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Have you ever wanted to experiment with zfs, but didn't have a storage array on hand? No worries - use files instead of disks to build your zfs test configuration.

With this approach, you can construct complex zfs configurations consisting of large numbers of 'pseudo-disks' to test a zfs configuration, recovery scenario, hot sparing, or to familiarize yourself with the zfs feature set - file system creation, snapshots, clones ...

zfs storage pools can be constructed from whole disks, disk slices, or individual files. Use files (created using the 'mkfile' command) to build your zfs mirror, raidz or raidz2 test configurations.

For example, to create a zfs mirror using files instead of devices:
- Create two 100 megabyte files
# (cd /export; mkfile 100m file1 file2)
- Add the files to a zfs pool as a mirrored pair
# zpool create mymirror mirror /export/file1 /export/file2

Similarly for raidz
# (cd /export; mkfile 100m raidz1 raidz2 raidz3)
# zpool create myraidz raidz /export/raidz1 /export/raidz2 /export/raidz3

And raidz2
# (cd /export; mkfile 100m raidz21 raidz22 raidz23 raidz24)
# zpool create myraidz2 raidz2 /export/raidz21 /export/raidz22 /export/raidz23 /export/raidz24

Add a hot spare to raidz2:
# mkfile 100m /export/hotspare
# zpool add myraidz2 spare /export/hotspare

Display your pools
# zpool list
NAME        SIZE   USED  AVAIL    CAP  HEALTH  ALTROOT
mymirror   95.5M   111K  95.4M     0%  ONLINE  -
myraidz     286M   155K   286M     0%  ONLINE  -
myraidz2    382M   288K   382M     0%  ONLINE  -


Enjoy experimenting with zfs !

A Solaris dhcp jumpstart server is a service that should be drop-dead simple to configure, but instead takes a number of steps to complete. I would not expect you to commit dhtadm/pntadm commands to memory, so here comes another pair of automation scripts ...

Overview - dhcp jumpstart configuration can be defined by the following steps:
1. setup install media (the solaris dvd image)
2. setup dhcp and publish ip addresses for your clients
3. run the add_install_client command to set up the rules and sysidcfg details for your client.

1. Setup Install Media
- this is done by running the ./setup_install_server command, which is found in the Solaris*/Tools directory on the dvd/cd media
For example:
# ./setup_install_server /export/nv92
   This installs the solaris media in the /export/nv92 directory on your server.

2. Setup dhcp and publish IP addresses for your clients
- The attached dhcpconfig.sh script is used for this step. Before running this script, you must populate two files with your client mac address and ip address information. The mac addresses are entered in the /etc/ethers file and the hosts in the /etc/hosts file.

For example:
   /etc/hosts:
   10.38.10.74     r41ru34.network.com r41ru34
   10.38.10.75     r41ru35.network.com r41ru35

   /etc/ethers:
   00:1E:68:49:96:98 r41ru34
   00:1E:68:49:9C:A0 r41ru35

Once the host and ether information is entered, setup the dhcp server:
   # dhcpconfig.sh
   Solaris media directory not defined

   dhcpconfig.sh [args]:
     -m <mediadir> directory set with './setup_install_server <directory>' cmd
     [-d domain]   domain name [default=network.com]
     # dhcpconfig.sh -m /export/nv84

3. Add Install Clients

The add_install_client.sh script also uses the /etc/ethers and /etc/hosts files to add the jumpstart profiles for your clients. This step creates the sysidcfg file for your client, using the jumpstart server configuration to define parameters such as timezone, default route, and root password.

   # ./add_install_client.sh
   media directory not defined
   add_install_client.sh [args]
     -m <mediadir> directory set with './setup_install_server <directory>' cmd

   # ./add_install_client.sh -m /export/nv84

   You're done. You can start installing your clients.

Summary:
   # ./setup_install_server <media directory>
   # populate /etc/ethers and /etc/hosts
   # ./dhcpconfig.sh -m <media directory>
   # ./add_install_client.sh -m <media directory>

The dhcpconfig.sh and add_install_client.sh scripts are contained in the attached tar file. I also included a basic jumpstart 'rules' file and 'finish' script. The rules file installs the complete Solaris distribution on the client; the finish script enables root ssh logins. The dhcpjumpstart.tar file will install in the /export/jumpstart directory.

   Hope this helps.

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