zfs discuss - Nov 2006 - OpenSolaris vs. Solaris 10 11/06 (S10u3) for NFS ZFS Server

I''m in the process of building a Solaris NFS server with ZFS and was
wondering if any gurus here have any comments as to choosing the upcoming
Solairs 10 11/06 [presumably] or OpenSolaris bXX/Solairs Express for this use. 
Even with my use of OpenSolaris I maintain a service contract to show my
support, so bug fixes in a "static" supported version
shouldn''t be an issue in picking a version.

So, the short question is are there any "super-cool must-have" ZFS/NFS
features in OpenSolaris now that S10u3 won''t have right away?

Thanks!
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org

On Wed, 8 Nov 2006, Wes Williams wrote:

[ .... reformatted ... ]
> I''m in the process of building a Solaris NFS server with ZFS and
was
> wondering if any gurus here have any comments as to choosing the
> upcoming Solairs 10 11/06 [presumably] or OpenSolaris bXX/Solairs
> Express for this use.  Even with my use of OpenSolaris I maintain a
> service contract to show my support, so bug fixes in a "static"
> supported version shouldn''t be an issue in picking a version.
>
> So, the short question is are there any "super-cool must-have"
ZFS/NFS
> features in OpenSolaris now that S10u3 won''t have right away?
[ Hi Wes from solarisx86 at yahoogroups.com ]

And the smart-ask answer is:

By Definition: the OpenSolaris/Solaris Express feature that is *your*
"must-have" feature, probably won''t be in Update 3! :)

Since U3 is a "cherry picked" subset of OpenSolaris, it''s
difficult to
predict which features made it and which did not.  I know that it''s a
Sun
decision made from a basis of (Sun) solid logic - it''s just difficult
to
figure out this mental process, from the outside looking in.

In my case, the ability to clone a zone from a zfs snapshot did''nt make
it! :(

I don''t think that there are any ZFS NFS related fixes that
did''nt make it
into U3 (others will correct me if I''m wrong here).  It''s a
tough choice
to make...  The huge upside is ... that there is a choice!  :)

Regards,

Al Hopper  Logical Approach Inc, Plano, TX.  al at logical-approach.com
           Voice: 972.379.2133 Fax: 972.379.2134  Timezone: US CDT
OpenSolaris.Org Community Advisory Board (CAB) Member - Apr 2005
             OpenSolaris Governing Board (OGB) Member - Feb 2006

> [ Hi Wes from solarisx86 at yahoogroups.com ]
> 
> And the smart-ask answer is:
> 
> By Definition: the OpenSolaris/Solaris Express
> feature that is *your*
> "must-have" feature, probably won''t be in Update 3!
> :)
> 
Exactly, that''s why I used quotes as I''m sure I''d be
happy with S10u3, assuming ignorance is bliss.  Then again, I''ve never
believed ignorance is bliss.  ;)

I simply don''t know enough about the difference between the two OS
versions yet to make an educated guess as to which venue to pursue presently -
especially since S10u3 isn''t released at the moment and I
haven''t followed ZFS closely since ZFSv1 was current.
> <snip>
> I don''t think that there are any ZFS NFS related
> fixes that did''nt make it
> into U3 (others will correct me if I''m wrong here).
>  It''s a tough choice
> o make...  The huge upside is ... that there is a
> choice!  :)
Indeed, knowing there are no known NFS fixes omitted is great news, not that I
was aware of anything in NFS needing fixing.  To me this is just reassuring
since my goal is to build this box and nearly forget about it while
it''s hidden away and ''it just works.''

Since I didn''t hear anything like ZFSv3 vs. ZFSv2 or some such,
I''ll probably just go w/ S10u3 for this project.

Thanks for your feedback Al.
 
 
This message posted from opensolaris.org

On 11/8/06, Al Hopper <al at logical-approach.com>
wrote:
> In my case, the ability to clone a zone from a zfs snapshot did''nt
make
> it! :(
Yeah, but if you read the man page in the U3 beta, you would see that
the man page changes made it over.  Personally, I would have preferred
the code instead of the man pages.  :)

Per a discussion I had with Jerry Jelinek after I brought this up as
part of the beta:

Jerry said...
> backporting this to S10 until we have the ability to upgrade
> zones that reside on zfs. At this time we do not recommend
> customers place their zones on zfs. Obviously this works and
> is usually ok as long as you do not care about being able to
> upgrade your system, but this is not something we can
> generally support until we have an upgrade solution.
So long as upgrades are not something that I am concerned about, it
seems as though the following is an approach that would work out OK.
Please let me know if you concur.

### Initial setup of /zones fs

# zfs create local/zones
# zfs set mountpoint=/zones local/zones

### Create my full-root template zone

# zonecfg -z template-full
create -t SUNWblank
set zonepath=/zones/template-full
verify
commit
exit
# zfs create local/zones/template-full
# chmod 700 /zones/template-full
# zoneadm -z template-full install
# zoneadm -z template-full boot
# zlogin -C template-full

### Do zone customization stuff (e.g. run JASS to harden)

### Prepare the zone for cloning

# zoneadm -z template-full halt
# zoneadm -z template-full detach
# zfs snapshot local/zones/template-full at clonable

### Create a clone

# zonecfg -z newzone
create -t template-full
set zonepath=/zones/newzone
.... set up networks, pools, etc.
verify
commit
exit
# zfs clone local/zones/template-full at clonable local/zones/newzone
# zoneadm attach newzone
# zoneadm -z newzone boot -s
# yes | zlogin newzone sys-unconfig
# zoneadm -z newzone boot
# zlogin -C newzone
perform sysidcfg stuff

Jerry later said:
> This is a very clever procedure. You might want to send this
> out to the opensolaris zones-discuss list so that others can
> benefit from your idea here. I don''t see any problems with
> this procedure.
However, I waited until someone else announced the features or lack
thereof found in S10 11/06.  :)

Mike

-- 
Mike Gerdts
http://mgerdts.blogspot.com/

For me, it came down to - Do I want to patch, or upgrade?

My gateway to the internet is a solaris 10 box, patched whenever
required. I like that as soon as a security patch is available, I can
apply it and reboot. Simple.

My laptop runs nevada. I upgrade from network / dvd when I see a new
feature that excites me.

As far as whiz-bang things that would excite you, only you will know
that for sure. :)

Cheers!

Nathan.




On Thu, 2006-11-09 at 08:58, Wes Williams wrote:
> I''m in the process of building a Solaris NFS server with ZFS and
was wondering if any gurus here have any comments as to choosing the upcoming
Solairs 10 11/06 [presumably] or OpenSolaris bXX/Solairs Express for this use. 
Even with my use of OpenSolaris I maintain a service contract to show my
support, so bug fixes in a "static" supported version
shouldn''t be an issue in picking a version.
> 
> So, the short question is are there any "super-cool must-have"
ZFS/NFS features in OpenSolaris now that S10u3 won''t have right away?
> 
> Thanks!
>  
> 
> This message posted from opensolaris.org
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> zfs-discuss at opensolaris.org
> http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discuss
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