Creating the Image for Directly Migrating Solaris 8 Systems Into Zones

You can use the Flash Archiving tools to create an image of an installed Solaris 8 2/04 system that can be migrated into a zone. If your Solaris 8 system is patched to the latest recommended list and the SUNWinst package is installed, you already have these tools installed.

The image can be fully configured with all of the software that will be run in the zone. This image is used by the installer when the zone is installed.

See Example 5-1 for information on the installer.

How to Use flarcreate to Create the Image

Use this process to create the Solaris 8 2/04 or later system image. This example procedure uses NFS to place the flash archive on the target Solaris 10 system, but you could use any method to move the files.

You must be the global administrator in the global zone to perform this procedure.

1. Become superuser, or assume the Primary Administrator role.
2. Log into the Solaris 8 2/04 or later system to archive.
3. Change directories to the root directory.

   # cd /

4. Use flarcreate to create a flash archive image file named s8-system, and place the archive onto the Solaris 10 system:

   s8-system # flarcreate -S -n s8-system /net/s10system/export/s8-system.flar
   Determining which filesystems will be included in the archive...
   Creating the archive...
   cpio: File size of "etc/mnttab" has
   increased by 435
   2068650 blocks
   1 error(s)
   Archive creation complete.

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   Tip - In some cases, flarcreate can display errors from cpio. Most commonly, these are messages such as File size of etc/mnttab has increased by 33. When these messages pertain to log files or files that reflect system state, they can be ignored. Be sure to review all error messages thoroughly.

   ---

Other Archive Creation Methods

You can use alternate methods for creating the archive. The installer can accept the following archive formats:

• cpio archives

• gzip compressed cpio archives

• bzip2 compressed cpio archives

• pax archives created with the -x xustar (XUSTAR) format

• ufsdump level zero (full) backups

Additionally, the installer can accept a directory of files created by using an archiving utility that saves and restores file permissions, ownership, and links.

For more information, see the cpio(1), pax(1), bzip2(1), gzip(1), and ufsdump(1M) man pages.