How to Update Your ZFS Boot Environment

The default ZFS boot environment (BE) is named solaris by default. You can identify your BEs by using the beadm list command. For example:

# beadm list
BE      Active Mountpoint Space Policy Created
--      ------ ---------- ----- ------ -------
solaris NR     /          3.82G static 2012-07-19 13:44

In the above output, NR means the BE is active now and will be the active BE on reboot.

You can use the pkg update command to update your ZFS boot environment. If you update your ZFS BE by using the pkg update command, a new BE is created and activated automatically, unless the updates to the existing BE are very minimal.

1. Update your ZFS BE.

   # pkg update
   
   
   DOWNLOAD                                  PKGS       FILES    XFER (MB)
   Completed                              707/707 10529/10529  194.9/194.9
   .
   .
   .

   A new BE, solaris-1, is created automatically and activated.

   You can also create and activate a backup BE outside of the update process.

   # beadm create solaris-1
   # beadm activate solaris-1

2. Reboot the system to complete the BE activation. Then, confirm your BE status.

   # init 6
   .
   .
   .
   # beadm list
   BE        Active Mountpoint Space  Policy Created
   --        ------ ---------- -----  ------ -------
   solaris   -      -          46.95M static 2012-07-20 10:25
   solaris-1 NR     /          3.82G  static 2012-07-19 14:45 

3. If an error occurs when booting the new BE, activate and boot back to the previous BE.

   # beadm activate solaris
   # init 6