Solaris 10 10/09 Installation Guide: Solaris Flash Archives (Creation and Installation)

Creating a Solaris Flash Archive (Examples)

File systems can be copied exactly or can be customized by excluding some directories or files. You can achieve the same results by using different options. Use the options that best suit your environment.

The file systems in the following examples have been greatly simplified for clarification. Rather than use file system names such as /var, /usr, or /opt, the master system file structure for these examples is the following:


/aaa/bbb/ccc/ddd
/aaa/bbb/fff
/aaa/eee
/ggg

Caution – Caution –

Use the flarcreate file-exclusion options with caution. If you exclude some directories, others that you were unaware of might be left in the archive, such as system configuration files. The system would then be inconsistent and the installation would not work. Excluding directories and files is best used with data that can easily be removed without disrupting the system, such as large data files.


Creating a Solaris Flash Archive (Various Examples)


Example 3–6 Creating an Exact Duplicate Archive

In this example, the archive is named archive1. This archive is copied exactly from the master system and then compressed. The archive is an exact duplicate of the master system and is stored in archive1.flar.


# flarcreate -n archive1 -c archive1.flar

To check the file structure of the archive, type the following.


# flar info -l archive1.flarlost+found
export
export/home
export/home/lost+found
var
var/sadm
var/sadm/install
var/sadm/install/admin
var/sadm/install/admin/default
var/sadm/install/logs
var/sadm/install/contents
var/sadm/install/.lockfile
var/sadm/install/.pkg.lock
var/sadm/pkg
var/sadm/pkg/SUNWocfd
var/sadm/pkg/SUNWocfd/install
var/sadm/pkg/SUNWocfd/install/copyright
var/sadm/pkg/SUNWocfd/save
var/sadm/pkg/SUNWocfd/save/pspool
var/sadm/pkg/SUNWocfd/save/pspool/SUNWocfd
.....
.....
    usr/bin/sparcv7
usr/bin/sparcv7/savecore
usr/bin/sparcv7/gcore
....
....
usr/lib/diff3prog
usr/lib/madv.so.1
usr/lib/mpss.so.1
usr/lib/cpu
usr/lib/cpu/sparcv8plus
....
....
devices/pseudo/udp6@0:udp6
devices/pseudo/udp@0:udp
devices/pseudo/tcp@0:tcp
devices/pseudo/iwscn@0:iwscn
devices/pseudo/wc@0:wscons
devices/pseudo/tcp6@0:tcp6
devices/pseudo/sctp6@0:sctp6
var/fm/fmd/ckpt
var/fm/fmd/rsrc
kernel/drv/st.conf
kernel/drv/st.conf
kernel/drv/st.conf
kernel/drv/st.conf
#


Example 3–7 Creating an Archive That Contains Large Files

In this example, some individual files are greater than 4 Gbytes. The default archiving utility, cpio, cannot handle these large files. The -L pax copy method is used to create an archive that contains large individual files. The archive is named archive1. This archive is copied exactly from the master system and then compressed. The archive is an exact duplicate of the master system and is stored in archive1.flar.


# flarcreate -L pax -n archive1 -c archive1.flar

To check the file structure of the archive, type the following.


# flar info -l archive1.flar
aaa
aaa/bbb
aaa/bbb/ccc
aaa/bbb/ccc/ddd
aaa/bbb/fff
aaa/eee
aaa/eee
ggg


Example 3–8 Creating an Archive From an Alternate root (/) File System

In this example, the archive is named archive4. This archive is copied exactly from the master system and then compressed. The archive is an exact duplicate of the master system and is stored in archive4.flar. The -R option is used to create the archive from another directory tree.


# flarcreate -n archive4 -c -R /x/yy/zz archive4.flar


Example 3–9 Creating an Archive and Adding Keywords to Describe the Archive

In this example, the archive is named archive3. This archive is copied exactly from the master system and then compressed. Options add descriptions to the archive-identification section, which can help you to identify the archive later. For information about keywords, their values, and formats, see Solaris Flash Keywords.


# flarcreate -n archive3 -i 20000131221409 -m pumbaa \
 -e "Solaris 8 Print Server" -a "Mighty Matt" -U "Internal Finance" \
 -T server archive3.flar 

After the archive is created, you can access the archive identification section that contains the detailed description. An example of an archive identification section follows.


section_begin=identification
     files_archived_method=cpio
     files_compressed_method=compress
     files_archived_size=259323342
     files_unarchived_size=591238111
     creation_date=20000131221409
     creation_master=pumbaa
     content_name=Finance Print Server
     content_type=server
     content_description=Solaris 8 Print Server
     content_author=Mighty Matt
     content_architectures=sun4u
     creation_node=pumbaa
     creation_hardware_class=sun4u
     creation_platform=SUNW,Sun-Fire
     creation_processor=sparc
     creation_release=5.9
     creation_os_name=SunOS
     creation_os_version=s81_49
     x-department=Internal Finance

Creating a Solaris Flash Archive and Customizing Files (Examples)


Example 3–10 Creating an Archive and Excluding and Including Files and Directories

In this example, the archive is named archive2. This archive is copied from the master system but is not an exact copy. The content under the /aaa directory is excluded, but the content in /aaa/bbb/ccc remains.


# flarcreate -n archive2 -x /aaa -y /aaa/bbb/ccc  archive2.flar

To check the file structure of the archive, type the following. The excluded directories that include copied files appear, but only the files that were restored contain data.


# flar info -l aaa
aaa
aaa/bbb/ccc
aaa/bbb/ccc/ddd
aaa/bbb
ggg


Example 3–11 Creating an Archive Excluding and Including Files and Directories by Using Lists

In this example, the archive is named archive5. This archive is copied from the master system but is not an exact copy.

The exclude file contains the following list:


/aaa

The include file contains the following list:


/aaa/bbb/ccc

The content under the /aaa directory is excluded, but the content in /aaa/bbb/ccc remains.


# flarcreate -n archive5 -X exclude -f include  archive5.flar

To check about the file structure of the archive, type the following. The excluded directories that include copied files appear, but only the files that were restored contain data.


# flar info -l archive5.flar
aaa
aaa/bbb/ccc
aaa/bbb/ccc/ddd
aaa/bbb
ggg


Example 3–12 Creating an Archive Excluding Files and Directories by Using a List and Restoring a Directory

You can combine options -x, -y, -X and -f. In this example, options -X and -y are combined. The archive is named archive5. This archive is copied from the master system but is not an exact copy.

The exclude file contains the following list:


/aaa

The -y option restores the /aaa/bbb/ccc directory. The following command produces the archive.


# flarcreate -n archive5 -X exclude -y /aaa/bbb/ccc  archive5.flar

To check about the file structure of the archive, type the following. The excluded directories that include copied files appear, but only the files that were restored contain data.


# flar info -l archive5.flar
aaa
aaa/bbb
aaa/bbb/ccc
aaa/bbb/ccc/ddd
ggg


Example 3–13 Creating an Archive Excluding and Including Files and Directories by Using a List With the -z Option

In this example, the archive is named archive3. It is copied from the master system but is not an exact copy. The files and directories to be selected are included in filter1 file. Within the files, the directories are marked with a minus (-) or a plus (+) to indicate which files to exclude and restore. In this example, the directory /aaa is excluded with a minus and the subdirectory /aaa/bbb/ccc is restored with a plus. The filter1 file contains the following list.


- /aaa
+ /aaa/bbb/ccc

The following command produces the archive.


# flarcreate -n archive3 -z filter1 archive3.flar 

To check the file structure of the archive, type the following command. The excluded directories that include copied files appear, but only the files that were restored contain data.


# flar info -l archive3.flar
aaa
aaa/bbb
aaa/bbb/ccc
aaa/bbb/ccc/ddd
ggg