After the Solaris OS is installed, you can install and configure non-global zones. You can upgrade the Solaris OS when non-global zones are installed. If you have branded non-global zones installed, they are ignored during the upgrade process. Installation programs that can accommodate systems that have non-global zones installed are summarized below.
Starting with the Solaris 10 10/09 release, zones parallel patching enhances the standard Solaris 10 patch utilities. This feature improves zones patching performance by patching non-global zones in parallel.
The global zone is still patched before the non-global zones are patched.
For releases prior to the Solaris 10 10/09 release, this feature is delivered in the following patch utilities patches:
SPARC: patch 119254-66 or later revision
x86: patch 119255-66 or later revision
For more information, see the following documentation:
Upgrade Program |
Description |
For More Information |
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Solaris Live Upgrade |
You can upgrade or patch a system that contains non-global zones. If you have a system that contains non-global zones, Solaris Live Upgrade is the recommended upgrade program or program to add patches. Other upgrade programs might require extensive upgrade time, because the time required to complete the upgrade increases linearly with the number of installed non-global zones. If you are patching a system with Solaris Live Upgrade, you do not have to take the system to single-user mode and you can maximize your system's uptime. Starting with the Solaris 10 8/07 release, changes to accommodate systems that have non-global zones installed are the following:
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Solaris Live Upgrade continued |
Note – By default, any file system other than the critical file systems (root (/), /usr, and /opt file systems) is shared between the current and new boot environments. Updating shared files in the active boot environment also updates data in the inactive boot environment. The /export file system is an example of a shared file system. If you use the -m option and the zonename option, the non-global zone's shared file system is copied to a separate slice and data is not shared. This option prevents non-global zone file systems that were created with the zonecfg add fs command from being shared between the boot environments. Additional changes, starting with the Solaris 10/8/07 release, that accommodate systems with non-global zones installed include the following:
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Solaris interactive installation program GUI |
You can upgrade or patch a system when non-global zones are installed. The time to upgrade or patch might be extensive, depending on the number of non-global zones that are installed. |
For more information about installing with this program, see Chapter 2, Installing With the Solaris Installation Program For UFS File Systems (Tasks), in Solaris 10 10/09 Installation Guide: Basic Installations. |
Automated JumpStart installation |
You can upgrade or patch with any keyword that applies to an upgrade or patching. The time to upgrade or patch might be extensive, depending on the number of non-global zones that are installed. |
For more information about installing with this program, see Solaris 10 10/09 Installation Guide: Custom JumpStart and Advanced Installations. |
Limitations when upgrading with non-global zones are listed in the following table.
Table 8–2 Limitations When Upgrading With Non-Global Zones
Program or Condition |
Description |
For More Information |
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Consider these issues when using Solaris Live Upgrade on a system with zones installed. It is critical to avoid zone state transitions during lucreate and lumount operations. |
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Problems can occur when the global zone administrator does not notify the non-global zone administrator of an upgrade with Solaris Live Upgrade. |
When Solaris Live Upgrade operations are underway, non-global zone administrator involvement is critical. The upgrade affects the work of the administrators, who will be addressing the changes that occur as a result of the upgrade. Zone administrators should ensure that any local packages are stable throughout the sequence, handle any post-upgrade tasks such as configuration file adjustments, and generally schedule around the system outage. For example, if a non-global zone administrator adds a package while the global zone administrator is copying the file systems with the lucreate command, the new package is not copied with the file systems and the non-global zone administrator is unaware of the problem. | |
Solaris Flash archives cannot be used with non-global zones. |
A Solaris Flash archive cannot be properly created when a non-global zone is installed. The Solaris Flash feature is not compatible with Solaris Zones partitioning technology. If you create a Solaris Flash archive, the resulting archive is not installed properly when the archive is deployed under these conditions:
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For more information about using Solaris Flash archives, see Solaris 10 10/09 Installation Guide: Solaris Flash Archives (Creation and Installation). |
Using a command that uses the -R option or equivalent must not be used in some situations. |
Any command that accepts an alternate root (/) file system by using the -R option or equivalent must not be used if the following are true:
An example is the -R root_path option to the pkgadd utility run from the global zone with a path to the root (/) file system in a non-global zone. |
For a list of utilities that accept an alternate root (/) file system and more information about zones, see Restriction on Accessing A Non-Global Zone From the Global Zone in System Administration Guide: Solaris Containers-Resource Management and Solaris Zones. |
You should back up the global and non-global zones on your Solaris system before you perform the upgrade. For information about backing up a system with zones installed, see Chapter 26, Solaris Zones Administration (Overview), in System Administration Guide: Solaris Containers-Resource Management and Solaris Zones.