Creating Zones in Solaris 10

Zone is a virtual machine in solaris which isolates the processes. There are two kind of zones possible

1. Global zone

2. Non-Global zone ( or simply ‘zones’ or ‘containers’).

The Non-Global zones are made from the global zones. 

Now i gonna show, how to create zones in solaris 10. Lets get it started.

1. Create a separate filesystem for the zone if you want to….for my demo purpose, i’ll jus create a directory on my existing filesystem.

bash-3.00# mkdir /sunZone

bash-3.00# chmod 700 /sunZone/

2. Type in the following commands,

bash-3.00# zonecfg -z sunZone

sunZone: No such zone configured

Use ‘create’ to begin configuring a new zone.

zonecfg:sunZone> create

zonecfg:sunZone> set zonepath=/sunZone

zonecfg:sunZone> add net

zonecfg:sunZone:net> set physical=eri0

zonecfg:sunZone:net> set address=192.168.5.59

zonecfg:sunZone:net> end

zonecfg:sunZone> verify

zonecfg:sunZone> commit

zonecfg:sunZone> exit

3. You can also check all the configuration by typing info at the zone configuration mode.

zonecfg:sunZone> info

zonename: sunZone

zonepath: /sunZone/

brand: native

autoboot: false

bootargs:

pool:

limitpriv:

scheduling-class:

ip-type: shared

inherit-pkg-dir:

        dir: /lib

inherit-pkg-dir:

        dir: /platform

inherit-pkg-dir:

        dir: /sbin

inherit-pkg-dir:

        dir: /usr

net:

        address: 192.168.5.59

        physical: eri0

4. Now check whether the zone is created or not:

bash-3.00# zoneadm list -cv

  ID   NAME             STATUS           PATH                    BRAND    IP

   0   global            running           /                           native     shared

   -   sunZone        configured      /sunZone              native     shared

There is a zone state model in solaris which depicts the current state of the zone. In the above output, the staus is configured. In later part of the demo, this will change to installed and running.

IP is showing as shared coz the sunZone also is using the same NIC as the global zone. One other possible value for the IP type is exclusive.

5. Now lets install the configured zone:

bash-3.00# zoneadm -z sunZone install

Preparing to install zone <sunZone>.

Creating list of files to copy from the global zone.

Copying <2552> files to the zone.

Initializing zone product registry.

Determining zone package initialization order.

Preparing to initialize <1113> packages on the zone.

Initializing package <426> of <1113>: percent complete: 38%

-

-

-

- This will go on for a while

-

-

Initialized <1113> packages on zone.

Zone <sunZone> is initialized.

The file </sunZone/root/var/sadm/system/logs/install_log> contains a log of the zone installation.

6. Check the status of the zone:

bash-3.00# zoneadm list -cv

 ID   NAME             STATUS           PATH                 BRAND    IP

   0   global            running           /                       native     shared

   -   sunZone        installed      /sunZone              native     shared

7. Boot the zone:

bash-3.00# zoneadm -z sunZone boot

now check the status, its should be in running.

8. Login to zone:

bash-3.00# zlogin -C sunZone

This will take u to the configuration steps like, root password, time zone, language etc., 

finish all the steps, you are done creating your first zone.

9. Logout from the zone.

press ‘ ~. ‘