Zones on Solaris 10 (4045668)

Date: June 06
NV Version: up to and including 8.5
OS Version: Solaris 10
Application version: N/A
Plugin version: N/A

Description: A quick overview about the new zone model in Solaris 10 and support in NetVault

Recommended reading: http://www.softpanorama.org/Solaris/zones.shtml

Solaris 10 introduced a new model called "zones". Zones are a lightweight Virtual Machine model derived from the FreeBSD concept of "Jails" - different zones contain different process trees which can't interfere with each other. The default zone is the "Global" zone, from which "Local" zones can be spawned. Sun also uses the term "containers", which seems to usually refer to zones with added resource management (thus becoming even more like virtual machines VMWare-style).

As confirmed by Product Management, although we support Solaris 10, we don't specifically support any of the zoning models. Therefore, we are essentially only able to back up the "Global" zone, and even then seem to back up the virtual filesystems mounted underneath that zone (which we shouldn't do). Also, there seems to be an issue with the /system folder as well - try excluding it.

In short: Zones are not supported by any current NetVault version.

Global zone
Is assigned ID 0 by the system
Provides the single instance of the Solaris kernel that is bootable and running on the system
Contains a complete installation of the Solaris system software packages
Can contain additional software packages or additional software, directories, files, and other data not installed through packages
Provides a complete and consistent product database that contains information on all software components installed in the global zone
Holds configuration information specific to the global zone only, such as the global zone host name and file system table
Is the only zone that is aware of all devices and all file systems
Is the only zone with knowledge of non-global zone existence and configuration
Is the only zone from which a non-global zone can be configured, installed, managed, or uninstalled

Local zones
Is assigned a zone ID by the system when the zone is booted
Shares operation under the Solaris kernel booted from the global zone
Contains only a subset of the complete Solaris Operating System software packages
Contains Solaris software packages shared from the global zone
Can contain additional installed software packages, not shared from the global zone
Can contain additional software, directories, files, and other data created on the non-global zone that are not installed through packages or shared from the global zone
Has a complete and consistent product database that contains information on all software components installed on the zone, whether present on the non-global zone or shared read-only from the global zone
Is not aware of the existence of any other zone(s)
Cannot install, manage, or uninstall other zones, including itself
Has configuration information specific to the non-global zone only, such as the non-global zone host name and file system table