Out of Sync: Maddy's Blog

One of the coolest features in Solaris in my opinion is the "zoned" property of the ZFS. 

What does it do?

ZFS datasets can be exported to non-global zones using the "add dataset" property in zonecfg command. Now the user in the non-global zone may set setuid/symbolic links which are o.k. inside the non-global zone but not acceptable in global zone.  So zfs sets the "zoned" property automatically once the dataset is delegated to the non-global zone.   It doesn't get cleared automatically once you remove the delegation.  It has to be manually removed. If the property is not set off, sharing and other operations don't succeed on the global zone!

bash-3.00# zonecfg -z sparse-zone
zonecfg:sparse-zone> add dataset
zonecfg:sparse-zone:dataset> set name=test/testfs
zonecfg:sparse-zone:dataset> end
zonecfg:sparse-zone> exit
bash-3.00# zoneadm -z sparse-zone reboot
bash-3.00# zlogin sparse-zone
[Connected to zone 'sparse-zone' pts/1]
Last login: Tue Nov  3 00:09:04 on pts/1
Sun Microsystems Inc.   SunOS 5.10      Generic January 2005
# bash
bash-3.00# zfs list
NAME          USED  AVAIL  REFER  MOUNTPOINT
test          122K  19.6G    23K  /test
test/testfs    22K  19.6G    22K  /global/test
bash-3.00# exit
exit
# exit

[Connection to zone 'sparse-zone' pts/1 closed]
bash-3.00# zonecfg -z sparse-zone
zonecfg:sparse-zone> remove dataset
zonecfg:sparse-zone> exit
bash-3.00# zoneadm -z sparse-zone reboot
bash-3.00# zlogin sparse-zone
[Connected to zone 'sparse-zone' pts/1]
Last login: Tue Nov  3 01:58:01 on pts/1
Sun Microsystems Inc.   SunOS 5.10      Generic January 2005
# bash
bash-3.00# zfs list
no datasets available
bash-3.00# exit
# ^D
[Connection to zone 'sparse-zone' pts/1 closed]
bash-3.00# zfs sharenfs=on test/testfs
cannot set property for 'test/testfs': 'sharenfs' cannot be set on dataset in a non-global zone
bash-3.00# zfs set zoned=off test/testfs
bash-3.00# zfs sharenfs=on test/testfs
bash-3.00# dfshares
RESOURCE                                  SERVER ACCESS    TRANSPORT
   xxxxx:/global/test                  xxxxx  -         -

Really

"Addressing Virtualization and High-Availability Needs with Sun Solaris Cluster", a white paper written by IDC analyst, Jean Bozman, is now available!

https://www.sun.com/offers/details/high_availability_solaris_cluster.xml

You will find from the paper:
- Businesses' High Availability needs in the Virtualized IT Environment and how Solaris Cluster addresses these requirements.
- Why Virtualization Software and High Availability Software are being used to protect applications
- Worldwide Availability and Clustering Software Revenue, 2008-2013
- Integration of High Availability and Virtualization Use Cases
- Solaris Cluster Customer Snapshots

Latest qualification for Solaris Cluster agents:

* The HA Oracle agent is now supported in Zone Clusters

* The HA MySQL agent now supports upto MySQL version  5.0.85

The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games has deployed Solaris Cluster 3.2 for mission critical systems. The Winter Olympics attracts lots of visitors both online and in the real world and hence it is no small matter for a product to be selected!  You can read the details at www.sun.com/customers/servers/vanoc.xml.

To know more about  Solaris Cluster visit www.sun.com/software/cluster.