks like below and the zone is ready to boot now.

bash-3.00# zonecfg -z zone1 info
zonename: zone1
zonepath: /export/zones/zone1
brand: native
autoboot: true
bootargs:
pool:
limitpriv:
scheduling-class:
ip-type: shared
hostid:
inherit-pkg-dir:
        dir: /lib
inherit-pkg-dir:
        dir: /platform
inherit-pkg-dir:
        dir: /sbin
inherit-pkg-dir:
        dir: /usr
net:
        address: 192.168.10.35
        physical: e1000g0
        defrouter not specified
bash-3.00# zoneadm -z zone1 boot
bash-3.00#
bash-3.00# zoneadm list -cv
  ID NAME             STATUS     PATH                           BRAND    IP
   0 global           running    /                              native   shared
   3 zone1            running    /export/zones/zone1            native   shared
bash-3.00#

Since this is the first time that this zone is being booted up, some initial configurations needs to be performed.

For this we need to login in zone console with using "zlogin -C zone1" command.