Delegating Datasets to a Non-Global Zone

To meet the primary goal of delegating the administration of storage to a zone, ZFS supports adding datasets to a non-global zone through the use of the zonecfg command's add dataset subcommand.

In the following example, a ZFS file system is delegated to a non-global zone by a global zone administrator from the global zone.

# zonecfg -z zion
zonecfg:zion> add dataset
zonecfg:zion:dataset> set name=tank/zone/zion
zonecfg:zion:dataset> end

Unlike adding a file system, this syntax causes the ZFS file system tank/zone/zion to be visible within the already configured zion zone. The zone administrator can set file system properties, as well as create descendent file systems. In addition, the zone administrator can create snapshots and clones, and otherwise control the entire file system hierarchy.

If you are using Oracle Solaris Live Upgrade to upgrade your ZFS BE with non-global zones, first remove any delegated datasets. Otherwise, Oracle Solaris Live Upgrade will fail with a read-only file system error. For example:

zonecfg:zion>
zonecfg:zion> remove dataset name=tank/zone/zion
zonecfg:zion1> exit

For more information about what actions are allowed within zones, see Managing ZFS Properties Within a Zone.