Sun Connection Sun Connection

I would just like to share some interesting things one can do with various tools to accomplish the moving of zones. First I need to talk a little bit about the terminology. We have Zone Migration and Zone Move, which in then accomplishes the same result but it is handled and performed differently. One assumption that I am making through out this article is that the zones are running on a exclusive drive or network LUN.

Zone Migration:  
This copies all files from the given Zone to a new host machine. Once all the data is there it will shutdown the first Zone and then startup the new one. Hence, the zone has moved, by copying all the data. This example does not need to have a shared storage, since the data would be copied over the network.

Zone Move:   
This in essence shuts down the zone, unmount the disk, re-mount on a new host, zone attach and then start it up. This in the end also performs the same as Zone Migration, except it is the very same data that is being re-used.

 

Now that this is all cleared up, so what tools or solutions exists to perform all of this?

• The first one to mention is of course Sun Management Center with the Solaris Container Manager module. This can perform Zone Migration. It can also perform Zone Moving. Some of these features requires a specific version of Solaris 10 of course.
  
  


• One which seems a bit overkill but works nicely is Solaris Cluster. One can easily cluster a zone, and then this zone can be started on various nodes when so wanted. This would then complete a Zone Move every time.
  
  


• Another solution is the N1AA. In the name it says SAP, but can be really be used for a lot more. It is running N1SPS under the covers with a nice front end for all the operational tasks. This solution also supports zone moving. The solution was of course made primarily for SAP, but as I mentioned, it can be used creatively for more things and applications thanks to the GDS feature.
  
  


• We have a partner that created something called; VDCF, which is a local Swiss solution via a partner called Jomasoft, but performs all of this as well with a command line interface. It can do a lot more than just moving of zones, but it is one of the examples.
  
  

I am sure that there are a lot more solutions out there to accomplish this, but this is just a hint of what is possible.

Registering Your Gear in the Disconnected Mode

This Tech Tip explains how to register your hardware and software, or gear, with the Sun
Connection Inventory Channel from within a disconnected or protected network where Internet,
or cross-intranet connections, are not allowed for security and compliance reasons.

Introduction

The procedure for registering your gear in a disconnected network is similar
to that for a connected network. The difference is that for a
disconnected network there is an extra step (or two extra steps for
the client CD) to download the Sun Connection Product Registration Manager to
run as a client application and collect the data. The client application can
be either downloaded to run on a laptop computer, or as a
Java Archive (JAR) file to be burned onto a CD-ROM disk as
described below.

• The laptop would have the client loaded, be connected to the secure
  network to collect the data, and then be reconnected to a public
  network to communicate with Sun.

• The client CD would be installed on a machine in the secure network
  to collect the data and be used to burn a data CD that would then be
  transferred to a machine on a public network to communicate with Sun.

Either of these options can enable gear registration on a secure network.

Note - To ensure that you always have the latest version of the application
with access to the most up-to-date features, you should download the Sun
Connection Product Registration Manager to run as a client application on a
laptop computer. (A web-based client application only persists for that “session,” so you
always have the most recent and up-to-date client application. Whereas, a JAR
client remains persistent so you must remember to periodically refresh the JAR
application within the public network.) However, the web-based client option will not
work in protected networks that require the vetting of data before it enters
or leaves. In this case, you will need to download the JAR
file onto a CD.

To Download the Sun Connection Product Registration Manager for Use With a Laptop Computer

1. Access the Sun Connection Inventory Channel with a laptop or external computer.
2. Click the Discover Now button from Step 2.
   

   The live version of the Sun Connection Product Registration Manager is displayed.

   
   

   Note - Once the Sun Connection Product Registration Manager is running on a laptop
   computer, it can be moved from network to network by physically changing
   the network connections.

3. Physically disconnect the laptop from the Internet and connect it to your
   secure network.
   

   You are now ready to use the Sun Connection Product Registration Manager
   client.

To Download the Sun Connection Product Registration Manager as a JAR File for Use With a CD or DVD

1. Access https://sunconnection.sun.com/RegistrationClient/regclient.jar with a laptop or external computer.
2. Choose Save to disk in the popup menu and provide a convenient
   directory for the file.
3. Copy the file onto portable media.
4. (Optional) Perform any desired vetting or certification of the file.
5. Install the media in a device on your secure network.
6. Run the JAR file by one of the following methods:
   

   • Access it from your browser.

   • Issue the java —jar regclient.jar command in a terminal window.

   You are now ready to use the Sun Connection Product Registration Manager
   client.

To Discover Your Gear

Once you have the Sun Connection Product Registration Manager client running on
your protected network, you will use it to perform a discovery of
your Sun products. The discovery record will then be transferred to a
public network to be uploaded to Sun for registration.

1. On the first screen of the Sun Connection Product Registration Manager client
   (Locate Product Data), select the Locate Products on Local Subnet: xxx.xxx.x radio
   button and click Next.
   

   Typically, with a protected network you will scan only the local subnet.
   

   
   

   When the discovery completes, a product registration screen with a list of
   your Sun products is displayed.

2. Save the record of discovered gear by doing one of the following:
   

   • Click the Save As button and save the record of discovered gear to a
     convenient location on the laptop's hard drive. Then relocate your
     laptop computer to a public network to continue the registration
     process.

   • Click the Save As button to save the record of discovered gear to storage media.

     Once the record of discovered gear is cleared to leave the protected
     network, you can load the media onto a machine on a public network to
     continue the registration process.

   Note - All saved information is in a clearly manageable XML format and you
   can scrub any data you do not wish exposed (for example, host
   names) before that data leaves the protected network.

   
   

   Note - The remaining instructions are for the reconnected laptop computer or for another
   machine with the newly loaded media that contains the record of discovered
   gear.

3. Access the Sun Connection Inventory Channel at https://sunconnection.sun.com/inventory/.

4. Click the Discover Now button from Step 2.
   

   The live version of the Sun Connection Product Registration Manager is displayed.

5. Click the Locate Products on Other Subnets, Specific Systems or Load Previously
   Saved Data button.
   

   A number of new check boxes are displayed on the screen.

6. Select the File Name check box.

7. Click the Browse button and complete the path to the media or
   hard drive location that has the record of discovered gear, and click
   Next.

8. Click Next.
   

   The Enter Sun Online Account Information screen is displayed.

9. Enter your Sun Online Account (SOA) information by completing the appropriate choice:
   

   • Click I already have a Sun Online Account. Then type your user name and password.

   • Click I don't have a Sun Online Account. Sign me up! Then use the wizard to establish an SOA.

   
   

10. If you have multiple teams, select the team to which you want to register your gear.

11. Click Next to log in and bring up a screen that allows
    you to register your gear with Sun.
    

    After logging in, the Sun Connection Product Registration Manager contacts Sun to
    retrieve the registration state of each of the pieces of gear in
    your list.

    1. Choose to register some or all of the products by selecting the
       check boxes in the far right column.
    2. (Optional) Enter any desired gear tag information in the Description column for a
       selected service tag.
    3. (Optional) Click Show me all data that will be uploaded to Sun connection.
       

       You can view the entire XML content that will be transmitted back
       to Sun.

    4. Click View Terms of Use and select the check box if you
       agree.
    5. Click Next to register your gear with Sun.
       

       A Registration Complete screen is displayed.

    
    

    That's it! Now you can use the Sun Connection Inventory Channel to view, organize, and manage your gear.

More Information

For more information about Sun Connection, go to the Sun Connection information hub.

To get an inside perspective of Sun Connection, Sun Management Center software,
Sun N1 Service Provisioning System, and Sun N1 System Manager, visit the
Sun Connection blog. Contributors to this blog include members of the Sun Connection Field Enablement
team. The goal of this blog is to share information with customers
who either have already implemented or will implement these products in the
future. The blog also provides important information about training and other key
enablement activities.

What's New in Sun MC 4.0

Sun MC 4.0 software provides comprehensive monitoring and managing capabilities for Sun hardware
and software products in an enterprise. This release is focused around providing better
user experience, an improved and simplified installation experience, removing the dependency on proprietary
databases, a seamless experience on SPARC and x86 hardware, and detailed hardware monitoring of x86/x64 flagship Sun hardware.

This article explores some of these new features and enhancements available in the
Sun MC 4.0 release relating to administrative ease and flexibility.

The features and enhancements introduced in Sun MC 4.0 are:

• Generic Config Reader for x86/x64

• Sun MC console using Java Web Start

• x86 server layer support and installer enhancements

• Service tags

• New integrated browser interface

• Solaris Container Management enhancements

• Database migration

Generic Config Reader for x86/x64

Sun MC 4.0 release contains a new standards-oriented configuration reader for Sun x86/x64
hardware. This feature provides monitoring and threshold support for a large number of
Sun x86/x64 servers. The Config Reader is an independent Sun MC agent module
that helps in monitoring power and chassis status, and sensor information such as
temperature, voltage, fan rpm, and LED status.

This module is dependent on the availability of the IPMI tool, which must
have the right interfaces implemented. In the absence of the required interfaces, the
x86 Config Reader add-on output provides the older version output that was released
with Sun MC 3.6.1.

Sun MC Console Using Java Web Start

The Sun MC 4.0 Java Console is launched with Java Web Start through web
browsers. The Java Web Start console is enabled through a script that is
invoked during the current web console setup.

To use the Java Web Start based Sun MC Java console, type
the following address in the browser:

http://server-name:http-port/smconsole.jnlp

where server-name is the name of the server and http-port is the port number.

x86 Server Layer Support and Installer Enhancements

The enhanced installer installs the Sun MC server layer on x86 hardware as
well as the SPARC platform. It facilitates migration from Sun MC 3.6
and Sun MC 3.6.1 to Sun MC 4.0 through a handsfree installation. Installation also
validates the database version, Sun Web Start console version, and Java version.

The x86 server layer is available on the Solaris 10 11/06 release. The Agent
layer is available beginning with the Solaris 8 release.

Service Tags

Sun MC 4.0 supports the service tags utility. Service tags provide a common
network-based discovery capability to their products. Sun MC server implements Service Tag Registration
interfaces that enable Sun Connection to retrieve the field deployment information about the
Sun MC server and agents and send it back to Sun. These service
tags encapsulate information such as the types of agent, add-ons deployed, server instance,
and the like.

New Integrated Browser Interface

The user interface for Sun MC 4.0 is integrated with the new
Solaris Container Manager 4.0 through a common Sun web console user interface. As a
result, the Container Manager user interface is not available as a separate web
console. This functionality is available as the Manage Solaris Containers tab in the
Sun MC integrated web application. This integration enables smoother integration between the Container
Manager and the Sun MC software.

Solaris Container Manager Enhancements

The Solaris Container Manager 4.0 release delivers a host of new enhancements and
features in the areas of zone management and user interface. Solaris Container Manager
4.0 extends the Solaris Container Manager 3.6.1 framework to support the new zone
management additions in the Solaris 10 OS. The new zone management enhancements for this release
are:

• Branded Zone (BrandZ) lifecycle management.

  Solaris Container Manager 4.0 enables users to manage branded zones.
  A branded zone is a special zone that can host operating systems other
  than the Solaris OS. Currently, Solaris Container Manager 4.0 supports
  Linux as its guest operating system. All brand management is performed
  through extensions to the current zones structure.

• Capped memory resource configuration management.

  Solaris Container Manager enables system administrators to control
  the resident set size for a zone. You can configure the following
  resources:

  
  

  • The maximum resident set size for a zone

  • The maximum system swap memory that can be reversed by a zone

  • The maximum locked memory that can be used by processes in a zone

  
  

• Dedicated CPU resource management.

  Solaris Container Manager 4.0 enables you to specify the number of
  CPUs to be dedicated to the zone. This option appears during zone
  creation. Users can specify dedicated CPUs in terms of a specific
  range. For example, for a range of 1-3, 1 and 3 indicate the minimum
  and maximum number of dedicated CPUs. If a dedicated CPU resource is
  configured for the zone, once the zone boots, the zoneadmd command enables
  pools if necessary and creates a temporary pool dedicated for the
  zone's use. The specified number of CPUs are acquired dynamically when
  the zone is booted up and are relinquished when the zone is shut down.
  Once the dedicated CPUs are specified, the user is not allowed to
  specify the CPU shares.

• Managing other resources such as shared memory limit and scheduling class for zone.

  Solaris Container Manager 4.0 enables the user to select a
  scheduling class during zone creation on the Solaris 10 8/07 OS. If the
  CPU shares are specified, the class is automatically set to FSS in the
  wizard. If dedicated CPUs have been specified, the user is not allowed
  to specify the CPU shares.

  The user can also specify a limit during zone creation as well as while changing the zone configuration.

  The zone creation wizard in Solaris Container Manager 4.0 has also
  been enhanced to accept generic attributes that were not available in
  earlier releases.

• Persistent zone configuration for the global zone.

  In Solaris Container Manager 4.0, various zone resources can be
  assigned to the global zone that persist across reboots. Container
  Manager enables the users to perform the following tasks:

  
  

  • Specify CPU shares for the global zone

  • Specify dedicated CPUs for the global zone

  • Specify capped memory resource configurator for the global zone

  • Specify maximum shared memory

  • Change the pool for the global zone

  
  

Database Migration

The Sun MC server layer requires extensive database usage of persistent data for
operational and reporting purposes. Sun MC 4.0 now supports the Postgres database system,
replacing the ORACLE 8.1 database that was supported by all previous Sun MC
products.

Using the Postgres database improves query performance because the partitioning feature is in
the form of inherited tables. Because the Performance Reporting Manager requires the database
to efficiently store and manage large tables, Postgres is an ideal option. Other
benefits of using Postgres as a database are:

• New command for bulk uploads.

  The Postgres COPY command enables bulk uploads from a text or csv
  file. Performance Reporting Manager requires this feature to
  efficiently insert multiple rows into a database. In earlier releases,
  PRO-C code was used to perform similar operations, which was more
  difficult to maintain.

• Autovacuum feature.

  The Postgres autovacuum feature enables automated clean-up of blocks
  belonging to deleted data. This feature also analyzes the tables so
  that the latest table and index statistics are available for the
  database optimizer. This feature improves query performance.

• Allows soft links.

  Postgres uses soft links for tablespace management, which enables
  tablespaces to span across filesystems. Also, moving a tablespace does
  not require complex database operations because the soft link points to
  the right location.

• Archive mode.

  Postgres supports archive logging, which is a Sun MC supported feature.

References

For additional information, refer to the following documentation:

• For more information on installing, configuring, and uninstalling Sun MC, see Sun Management Center 4.0 Installation and Configuration Guide.

• For Sun MC 3.6.x documents, see http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/coll/810.8.

• For other Sun MC 4.0 documents, see http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/coll/1734.1.

Also, refer to the following resources:

• Support:

  
  
  • Sun Services and Solutions
  • SunSolve Online
  
  

• Developer Forums: Look under "Administration Tools - Sun Management Center"