System Administration Guide: Virtualization Using the Solaris Operating System
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Configuring, Verifying, and Committing a Zone

You use the zonecfg command described in the zonecfg(1M) man page to perform the following actions.

  • Create the zone configuration

  • Verify that all required information is present

  • Commit the non-global zone configuration

The zonecfg command can also be used to persistently specify the resource management settings for the global zone.

While configuring a zone with the zonecfg utility, you can use the revert subcommand to undo the setting for a resource. See How to Revert a Zone Configuration.

A script to configure multiple zones on your system is provided in Script to Configure Multiple Zones.

To display a non-global zone's configuration, see How to Display the Configuration of a Non-Global Zone.

How to Configure the Zone

Note that the only required elements to create a native non-global zone are the zonename and zonepath properties. Other resources and properties are optional. Some optional resources also require choices between alternatives, such as the decision to use either the dedicated-cpu resource or the capped-cpu resource. See Zone Configuration Data for information on available zonecfg properties and resources.

You must be the global administrator in the global zone to perform this procedure.

  1. Become superuser, or assume the Primary Administrator role.

    To create the role and assign the role to a user, see Using the Solaris Management Tools With RBAC (Task Map) in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.

  2. Set up a zone configuration with the zone name you have chosen.

    The name my-zone is used in this example procedure.

    global# zonecfg -z my-zone

    If this is the first time you have configured this zone, you will see the following system message:

    my-zone: No such zone configured
    Use 'create' to begin configuring a new zone.
  3. Create the new zone configuration.

    This procedure uses the Sun default settings.

    zonecfg:my-zone> create
  4. Set the zone path, /export/home/my-zone in this procedure.
    zonecfg:my-zone> set zonepath=/export/home/my-zone
  5. Set the autoboot value.

    If set to true, the zone is automatically booted when the global zone is booted. Note that for the zones to autoboot, the zones service svc:/system/zones:default must also be enabled. The default value is false.

    zonecfg:my-zone> set autoboot=true
  6. Set persistent boot arguments for a zone.
    zonecfg:my-zone> set bootargs="-m verbose"
  7. Dedicate one CPU to this zone.
    zonecfg:my-zone> add dedicated-cpu
    1. Set the number of CPUs.
      zonecfg:my-zone:dedicated-cpu> set ncpus=1-2
    2. (Optional) Set the importance.
      zonecfg:my-zone:dedicated-cpu> set importance=10

      The default is 1.

    3. End the specification.
      zonecfg:my-zone:dedicated-cpu> end
  8. Revise the default set of privileges.
    zonecfg:my-zone> set limitpriv="default,sys_time"

    This line adds the ability to set the system clock to the default set of privileges.

  9. Set the scheduling class to FSS.
    zonecfg:my-zone> set scheduling-class=FSS
  10. Add a memory cap.
    zonecfg:my-zone> add capped-memory
    1. Set the memory cap.
      zonecfg:my-zone:capped-memory> set physical=50m
    2. Set the swap memory cap.
      zonecfg:my-zone:capped-memory> set swap=100m
    3. Set the locked memory cap.
      zonecfg:my-zone:capped-memory> set locked=30m
    4. End the memory cap specification.
      zonecfg:my-zone:capped-memory> end
  11. Add a file system.
    zonecfg:my-zone> add fs
    1. Set the mount point for the file system, /usr/local in this procedure.
      zonecfg:my-zone:fs> set dir=/usr/local
    2. Specify that /opt/local in the global zone is to be mounted as /usr/local in the zone being configured.
      zonecfg:my-zone:fs> set special=/opt/local

      In the non-global zone, the /usr/local file system will be readable and writable.

    3. Specify the file system type, lofs in this procedure.
      zonecfg:my-zone:fs> set type=lofs

      The type indicates how the kernel interacts with the file system.

    4. End the file system specification.
      zonecfg:my-zone:fs> end

    This step can be performed more than once to add more than one file system.

  12. Add a ZFS dataset named sales in the storage pool tank
    zonecfg:my-zone> add dataset
    1. Specify the path to the ZFS dataset sales.
      zonecfg:my-zone> set name=tank/sales
    2. End the dataset specification.
      zonecfg:my-zone> end
  13. (Sparse Root Zone Only) Add a shared file system that is loopback-mounted from the global zone.

    Do not perform this step to create a whole root zone, which does not have any shared file systems. See the discussion for whole root zones in Disk Space Requirements.

    zonecfg:my-zone> add inherit-pkg-dir
    1. Specify that /opt/sfw in the global zone is to be mounted in read-only mode in the zone being configured.
      zonecfg:my-zone:inherit-pkg-dir> set dir=/opt/sfw

      Note - The zone's packaging database is updated to reflect the packages. These resources cannot be modified or removed after the zone has been installed using zoneadm.


    2. End the inherit-pkg-dir specification.
      zonecfg:my-zone:inherit-pkg-dir> end

    This step can be performed more than once to add more than one shared file system.


    Note - If you want to create a whole root zone but default shared file systems resources have been added by using inherit-pkg-dir, you must remove these default inherit-pkg-dir resources using zonecfg before you install the zone:

    • zonecfg:my-zone> remove inherit-pkg-dir dir=/lib

    • zonecfg:my-zone> remove inherit-pkg-dir dir=/platform

    • zonecfg:my-zone> remove inherit-pkg-dir dir=/sbin

    • zonecfg:my-zone> remove inherit-pkg-dir dir=/usr


  14. (Optional) If you are creating an exclusive-IP zone, set the ip-type.
    zonecfg:my-zone> set ip-type=exclusive

    Note - Only the physical device type will be specified in the add net step.


  15. Add a network interface.
    zonecfg:my-zone> add net
    1. (shared-IP only) Set the IP address for the network interface, 192.168.0.1 in this procedure.
      zonecfg:my-zone:net> set address=192.168.0.1
    2. Set the physical device type for the network interface, the hme device in this procedure.
      zonecfg:my-zone:net> set physical=hme0
    3. (Optional, shared-IP only) Set the default router for the network interface, in this procedure.
      zonecfg:my-zone:net> set defrouter=10.0.0.1
    4. End the specification.
      zonecfg:my-zone:net> end

    This step can be performed more than once to add more than one network interface.

  16. Add a device.
    zonecfg:my-zone> add device
    1. Set the device match, /dev/sound/* in this procedure.
      zonecfg:my-zone:device> set match=/dev/sound/*
    2. End the device specification.
      zonecfg:my-zone:device> end

    This step can be performed more than once to add more than one device.

  17. Add a zone-wide resource control by using the property name.
    zonecfg:my-zone> set max-sem-ids=10485200

    This step can be performed more than once to add more than one resource control.

  18. Add a comment by using the attr resource type.
    zonecfg:my-zone> add attr
    1. Set the name to comment.
      zonecfg:my-zone:attr> set name=comment
    2. Set the type to string.
      zonecfg:my-zone:attr> set type=string
    3. Set the value to a comment that describes the zone.
      zonecfg:my-zone:attr> set value="This is my work zone."
    4. End the attr resource type specification.
      zonecfg:my-zone:attr> end
  19. Verify the zone configuration for the zone.
    zonecfg:my-zone> verify
  20. Commit the zone configuration for the zone.
    zonecfg:my-zone> commit
  21. Exit the zonecfg command.
    zonecfg:my-zone> exit

    Note that even if you did not explicitly type commit at the prompt, a commit is automatically attempted when you type exit or an EOF occurs.

More Information
Using Multiple Subcommands From the Command Line

Tip - The zonecfg command also supports multiple subcommands, quoted and separated by semicolons, from the same shell invocation.

global# zonecfg -z my-zone "create ; set zonepath=/export/home/my-zone"

Where to Go From Here

See Installing and Booting Zones to install your committed zone configuration.

Script to Configure Multiple Zones

You can use this script to configure and boot multiple zones on your system. The script takes the following parameters:

  • The number of zones to be created

  • The zonename prefix

  • The directory to use as the base directory

You must be the global administrator in the global zone to execute the script. The global administrator has superuser privileges in the global zone or assumes the Primary Administrator role.

#!/bin/ksh
#
# Copyright 2006 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All rights reserved.
# Use is subject to license terms.
#
#ident    "%Z%%M%    %I%    %E% SMI"

if [[ -z "$1" || -z "$2" || -z "$3" ]]; then
       echo "usage: $0 <#-of-zones> <zonename-prefix> <basedir>"
       exit 2
fi

if [[ ! -d $3 ]]; then
      echo "$3 is not a directory"
       exit 1
fi

nprocs=`psrinfo | wc -l`
nzones=$1
prefix=$2
dir=$3

ip_addrs_per_if=`ndd /dev/ip ip_addrs_per_if`
if [ $ip_addrs_per_if -lt $nzones ]; then
       echo "ndd parameter ip_addrs_per_if is too low ($ip_addrs_per_if)"
      echo "set it higher with 'ndd -set /dev/ip ip_addrs_per_if <num>"
     exit 1
fi

i=1
while [ $i -le $nzones ]; do
    zoneadm -z $prefix$i list > /dev/null 2>&1
    if [ $? != 0 ]; then
        echo configuring $prefix$i
        F=$dir/$prefix$i.config
        rm -f $F
        echo "create" > $F
        echo "set zonepath=$dir/$prefix$i" >> $F
        zonecfg -z $prefix$i -f $dir/$prefix$i.config 2>&1 | \
            sed 's/^/    /g' 
    else
        echo "skipping $prefix$i, already configured"
    fi
    i=`expr $i + 1`
done

i=1
while [ $i -le $nzones ]; do
    j=1
    while [ $j -le $nprocs ]; do
        if [ $i -le $nzones ]; then
            if [ `zoneadm -z $prefix$i list -p | \
                cut -d':' -f 3` != "configured" ]; then
                echo "skipping $prefix$i, already installed"
            else
                echo installing $prefix$i
                mkdir -pm 0700 $dir/$prefix$i
                chmod 700 $dir/$prefix$i
                zoneadm -z $prefix$i install > /dev/null 2>&1 &
                sleep 1    # spread things out just a tad
            fi
        fi
        i=`expr $i + 1`
        j=`expr $j + 1`
    done
    wait
done

i=1
while [ $i -le $nzones ]; do
    echo setting up sysid for $prefix$i
    cfg=$dir/$prefix$i/root/etc/sysidcfg
    rm -f $cfg
    echo "network_interface=NONE {hostname=$prefix$i}" > $cfg
    echo "system_locale=C" >> $cfg
    echo "terminal=xterms" >> $cfg
    echo "security_policy=NONE" >> $cfg
    echo "name_service=NONE" >> $cfg
    echo "timezone=US/Pacific" >> $cfg
    echo "root_password=Qexr7Y/wzkSbc" >> $cfg  # 'l1a'
    i=`expr $i + 1`
done

i=1
para=`expr $nprocs \* 2`
while [ $i -le $nzones ]; do
    date
    j=1
    while [ $j -le $para ]; do
        if [ $i -le $nzones ]; then
            echo booting $prefix$i
            zoneadm -z $prefix$i boot &
        fi
        j=`expr $j + 1`
        i=`expr $i + 1`
    done
    wait
done

How to Display the Configuration of a Non-Global Zone

You must be the global administrator in the global zone to perform this procedure.

  1. Become superuser, or assume the Primary Administrator role.

    To create the role and assign the role to a user, see Using the Solaris Management Tools With RBAC (Task Map) in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.

  2. Display the configuration of a zone.
    global# zonecfg -z zonename info
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