This chapter provides system requirements and limitations to assist you when you install a ZFS root pool. Also provided is an overview of the installation programs that can install a ZFS root pool.
If you have multiple boot environments on your system see Chapter 7, SPARC and x86 Based Booting (Overview and Planning) for information on booting.
Starting with the Solaris 10 10/09 release, you can set up a JumpStart profile to identify a flash archive of a ZFS root pool.
A Flash archive can be created on a system that is running a UFS root file system or a ZFS root file system. A Flash archive of a ZFS root pool contains the entire pool hierarchy, except for the swap and dump volumes, and any excluded datasets. The swap and dump volumes are created when the Flash archive is installed.
You can use the Flash archive installation method as follows:
Generate a Flash archive that can be used to install and boot a system with a ZFS root file system.
Perform a JumpStart installation of a system by using a ZFS Flash archive.
Creating a ZFS Flash archive backs up an entire root pool, not individual boot environments. Individual datasets within the pool can be excluded by using the flarcreate and flar command's -D option.
For detailed instructions and limitations, see Installing a ZFS Root File System (Flash Archive Installation) in Solaris ZFS Administration Guide.
Requirement or Limitation |
Description |
Information |
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786 MB is the minimum memory. 1 GB is recommended for overall performance. | ||
Disk space |
The minimum amount of available pool space for a bootable ZFS root file system depends on the amount of physical memory, the disk space available, and the number of boot environments to be created. |
For an explanation, see Disk Space Requirements for a ZFS Installation. |
The ZFS storage pool must be created with slices rather than whole disks to be upgradeable and bootable. |
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When you migrate from a UFS root (/) file system to a ZFS root pool with Solaris Live Upgrade, consider these requirements. |
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Normally, on a system with a UFS root file system, swap and dump are on the same slice. Therefore, UFS shares the swap space with the dump device. In a ZFS root pool, swap and dump are separate zvols, so they do not share the same physical space. When a system is installed or upgraded with a ZFS root file system, the size of the swap area and the dump device are dependent on the amount of physical memory. The minimum amount of available pool space for a bootable ZFS root file system depends on the amount of physical memory, the disk space available, and the number of boot environments to be created. Approximately 1 Gbyte of memory and at least 2 Gbytes of disk space are recommended. The space is consumed as follows:
Swap area and dump device - The default size of swap is 1/2 the size of physical memory, but no less than 512 Mbytes and no greater than 2 Gbytes. The dump device is calculated based on the size of the memory and the contents of the dumpadm.conf file. This file defines what goes into a crash dump. You can adjust the sizes of your swap and device volumes before or after installation. For more information, see Introducing ZFS Properties in Solaris ZFS Administration Guide.
Boot environments - In addition to either new swap and dump space requirements or adjusted swap and dump device sizes, a ZFS boot environment that is migrated from a UFS boot environment needs approximately 6 Gbytes. Each ZFS boot environment that is cloned from another ZFS boot environment does not need additional disk space. However, the boot environment size might increase when patches are applied. All ZFS boot environments in the same root pool use the same swap and dump devices.
The following installation programs perform an initial installation of a ZFS root pool.
Solaris installation program text installer
Custom JumpStart with an installation profile
Solaris Live Upgrade can migrate a UFS file system to a ZFS root pool. Also, Solaris Live Upgrade can create ZFS boot environments that can be upgraded.
Table 6–2 ZFS Installation Programs and Limitations
ZFS Installation Program |
Description |
Limitations |
Information |
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Solaris Installation program text installer |
The Solaris text installer performs an initial installation for a ZFS root pool. During the installation, you can choose to install either a UFS file system or a ZFS root pool. You can set up a mirrored ZFS root pool by selecting two or more slices during the installation. Or, you can attach or add additional disks after the installation to create a mirrored ZFS root pool. Swap and dump devices on ZFS volumes are automatically created in the ZFS root pool. |
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Solaris Live Upgrade |
You can use the Solaris Live Upgrade feature to perform the following tasks:
After you have used the lucreate command to create a ZFS boot environment, you can use the other Solaris Live Upgrade commands on the boot environment. |
A storage pool must be created before you use the lucreate command. | |
JumpStart |
Starting with the Solaris 10 10/09 release, you can set up a JumpStart profile to identify a flash archive of a ZFS root pool. See What's New in the Solaris 10 10/09 Release. You can create a profile to create a ZFS storage pool and designate a bootable ZFS file system. New ZFS keywords provide an initial installation. |
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