Introduction
How to use
the Oracle Solaris 11 Automated install server in order to automate
the Solaris 11 Zones installation. In this document I will demonstrate how to setup
the Automated Install
server in order to provide hands off installation process for
the Global
Zone and two Non Global Zones located on
the same system.
Architecture layout: Figure 1. Architecture layout Prerequisite Setup
the Automated install server (AI) using
the following instructions “How to Set Up Automated Installation Services for Oracle Solaris 11”
The first step in this setup will be creating two Solaris 11 Zones configuration files. Step 1: Create
the Solaris 11 Zones configuration files
The Solaris Zones configuration files should be in
the format of
the zonecfg export command. # zonecfg -z zone1 export > /var/tmp/zone1# cat /var/tmp/zone1 create -b set brand=solaris set zonepath=/rpool/zones/zone1 set autoboot=true set ip-type=exclusive add anet set linkname=net0 set lower-link=auto set configure-allowed-address=true set link-protection=mac-nospoof set mac-address=random end
Create a backup copy of this file under a different
name, for example, zone2. # cp /var/tmp/zone1 /var/tmp/zone2
Modify
the second configuration file with
the zone2 configuration information You should change
the zonepath for example: set zonepath=/rpool/zones/zone2 Step2: Copy and share
the Zones configuration files
Create
the NFS directory for
the Zones configuration files # mkdir /export/zone_config
Share
the directory for
the Zones configuration file # share –o ro /export/zone_config
Copy
the Zones configuration files into
the NFS shared directory # cp /var/tmp/zone1 /var/tmp/zone2 /export/zone_config
Verify that
the NFS share has been created using
the following command # share
export_zone_config /export/zone_config nfs sec=sys,ro Step 3: Add
the Global Zone as client to
the Install Service
Use
the installadm create-client command to associate client (Global Zone) with
the install service To find
the MAC address of a system, use
the dladm command as described in
the dladm(1M) man page.
The following command adds
the client (Global Zone) with MAC address 0:14:4f:2:a:19 to
the s11x86service install service. # installadm create-client -e “0:14:4f:2:a:19" -n s11x86service
You can verify
the client creation using
the following command # installadm list –c
Service Name Client Address Arch Image Path ------------ -------------- ---- ---------- s11x86service 00:14:4F:02:0A:19 i386 /export/auto_install/s11x86service
We can see
the client install service
name (s11x86service), MAC address (00:14:4F:02:0A:19 and Architecture (i386). Step 4: Global Zone manifest setup
First, get a list of
the installation services and
the manifests associated with them: # installadm list -m Service Name Manifest Status ------------ -------- ------ default-i386 orig_default Default
s11x86service orig_default Default Then probe
the s11x86service and
the default manifest associated with it.
The -m switch reflects
the name of
the manifest associated with a service.
Since we want to capture that output into a file, we redirect
the output of
the command as follows: # installadm export -n s11x86service -m orig_default > /var/tmp/orig_default.xml
Create a backup copy of this file under a different
name, for example, orig-default2.xml, and edit
the copy. # cp /var/tmp/orig_default.xml /var/tmp/orig_default2.xml
Use
the configuration element in
the AI manifest for
the client system to specify non-global zones. Use
the name attribute of
the configuration element to specify
the name of
the zone. Use
the source attribute to specify
the location of
the config file for
the zone.
The source location can be any http:// or file:// location that
the client can access during installation.
The following sample AI manifest specifies two Non-Global Zones: zone1 and zone2
You should replace
the server_ip with
the ip address of
the NFS server.
<!DOCTYPE auto_install SYSTEM "file:///usr/share/install/ai.dtd.1"> <auto_install> <ai_instance> <target> <logical> <zpool name="rpool" is_root="true"> <filesystem name="export" mountpoint="/export"/> <filesystem name="export/home"/> <be name="solaris"/> </zpool> </logical> </target> <software type="IPS"> <source> <publisher name="solaris"> <origin name="http://pkg.oracle.com/solaris/release"/> </publisher> </source> <software_data action="install"> <name>pkg:/entire@latest</name> <name>pkg:/group/system/solaris-large-server</name> </software_data> </software> <configuration type="zone" name="zone1" source="file:///net/server_ip/export/zone_config/zone1"/> <configuration type="zone" name="zone2" source="file:///net/server_ip/export/zone_config/zone2"/> </ai_instance> </auto_install>
The following example adds
the /var/tmp/orig_default2.xml AI manifest to
the s11x86service install service # installadm create-manifest -n s11x86service -f /var/tmp/orig_default2.xml -m gzmanifest
You can verify
the manifest creation using
the following command # installadm list -n s11x86service -m
Service/Manifest Name Status Criteria --------------------- ------ -------- s11x86service
orig_default Default None
gzmanifest Inactive None
We can see from
the command output that
the new manifest named gzmanifest has been created
and associated with
the s11x86service install service. Step 5: Non Global Zone manifest setup
The AI manifest for non-global zone installation is similar to
the AI manifest for installing
the global zone.
If you do not provide a custom AI manifest for a non-global zone,
the default AI manifest for Zones is used
The default AI manifest for Zones is available at /usr/share/auto_install/manifest/zone_default.xml.
In this example we should use
the default AI manifest for zones
The following sample default AI manifest for zones # cat /usr/share/auto_install/manifest/zone_default.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!-- Copyright (c) 2011, 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. --> <!DOCTYPE auto_install SYSTEM "file:///usr/share/install/ai.dtd.1"> <auto_install> <ai_instance name="zone_default"> <target> <logical> <zpool name="rpool"> <!-- Subsequent <filesystem> entries instruct an installer to create following ZFS datasets: <root_pool>/export (mounted on /export) <root_pool>/export/home (mounted on /export/home) Those datasets are part of standard environment and should be always created. In rare cases, if there is a need to deploy a zone without these datasets, either comment out or remove <filesystem> entries. In such scenario, it has to be also assured that in case of non-interactive post-install configuration, creation of initial user account is disabled in related system configuration profile. Otherwise
the installed zone would fail to boot. --> <filesystem name="export" mountpoint="/export"/> <filesystem name="export/home"/> <be name="solaris"> <options> <option name="compression" value="on"/> </options> </be> </zpool> </logical> </target> <software type="IPS"> <destination> <image> <!-- Specify locales to install --> <facet set="false">facet.locale.*</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.de</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.de_DE</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.en</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.en_US</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.es</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.es_ES</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.fr</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.fr_FR</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.it</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.it_IT</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.ja</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.ja_*</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.ko</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.ko_*</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.pt</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.pt_BR</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.zh</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.zh_CN</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.zh_TW</facet> </image> </destination> <software_data action="install"> <name>pkg:/group/system/solaris-small-server</name> </software_data> </software> </ai_instance> </auto_install>
(optional) We can customize
the default AI manifest for Zones
Create a backup copy of this file under a different
name, for example, zone_default2.xml and edit
the copy # cp /usr/share/auto_install/manifest/zone_default.xml /var/tmp/zone_default2.xml
Edit
the copy (/var/tmp/zone_default2.xml)
The following example adds
the /var/tmp/zone_default2.xml AI manifest to
the s11x86service install service and specifies that zone1 and zone2
should use this manifest. # installadm create-manifest -n s11x86service -f /var/tmp/zone_default2.xml -m zones_manifest -c zonename="zone1 zone2" Note: Do not use
the following elements or attributes in a non-global zone AI manifest:
The auto_reboot attribute of
the ai_instance element
The http_proxy attribute of
the ai_instance element
The disk child element of
the target element
The noswap attribute of
the logical element
The nodump attribute of
the logical element
The configuration element
Step 6: Global Zone profile setup
We are going to create a global zone configuration profile which
includes
the host information for example: host
name, ip address
name
services etc… # sysconfig create-profile –o /var/tmp/gz_profile.xml You need to provide
the host information for example:
Default router
Root password
DNS information
The output should eventually disappear and be replaced by
the initial
screen of
the System Configuration Tool (see Figure 2), where you can do
the final configuration. Figure 2. Profile creation menu You can validate
the profile using
the following command # installadm validate -n s11x86service –P /var/tmp/gz_profile.xml
Validating static profile gz_profile.xml... Passed
Next, instantiate a profile with
the install service.
In our case, use
the following syntax for doing this # installadm create-profile -n s11x86service -f /var/tmp/gz_profile.xml -p gz_profile You can verify profile creation using
the following command # installadm list –n s11x86service -p
Service/Profile Name Criteria -------------------- -------- s11x86service
gz_profile None We can see that
the gz_profie has been created and associated with
the s11x86service
Install service. Step 7: Setup
the Solaris Zones configuration profiles
The step should be similar to
the Global zone profile creation on step 6 # sysconfig create-profile –o /var/tmp/zone1_profile.xml # sysconfig create-profile –o /var/tmp/zone2_profile.xml You can validate
the profiles using
the following command # installadm validate -n s11x86service -P /var/tmp/zone1_profile.xml
Validating static profile zone1_profile.xml... Passed # installadm validate -n s11x86service -P /var/tmp/zone2_profile.xml
Validating static profile zone2_profile.xml... Passed
Next, associate
the profiles with
the install service
The following example adds
the zone1_profile.xml configuration profile
to
the s11x86service install service and specifies that zone1 should
use this profile. # installadm create-profile -n s11x86service -f /var/tmp/zone1_profile.xml -p zone1_profile -c zonename=zone1
The following example adds
the zone2_profile.xml configuration profile
to
the s11x86service install service and specifies that zone2 should
use this profile. # installadm create-profile -n s11x86service -f /var/tmp/zone2_profile.xml -p zone2_profile -c zonename=zone2
You can verify
the profiles creation using
the following command # installadm list -n s11x86service -p
Service/Profile Name Criteria -------------------- -------- s11x86service
zone1_profile zonename = zone1
zone2_profile zonename = zone2
gz_profile None
We can see that we have three profiles in
the s11x86service install service
Global Zone gz_profile
zone1 zone1_profile
zone2 zone2_profile. Step 8: Global Zone setup
Associate
the global zone client with
the manifest and
the profile that we create in
the previous steps
The following example adds
the manifest and profile to
the client (global zone), where:
gzmanifest is
the name of
the manifest.
gz_profile is
the name of
the configuration profile.
mac="0:14:4f:2:a:19" is
the client (global zone) mac address
s11x86service is
the install service
name.
# installadm set-criteria -m gzmanifest –p gz_profile -c mac="0:14:4f:2:a:19" -n s11x86service
You can verify
the manifest and profile association using
the following command # installadm list -n s11x86service -p -m
Service/Manifest Name Status Criteria --------------------- ------ -------- s11x86service
gzmanifest mac = 00:14:4F:02:0A:19
orig_default Default None
Service/Profile Name Criteria -------------------- -------- s11x86service
gz_profile mac = 00:14:4F:02:0A:19
zone2_profile zonename = zone2
zone1_profile zonename = zone1 Step 9: Provision
the host with
the Non-Global Zones
The next step is to boot
the client system off
the network and provision
it using
the Automated Install service that we just set up. First, boot
the client system. Figure 3 shows
the network boot attempt (when done on an x86 system): Figure 3. Network Boot
Then you will be prompted by a GRUB menu, with a timer, as shown in
Figure 4.
The default selection (the "Text Installer and command line"
option) is highlighted. Press
the down arrow to highlight
the second option labeled Automated Install, and then press Enter.
The reason we need to do this is because we want to prevent a system
from being automatically re-installed if it were to be booted from
the
network accidentally. Figure 4. GRUB Menu
What follows is
the continuation of a networked boot from
the Automated
Install server,.
The client downloads a mini-root (a small set of files
in which to successfully run
the installer), identifies
the location of
the Automated Install manifest on
the network, retrieves that manifest,
and then processes it to identify
the address of
the IPS repository from
which to obtain
the desired software payload.
Non-Global Zones are installed and configured on
the first reboot after
the Global Zone is installed.
You can list all
the Solaris Zones status using
the following command # zoneadm list -civ
Once
the Zones are in running state you can login into
the Zone using
the following command # zlogin –z zone1 Troubleshooting Automated Installations
If an installation to a client system failed, you can find
the client log at /system/volatile/install_log. NOTE: Zones are not installed if any of
the following errors occurs:
A zone config file is not syntactically correct.
A collision exists among zone names, zone paths, or delegated ZFS datasets in
the set of zones to be installed
Required datasets are not configured in
the global zone.
For more troubleshooting information see “Installing Oracle Solaris 11 Systems”
Conclusion
This paper demonstrated
the benefits of using
the Automated Install
server to simplify
the Non Global Zones setup, including
the creation
and configuration of
the global zone manifest and
the Solaris Zones
profiles.
