Migrating an lx Branded Zone to a Different Machine
You can do a trial run of a zone migration before you
actually move the zone to a different machine. For more information, see About Validating a Zone Migration Before the Migration Is Performed.
Note that the trial run does not validate the processor type, so
you must verify that the target machine is running a supported processor.
About Migrating an lx Branded Zone
The zonecfg and zoneadm commands can be used to migrate an existing
non-global zone from one system to another. The zone is halted and detached
from its current host. The zonepath is moved to the target host, where
it is attached.
The following requirements apply to lx branded zone migration:
The global zone on the target system must be running the same Solaris release as the original host.
To ensure that the zone will run properly, the target system must have the same versions of the required operating system packages and patches that were installed on the original host.
The brand must be the same on the original host and on the target system.
The target system must have one of the following supported i686 processor types:
Intel
Pentium Pro
Pentium II
Pentium III
Celeron
Xeon
Pentium 4
Pentium M
Pentium D
Pentium Extreme Edition
Core
Core 2
AMD
Opteron
Athlon XP
Athlon 64
Athlon 64 X2
Athlon FX
Duron
Sempron
Turion 64
Turion 64 X2
The zoneadm detach process creates the information necessary to attach the zone on
a different system. The zoneadm attach process verifies that the target machine has
the correct configuration to host the zone. Because there are several ways to
make the zonepath available on the new host, the actual movement of the
zonepath from one system to another is a manual process that is performed
by the global administrator.
When attached to the new system, the zone is in the installed
state.
How to Migrate an lx Branded Zone
- 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.
- Halt the zone to be migrated, lx-zone in this procedure.
host1# zoneadm -z lx-zone halt
- Detach the zone.
host1# zoneadm -z lx-zone detach
The detached zone is now in the configured state.
- Move the zonepath for lx-zone to the new host.
See How to Move the zonepath to a new Host for more information.
- On the new host, configure the zone.
host2# zonecfg -z lx-zone
You will see the following system message:
lx-zone: No such zone configured
Use 'create' to begin configuring a new zone.
- To create the zone lx-zone on the new host, use the zonecfg command
with the -a option and the zonepath on the new host.
zonecfg:lx-zone> create -a /export/zones/lx-zone
- View the configuration.
zonecfg:lx-zone> info
zonename: lx-zone
zonepath: /export/zones/lx-zone
brand: lx
autoboot: false
bootargs:
pool:
limitpriv:
net:
address: 192.168.0.90
physical: bge0
- (Optional) Make any required adjustments to the configuration.
For example, the network physical device might be different on the new host,
or devices that are part of the configuration might have different names on
the new host.
zonecfg:lx-zone> select net physical=bge0
zonecfg:lx-zone:net> set physical=e1000g0
zonecfg:lx-zone:net> end
- Commit the configuration and exit.
zonecfg:lx-zone> commit
zonecfg:lx-zone> exit
- Attach the zone on the new host.
- Attach the zone with a validation check.
host2# zoneadm -z lx-zone attach
The system administrator is notified of required actions to be taken if either
or both of the following conditions are present:
- Force the attach operation without performing the validation.
host2# zoneadm -z lx-zone attach -F
Caution - The -F option allows you to force the attach with no validation
performed. This is useful in certain cases, such as in a clustered environment
or for backup and restore operations, but it does require that the system
be properly configured to host the zone. An incorrect configuration could result in
undefined behavior later.
How to Move the zonepath to a new Host
There are many ways to create an archive of the zonepath. For example,
you can use the cpio or pax commands described in the cpio(1)) and pax(1)
man pages.
There are also several ways to transfer the archive to the new
host. The mechanism used to transfer the zonepath from the source host to the
destination depends on the local configuration. In some cases, such as a SAN,
the zonepath data might not actually move. The SAN might simply be reconfigured
so the zonepath is visible on the new host. In other cases,
the zonepath might be written to tape, and the tape mailed to a
new site.
For these reasons, this step is not automated. The system administrator must choose
the most appropriate technique to move the zonepath to the new host.
- 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.
- Move the zonepath to the new host. You can use the method described
in this procedure, or use another method of your choice.
Example 35-1 Archiving and Moving the
zonepath Using the
tar Command
Create a tar file of the zonepath on host1 and transfer it to host2 by using the sftp command.
host1# cd /export/zones
host1# tar cf lx-zone.tar lx-zone
host1# sftp host2
Connecting to host2...
Password:
sftp> cd /export/zones
sftp> put lx-zone.tar
Uploading lx-zone.tar to /export/zones/lx-zone.tar
sftp> quit
On host2, unpack the tar file.
host2# cd /export/zones
host2# tar xf lx-zone.tar
For more information, see sftp(1) and tar(1).
Troubleshooting
See Resolving Problems With a zoneadm attach Operation for troubleshooting information on the following:
The user must verify that the processor type in the new machine
is supported. See About Migrating an lx Branded Zone for more information.
About Validating an lx Branded Zone Migration Before the Migration Is Performed
You can perform a trial run before the zone is moved to the
new machine by using the “no execute” option, -n.
The zoneadm detach subcommand is used with the -n option to generate a
manifest on a running zone without actually detaching the zone. The state of
the zone on the originating system is not changed. The zone manifest is
sent to stdout. The global administrator can direct this output to a file
or pipe it to a remote command to be immediately validated on the
target host. The zoneadm attach subcommand is used with the -n option to
read this manifest and verify that the target machine has the correct
configuration to host the zone without actually doing an attach.
The zone on the target system does not have to be configured on
the new host before doing a trial-run attach.
How to Validate an lx Branded Zone Migration Before the Migration Is Performed
You must be the global administrator in the global zone to perform
this procedure.
- 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.
- Use one of the following methods.
- Generate the manifest on a source host named lx-zone and pipe the output
to a remote command that will immediately validate the target host:
global# zoneadm -z lx-zone detach -n | ssh remotehost zoneadm attach -n -
The hyphen (—) at the end of the line specifies stdin for
the path.
- Generate the manifest on a source host named lx-zone and direct the output
to a file:
global# zoneadm -z lx-zone detach -n
Copy the manifest to the new host system as described in How to Move the zonepath to a new Host, and perform the validation:
global# zoneadm attach -n path_to_manifest
The path can be — to specify stdin.
