zfs discuss - Oct 2008 - query: why does zfs boot in 10/08 not support flash archive jumpstart

With much excitement I have been reading the new features coming into Solaris 10
in 10/08 and am eager to start playing with zfs root.  However one thing which
struck me as strange and somewhat annoying is that it appears in the FAQs and
documentation that its not possible to do a ZFS root install using jumpstart and
flash archives?

I predominantly do my installs using flash archives as it saves massive amounts
of time in the install process and gives me consistancy between builds.

Really I am just curious why it isnt supported, and what the intention is for
supporting it and when?

Cheers,
  Adrian
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It was something we couldn''t get into the release
due to insufficient resources.  I''d like to see it
implemented in the future.

Lori

Adrian Saul wrote:
> With much excitement I have been reading the new features coming into
Solaris 10 in 10/08 and am eager to start playing with zfs root.  However one
thing which struck me as strange and somewhat annoying is that it appears in the
FAQs and documentation that its not possible to do a ZFS root install using
jumpstart and flash archives?
>
> I predominantly do my installs using flash archives as it saves massive
amounts of time in the install process and gives me consistancy between builds.
>
> Really I am just curious why it isnt supported, and what the intention is
for supporting it and when?
>
> Cheers,
>   Adrian
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> This message posted from opensolaris.org
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> zfs-discuss mailing list
> zfs-discuss at opensolaris.org
> http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discuss
>

Thanks Lori - from what I could gather in the bug report about this the issue is
simply that the profile causes a SEGV of the installer correct?  Is it possible
this might be addressed in a patch in the near future that can be applied to the
installer miniroots?  Is it worth raising a case/escalation for this or because
its a documented limitation it wouldnt go far?

One of my concerns is that due to difficulties in getting quick changes to DHCP
and a scattered install base where I cant deploy bootp servers, I tend to lean
on WANboot for deployment, which of course relies on flash archives.  I would
very much like to step up to ZFS root but this limitation may curtail that.

Thanks,
  Adrian
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