Creating Images

To create OpenStack images in Oracle Solaris, you use the Unified Archives feature. With the archiveadm command, you can create new Unified Archives (UAs) from global, non-global, and kernel zones.

The UA can be either a clone archive or a recovery archive. A clone archive is based on the currently active boot environment. This archive does not include any of the system configuration information from the OS instance such as inactive BEs. Instead, the installers force the reconfiguration or use configuration information that you provide in a system configuration (SC) profile. A recovery archive includes all boot environments and system configuration information. Thus, if you want to include all of the system's information in a UA, create a recovery archive. For more information about UAs, see the appropriate Using Unified Archives for System Recovery and Cloning in Oracle Solaris book in your Oracle Solaris version's library..

Later, when your configuration is fully operational, you can also create an image by creating a snapshot of an existing VM instance. For this case, the VM instance is already in the cloud. Thus, the command to use is nova image-create instead of archiveadm. The nova command takes a snapshot of a running VM instance to create the image.

You can also use custom images for data backups or to rescue a VM instance. A rescue image is a special type of image that is booted when a VM instance is placed into rescue mode. A rescue image enables an administrator to mount the file systems for the VM instance to correct the problem.

In Oracle Solaris, you create an OpenStack image in three phases:

1. Create the zone.

2. Create the UA of the zone.

3. Upload the UA to Glance.

These phases are combined in the following procedure.

How to Create an Image for OpenStack

Except for the command syntax to create the zone, all the rest of the steps can be used for the creation and uploading of images of both non-global zones and kernel zones.

The step for the creation of zones provides only the basic commands. For complete instructions in creating zones, refer to the zones documentation in your Oracle Solaris version's library.

1. On any system, create, and then log in to the zone.

   After logging in, provide the information as prompted.

   global# zonecfg -z zone-name create
   global# zoneadm -z zone-name install
   global# zoneadm -z zone-name boot
   global# zlogin -C zone-name

   ---

   Note -  This step can take a while to complete.

   ---

2. Enable root SSH for OpenStack root login access.

   global# zlogin zone-name
   root@zone-name# sed /^PermitRootLogin/s/no$/without-password/ < /etc/ssh/sshd_config > /system/volatile/sed.$$
   root@zone-name# cp /etc/ssh/sshd_config /etc/ssh/sshd_config.orig
   root@zone-name# cp /system/volatile/sed.$$ /etc/ssh/sshd_config
   root@zone-name# exit

3. Create the UA for the zone.

   global# archiveadm create -z zone-name /var/tmp/archive-name.uar

4. Transfer the UA to the system where Glance is installed.

   This document assumes Glance is on the Controller node.

5. Set the global shell variables for Glance.

   controller# export OS_USERNAME=glance
   controller# export OS_PASSWORD=service-password
   controller# export OS_TENANT_NAME=service
   controller# export OS_AUTH_URL=$CONTROLLER_ADMIN_NODE:5000/v2.0

6. Upload the UA to the Glance repository.

   controller# glance image-create --container-format bare --disk-format raw \
      --is-public true --name "image-name" \
      --property architecture=system-arch --property hypervisor_type=solariszones \
      --property vm_mode=solariszones < path-to-archive-file

   where system-arch refers to the system's architecture and which can be either x86_64 or sparc64.