System Configuration Changes and Migration of System Configuration to SMF

In Oracle Solaris 11, certain aspects of system configuration have changed, including the migration of several system, network, and naming services configuration to SMF. For information about naming services that have migrated to SMF, see Table 7-1.

The following key changes are introduced in this release:

• DNS server setup changes – The process for setting up a DNS server has changed in Oracle Solaris 11. For detailed instructions, see Administering DNS (Tasks) in Oracle Solaris Administration: Naming and Directory Services.

• /etc/default/init file is now read-only – Locale and time zone configuration has migrated to SMF. All changes to environment variables should be managed through the new svc:/system/environment:init SMF service.

  To use the svc:/system/environment:init SMF service, make sure that the skip_init_upgrade property is set to true:

  # svccfg -s svc:/system/environment:init setprop \
  upgrade/skip_init_upgrade=true
  # svcadm refresh svc:/system/environment:init

  For more information, see Internationalization and Localization Changes.

• /etc/dfstab file configuration – Publishing and unpublishing a file system share is now administered by using the zfs command. See Chapter 5, Managing File Systems.

• /etc/hostname.<if>, /etc/dhcp.<if>, and /etc/hostname.ip*.tun* configuration – Network configuration persistence through the editing of these files is no longer necessary. The ipadm and dladm commands are now used to manage this type of network configuration. See Managing Network Configuration When in Manual Mode.

• /etc/nodename configuration – A system's identify (nodename) is now configured through the config/nodename service property of the svc:/system/identity:node SMF service, as shown in the following example:

  # svccfg -s svc:/system/identity:node setprop config/nodename = astring: nodename
  # svcadm refresh svc:/system/identity:node
  # svcadm restart svc:/system/identity:node

  ---

  Note - If the system is configured to use DHCP, which is always the case if the automatic NCP is enabled, the SMF service property can only be set if the DHCP server does not provide a value for the nodename/hostname option (DHCP standard option code 12). See nodename(4).

  ---

• Mapping of a system's nodename – In Oracle Solaris 10, during an installation, the /etc/hosts file is updated to map the system's nodename to one of the system's non-loopback IP addresses. In Oracle Solaris 11, this functionality no longer exists. Instead, the host name is mapped to a system's IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. For example:

  ::1 foobar localhost
  127.0.0.1 foobar loghost localhost

  Administrators who prefer to have system nodenames map to the IP address of a non-loopback interface, must manually modify /etc/hosts to introduce this mapping, as shown in the following example:

  :1 localhost
  127.0.0.1 loghost localhost
  129.148.174.232 foobar

• Power management configuration – Power management is no longer configured by editing the /etc/power.conf file and by using the pmconfig command. Instead, the poweradm command is used. See Power Management Configuration.

• Time zone configuration – In Oracle Solaris 10, the time zone is configured by editing the /etc/TIMEZONE (/etc/default/init) file. In Oracle Solaris 11, the new svc:/system/timezone:default SMF service enables you set a system's time zone. See Locale and Time Zone Configuration Changes.

SMF Administrative Changes

Information for recording the source of properties, property groups, instances, and services has been added to the SMF repository. This information enables users to determine which settings are administrative customizations and those that are delivered with Oracle Solaris by a manifest.

The different settings by administrator, profile, or manifest are captured in layers. Use the svccfg listprop command with the new -l option to explore the values in each of the layers. For example, svccfg listprop -l all prints all of the layers and the values in each layer. In addition, the svccfg listcust command can be used to list customizations only.

Services and instances that are delivered in standard locations (/lib/svc/manifest, /var/svc/manifest, and /etc/svc/profile) are now managed by the manifest-import SMF service. To completely remove these services from the system, an administrator should uninstall the package that delivers the supporting files. This change triggers the removal of the service or instance from the system. If the delivering files are not managed by a package, then removing the file and restarting the manifest-import service removes the services or instances that are delivered from the system entirely.

If the files cannot be removed, or the administrator does not want the service or instance to run on the system, and disabling the service or instance is not an option, the svccfg delete command is an administrative customization that can be used. The svccfg delete command is considered a customization to the way the system is currently installed when the delivering files are still present in the standard locations.

To remove any administrative customization, including customization such as svccfg delete, and return to the configuration that is provided by the service manifest, use the delcust subcommand of the svccfg command with care. For example, you would list and delete all of the customization on sendmail-client:default as follows:

# svccfg
  svc:> select svc:/network/sendmail-client:default
  svc:/network/sendmail-client:default> listcust
  config                        application admin           MASKED
  ...
  svc:/network/sendmail-client:default> delcust
   Deleting customizations for instance: default

For more information, see the svccfg(1M) man page..

System Process Changes

Oracle Solaris 10 and Oracle Solaris 11 releases include system processes that perform a specific task, but do not require any administration.