Planning the Creation of a Flash Archive

You can create an archive from the master system for an initial installation. Or, if you have already installed an archive on clone systems, you can create a differential archive from two system images. The differential archive installs only the differences between the two images.

Planning to Create the Flash Archive for an Initial Installation

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

Oracle Solaris Operating System DVD
Oracle Solaris Software - 1 CD
An image of the Oracle Solaris Software CDs and the Oracle Solaris Languages CDs

Note - Starting with the Oracle Solaris 10 9/10 release, only a DVD is provided. Oracle Solaris Software CDs are no longer provided.

Caution - A flash archive cannot be properly created when a non-global zone is installed. The Flash Archive feature is not compatible with the Oracle Solaris Zones partitioning technology. If you create a flash archive, the behavior of the archive when deployed is undefined in these conditions:

The archive is created in a non-global zone
The archive is created in a global zone that has non-global zones installed

Creating Flash Archive With RAID-1 Volumes

You can create a flash archive when you have Solaris Volume Manager RAID-1 volumes configured. The Flash Archive creation software removes all RAID-1 volume information from the archive to keep the integrity of the clone system. With JumpStart you can rebuild the RAID-1 volumes by using a JumpStart profile. With Live Upgrade you create a boot environment with RAID-1 volumes configured and install the archive. The Oracle Solaris installation program cannot be used to install RAID-1 volumes with a flash archive.

For examples of RAID-1 volumes in JumpStart profiles, see Profile Examples in Oracle Solaris 10 1/13 Installation Guide: JumpStart Installations.
For examples of Live Upgrade boot environments configured with RAID-1 volumes, see Creating a New Boot Environment in Oracle Solaris 10 1/13 Installation Guide: Live Upgrade and Upgrade Planning.

Note - Veritas VxVM stores configuration information in areas not available to Flash Archive. If Veritas VxVM file systems have been configured, you should not create a flash archive. Also, Oracle Solaris installations, including the JumpStart and Live Upgrade methods do not support rebuilding VxVM volumes at installation time. Therefore, if you are planning to deploy Veritas VxVM software using a flash archive, the archive must be created prior to configuring the VxVM file systems. The clone systems must be then configured individually after the archive has been applied and the system rebooted.

Creating an Archive That Contains Large Files

The default copy method that is used when you create a flash archive is the cpio utility. Individual file sizes cannot be over 4 GB. If you have large individual files, you can create an archive with the pax copy method. The flarcreate command with the -L pax option uses the pax utility to create an archive without limitations on individual file sizes. Individual file sizes can be greater than 4 GB.

Planning to Create the Flash Archive Differential Archive for an Update

If you have a clone system that is already installed with an archive and want to update it, you can create a differential archive that contains only the differences between two images, the unchanged master image and an updated master image. The differences between these two images is the differential archive.

One image is running on the master system that was the original software installed on the clone system. This image might need be installed on the master system if it was saved in a directory for future use.
The other image is to be accessed and used for comparison. This image contains the new additions or deletions that will be installed on the clone systems.

After you update a clone system with a differential archive, only the files that are in the differential archive are changed on the clone system. Scripts can be used to customize the archive before or after installation, which is especially helpful for reconfiguration.

You can install a Flash Archive differential archive with the JumpStart installation method, or use Live Upgrade to install a differential archive on an inactive boot environment.

An unchanged master image should be saved after the initial installation so this image can be accessed by any of the following methods:

A Live Upgrade boot environment mounted on a directory that uses the lumount command. For a description of a Live Upgrade boot environment, see Chapter 2, Live Upgrade (Overview), in Oracle Solaris 10 1/13 Installation Guide: Live Upgrade and Upgrade Planning.
A clone system that is mounted over NFS with root permissions.
A system backup that can be restored with the ufsdump command.

For step-by-step instructions, see How to Create a Flash Archive Differential Archive With an Updated Master Image.

Customizing an Archive's Files and Directories

When you create a 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 would then be in the bb subdirectory.

Caution - Use the flarcreate 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 flarcreate 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 6-6.

For examples of customizing an archive, see Examples of Creating a Flash Archive and Customizing Files.

Customizing an Archive With Scripts

After the software is installed on the master system, special scripts can be run during creation, installation, postinstallation and first reboot. These scripts enable you to do the following:

Configure applications on clone systems.

You can use a JumpStart script for some uncomplicated configurations. For more complicated configurations, special configuration-file processing might be necessary on the master system or before or after installation on the clone system.
Protect local customizations on clone systems.

Local preinstallation and postinstallation scripts reside on the clone. These scripts protect local customizations from being overwritten by the Flash Archive software.
Identify nonclonable, host-dependent data that enables you to make the archive host independent.

Host independence is enabled by modifying such data or excluding it from the archive. An example of host-dependent data is a log file.
Validate software integrity in the archive during creation.
Validate the installation on the clone system.

Guidelines for Creating a Custom Script

When creating scripts other than the reboot script, follow these guidelines to ensure that the script does not corrupt the OS or otherwise disrupt the system. These guidelines enable the use of Live Upgrade, which creates a new boot environment for installation of the OS. The new boot environment can be installed with an archive while the current system is running.

Note - These guidelines are not for reboot scripts that are allowed to run daemons or make other types of modification to the root (/) file system.

Scripts must not affect the currently running system. The currently running OS might not be the one running when the flash archive is installed.
Scripts must not start or stop any daemon processes.
Scripts must not depend on the output of commands such as ps, truss, or uname, which are dependent on the OS. These commands report information about the currently running system.
Scripts must not send any signals or otherwise affect any currently running processes.
Scripts can use standard UNIX commands that facilitate shell scripting such as expr, cp, and ls.

For an overview of Live Upgrade, see Chapter 2, Live Upgrade (Overview), in Oracle Solaris 10 1/13 Installation Guide: Live Upgrade and Upgrade Planning.

Flash Archive Sections

A flash archive contains the following sections. Some sections can be used by you to identify and customize the archive and view status information on the installation. For a further description of each section, see Chapter 6, Flash Archive (Reference).

Table 2-2 Flash Archive Sections

Section Name	Informational Only	Description
Archive cookie	X	The first section contains a `cookie` that identifies the file as a Flash Archive.
Archive identification		The second section contains keywords with values that provide identification information about the archive. Some identification information is supplied by the archive software. Other specific identification information can be added through options to the `flarcreate` command.
User-defined		You can define and insert sections to customize the archive after the archive identification section. The flash archive does not process any sections that you insert. For example, a section could contain a description of the archive or perhaps a script to check the integrity of an application.
Manifest	X	This section is produced for a Flash Archive differential archive and is used for validating a clone system. The manifest section lists the files on a system to be retained, added to, or deleted from the clone system. This section is informational only, lists the files in an internal format, and cannot be used for scripting.
Predeployment, Postdeployment, Reboot	X	This section contains internal information that the Flash Archive software uses before and after installing an OS image. Any scripts that you have provided are included in this section.
Summary		This section contains messages about the archive creation. The section also records the activities of predeployment and postdeployment scripts. You can view the success of the installation in this section by writing a script to send output to this section.
Archive files	X	The archive files section contains the files that have been gathered from the master system.

When to Create the Archive for an Initial Installation

Create the archive when the system is in as static a state as possible. Create the archive after software is installed on the master system and before software is configured.

Where to Store the Flash Archive

After you create the 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 this archive to any file system or media that you choose, for example:

NFS server
HTTP or HTTPS server
FTP server
Tape
CD, DVD
Diskette
Local drive of clone system that you want to install

Compressing the Archive

When you create the 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.

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