Solaris 10 Zones

Installation / Setup of Zones

Create the filesystem for the zone

The first thing that I do is create a filesystem area for the new zone to reside in. I also mount it under a mount point named /zone/1 and I ensure that only the root user has access to it thus:

$ ls -lap /zone
total 8
drwxr-xr-x   3 root     other        512 Feb 26 12:42 ./
drwxr-xr-x  22 root     root         512 Feb 26 12:42 ../
drwx------   5 root     root         512 Feb 26 13:27 1/

 

Setup the zone

We use zonecfg to create a new zone. Do this from the global zone and as the root user.

bash-2.05b# zonecfg -z zone1
zone1: No such zone configured
Use 'create' to begin configuring a new zone.
zonecfg:zone1> create
zonecfg:zone1> set zonepath=/zone/1
zonecfg:zone1> set autoboot=true
zonecfg:zone1> add net
zonecfg:zone1:net> set address=192.168.35.210
zonecfg:zone1:net> set physical=hme1
zonecfg:zone1:net> end
zonecfg:zone1> info
zonepath: /zone/1
autoboot: true
pool:
inherit-pkg-dir:
        dir: /lib
inherit-pkg-dir:
        dir: /platform
inherit-pkg-dir:
        dir: /sbin
inherit-pkg-dir:
        dir: /usr
net:
        address: 192.168.35.210
       physical: hme1
zonecfg:zone1> verify
zonecfg:zone1> commit
zonecfg:zone1> ^D

Simple really. The zonecfg tool is interactive and I specified that I want to “create” a zone. The filesystem that I created is the new “zonepath” and I want this new virtual server to boot along with the global zone when the “real” server boots. Who can tell what is “real” and what isn’t? It won’t matter anymore. I also set the ip address for the zone as well as the interface to bind to. Finally I asked for zonecfg to show me what I just did via the simple “info” command. I then used “verify” and “commit” to ensure that the config is complete. That is all. Nothing fancy.

Verify the zone setup

I then used zonecfg and zoneadm to verify that in fact what I had just done was in fact, er, well, done. Really I just like playing with new technology and so will you!

bash-2.05b# zonecfg -z zone1 info
zonepath: /zone/1
autoboot: true
pool:
inherit-pkg-dir:
        dir: /lib
inherit-pkg-dir:
        dir: /platform
inherit-pkg-dir:
        dir: /sbin
inherit-pkg-dir:
       dir: /usr
net:
        address: 192.168.35.210
        physical: hme1

bash-2.05b# zoneadm list -vc
  ID NAME             STATUS         PATH
   0 global           running        /
   - zone1            configured     /zone/1

Install the zone

The next step to perform is to “install” the zone.

bash-2.05b# zoneadm -z zone1 install
Preparing to install zone <zone1>.
Creating list of files to copy from the global zone.
Copying <2521> files to the zone.
Initializing zone product registry.
Determining zone package initialization order.
Preparing to initialize <808> packages on the zone.
Initializing package <7> of <808>: percent complete: 0%
.
.  < this goes on for some time >
.
Initialized <808> packages on zone.
Successfully initialized zone <zone1>.

bash-2.05b# df -ak /zone/1
Filesystem            kbytes    used   avail capacity  Mounted on
/dev/dsk/c0t1d0s0    1972734   76238 1797860     5%    /zone/1

Verify the installation of the zone

Again I use zoneadm to see the results of my actions :

bash-2.05b# zoneadm list -vc
  ID NAME             STATUS         PATH
   0 global           running        /
   - zone1            installed      /zone/1

See that? The STATUS is now “installed”.

Boot the zone

Now lets boot that new virtual server that we created!

bash-2.05b# zoneadm -z zone1 boot
bash-2.05b# zoneadm list -vc
  ID NAME             STATUS         PATH
   0 global           running        /
   2 zone1            running        /zone/1

 

Ping the zone

I now have a virtual server running? Really? Let’s ping it :

bash-2.05b# ping 192.168.35.210
192.168.35.210 is alive

Working with Zones

Listing zones

• List all installed zones

root@airlock:/[70] # zoneadm list -vc
  ID NAME             STATUS         PATH
   0 global           running        /
   1 mgt              running        /zone/mgt
   2 int              running        /zone/int
   3 auth             running        /zone/auth
   4 mgt_ext          running        /zone/mgt_ext
  14 ext              running        /zone/ext
root@airlock:/[71] #

• List all installed zones

root@airlock:/[72] # zoneadm list
global
mgt
int
auth
mgt_ext
ext
root@airlock:/[73] #

Login to a zone

usage: zlogin [ -CES ] [ -e cmdchar ] [-l user] zonename [command [args ...] ]

root@airlock:/[74] # zlogin mgt
[Connected to zone 'mgt' pts/1]
Last login: Wed Dec 27 16:08:30 on pts/1
Sun Microsystems Inc.   SunOS 5.10      Generic January 2005
root@air-mgt_mgt:/[4] # exit
logout

[Connection to zone 'mgt' pts/1 closed]
root@airlock:/[75] #

Links

Most of this guide was copied from: Get in the Zone

Another nice Article about Solaris Zones: Solaris 10 Zones document written by Brendan Gregg