Unconfiguring Software Applications

Just as some applications are configured using specific information and procedures, some applications are uninstalled and unconfigured using specific procedures. For example, you might remove host-specific information, such as host names, from configuration files to unconfigure an application.

Be sure to unconfigure software applications before you create the Solaris Flash archive. Then, the software stack is generalized and does not contain, for example, host-specific information about the master system.

You might not be able to unconfigure or remove the host-specific information created by an application. In such cases, you cannot use Solaris Flash technology to deploy the application. Some software stores configuration information outside of UNIX file systems. Such software does not always configure correctly on managed hosts that are installed with Solaris Flash archives. An example is Sun Management Center, which stores host-specific information in an Oracle database. Because its host-specific information cannot be removed, Sun Management Center cannot be deployed using the Solaris Flash feature.

Configuration information that is host-specific and instance-specific can be provided at deployment time by using archive parameters and custom JumpStart finish scripts. This is described in Creating a Customizable Solaris Flash Archive.

After you install the Solaris Flash archive on a managed host, some host-specific files are deleted and re-created for the managed host. The installation program uses the sys-unconfig(1M) command and the sysidtool(1M) command to delete and re-create the host-specific network configuration files. The files that are re-created include such files as /etc/hosts, /etc/defaultrouter, and /etc/defaultdomain.

Other Considerations

Do not configure boot environments on the master system by manually using the Solaris Live Upgrade commands lu(1M) and lucreate(1M)). Change Manager uses Solaris Live Upgrade tools to manage boot environments if they are specified in shared profiles and in host properties for managed hosts.

Do not provide runtime data for applications after installation on the master system. For example, do not create user data for a database server or an LDAP server after installing the database management software.

Depending on the application, you might need to provide mechanisms for initializing this data when the managed host first boots.