How to Update a ZFS Boot Environment

By default, the ZFS BE is named solaris. The pkg update command updates the ZFS BE by creating and automatically activating a new BE, provided that significant differences exist between the current and updated BEs.

View the current boot environment configuration.
The BE's Active field shows N to indicate that the BE is active, R to indicate that it becomes active after a system reboot, or both (NR).
```
$ beadm list
BE       Active  Mountpoint  Space  Policy  Created
--      ------ ---------- ----- ------ -------
solaris  NR      /           3.82G  static  2012-07-19 13:44
```

Update the 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.

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

$ init 6
.
.
$ beadm list
BE         Active  Mountpoint  Space   Policy  Created
--         ------ ---------- -----  ------ -------
solaris    -      -           46.95M   static  2014-07-20 10:25
solaris-1  NR      /           3.82G   static  2014-07-19 14:45

If an error occurs when booting the new BE, activate and boot the previous BE.
```
$ beadm activate solaris
$ init 6
```
You use the same beadm activate BE command syntax to activate an existing backup BE independent of any update operation.