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Solaris 9 Installation Guide

Planning the Creation of a Solaris Flash Archive

After you install the master system, the next task in the Solaris Flash installation process is to create a Solaris Flash archive. Files on the master system are copied to a Solaris Flash archive along with various pieces of identification information. You can create a Solaris Flash archive while the master system is running in multiuser mode or single-user mode. You can also create a Solaris Flash archive after you boot from one of the following:

Create the archive when the system is in as static a state as possible.

Customizing the Solaris Flash Archive Files and Directories

When you create a Solaris Flash archive, some files and directories that are to be copied from the master system can be excluded. If you have excluded a directory, you can also restore specified files or subdirectories under that directory. For example, you could create an archive that excludes all files and directories in /a/aa/bb/c. The content of the /bb subdirectory could be included. The only content then would be in the /bb subdirectory.

Caution - Caution -

Use the flar create 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.

The following table lists the flar create command options that can exclude files and directories and restore files and subdirectories.

How Specified? 

Options That Exclude 

Options That Include 

Specify the name of the directory or file 

-x exclude_dir/filename

-y include_dir/filename

Use a file that contains a list 

-X list_filename

-z list_filename

-f list_filename

-z list_filename

For descriptions of these options, see Table 20–3.

For examples of customizing an archive, see “Creating an Archive Examples”.

Solaris Flash Archive Sections

Solaris Flash archives contain at least three sections. The sections include sections that identify the archive and the actual files that were copied from the master system.

  1. Archive Cookie section – The first section of a Solaris Flash archive contains a cookie that identifies the file as a Solaris Flash archive. The cookie must be present for an archive to be valid.

  2. Archive Identification Section – The second section contains keywords with values that provide identification information about the archive. You are required to specify a name for the Solaris Flash archive. Other information that you can specify about the archive includes:

    • The author of the archive

    • The date that the archive was created

    • The name of the master system that you used to create the archive

    For a list of keywords that describe the archive, see “Identification Section Keywords”.

  3. User–Defined sections – Following the Archive Identification Section, you can define and insert sections. The Solaris Flash archive does not process any sections that you insert. For example, this section could contain a description of the archive or perhaps a script to check the integrity of an application.

    In a User-Defined section, you can also define keywords. The Solaris Flash archive ignores user-defined keywords, but you can provide scripts or programs that process the Identification section and use these keywords.

    The User-Defined section requires the following format.

    User-Defined sections 

    • Must be line oriented

    • Must terminate with newline (ASCII 0x0a) characters

    • Can have unlimited length of individual lines

    • Encode binary data by using base64 or a similar algorithm.

    User-Defined keywords 

    • Must begin with X. X-department is a valid user-defined keyword.

    • Can contain any characters other than linefeeds, equal signs, null characters, and forward slashes (/).

  4. Archive Files Section – The Archive Files Section contains the files that were saved from the master system.

You can use the flar command to retrieve information about the archive. For detailed instructions, refer to “Extracting Information From an Archive”.

Where to Store the Solaris Flash Archive

After you create the Solaris Flash archive, you can save the archive on the hard disk of the master system or on a tape. After you save the archive, you can copy it to any file system or media that you choose.

Compressing the Archive

When you create the Solaris Flash archive, you can specify that the archive be saved as a compressed file by using the compress(1) utility. An archive that is compressed requires less disk storage space and creates less congestion when you install the archive over a network.