zfs discuss - Nov 2008 - Separate /var

Hi Folks,

I''m currently working with an organisation who want use ZFS for their  
full zones. Storage is SAN attached, and they also want to create a  
separate /var for each zone, which causes issues when the zone is  
installed. They believe that a separate /var is still good practice.

What are others doing in this space?

Any pointers appreciated.

Thanks
Eddie

On Fri, 28 Nov 2008, Edward Irvine wrote:
> What are others doing in this space?
Educate them how the world has changed!  A separate /var is even
less necessary with ZFS than with UFS.

-- 
Rich Teer, SCSA, SCNA, SCSECA

CEO,
My Online Home Inventory

URLs: rite-group.com/rich
      linkedin.com/in/richteer
      myonlinehomeinventory.com

On Fri 28/11/08 09:39 , Edward Irvine eirvine at tpg.com.au
sent:
> Hi Folks,
> 
> I''m currently working with an organisation who want use ZFS for
their
> full zones. Storage is SAN attached, and they also want to create a  
> separate /var for each zone, which causes issues when the zone is  
> installed. They believe that a separate /var is still good practice.
> 
Is it even possible?  Well I guess anything is possible, but I doubt such a
configuration would be supported or survive an upgrade.
> What are others doing in this space?
> 
I usually create a filesystem for each zone''s root and either use
loopback mounts or ZFS data sets for any additional space (/export/home for
instance) required in the zone.  I can then apply quotas to these filesystems if
required.

-- 
Ian

On Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 07:39:43AM +1100, Edward Irvine
wrote:
> 
> I''m currently working with an organisation who want use ZFS for
their
> full zones. Storage is SAN attached, and they also want to create a  
> separate /var for each zone, which causes issues when the zone is  
> installed. They believe that a separate /var is still good practice.
If your mount options are different for /var and /, you will need
a separate filesystem.  In our case, we use `setuid=off'' and
`devices=off'' on /var for security reasons.  We do the same thing
for home directories and /tmp .

-- 
-Gary Mills-    -Unix Support-    -U of M Academic Computing and Networking-

On Fri 28/11/08 10:53 , Gary Mills mills at cc.umanitoba.ca
sent:
> On Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 07:39:43AM +1100, Edward Irvine wrote:
> > 
> > I''m currently working with an organisation who
> want use ZFS for their  > full zones. Storage is SAN attached, and they
> also want to create a  > separate /var for each zone, which causes
issues
> when the zone is  > installed. They believe that a separate /var is
> still good practice.
> If your mount options are different for /var and /, you will need
> a separate filesystem.  In our case, we use `setuid=off'' and
> `devices=off'' on /var for security reasons.  We do the same thing
> for home directories and /tmp .
> 
For zones?

-- 
Ian.

On Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 11:19:14AM +1300, Ian Collins
wrote:
> On Fri 28/11/08 10:53 , Gary Mills mills at cc.umanitoba.ca sent:
> > On Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 07:39:43AM +1100, Edward Irvine wrote:
> > > 
> > > I''m currently working with an organisation who
> > want use ZFS for their  > full zones. Storage is SAN attached, and
they
> > also want to create a  > separate /var for each zone, which causes
issues
> > when the zone is  > installed. They believe that a separate /var is
> > still good practice.
> > If your mount options are different for /var and /, you will need
> > a separate filesystem.  In our case, we use `setuid=off'' and
> > `devices=off'' on /var for security reasons.  We do the same
thing
> > for home directories and /tmp .
> > 
> For zones?
Sure, if you require different mount options in the zones.

-- 
-Gary Mills-    -Unix Support-    -U of M Academic Computing and Networking-

On 11/27/08 17:18, Gary Mills wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 11:19:14AM +1300, Ian Collins wrote:
>   
>> On Fri 28/11/08 10:53 , Gary Mills mills at cc.umanitoba.ca sent:
>>     
>>> On Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 07:39:43AM +1100, Edward Irvine wrote:
>>>       
>>>> I''m currently working with an organisation who
>>>>         
>>> want use ZFS for their  > full zones. Storage is SAN attached,
and they
>>> also want to create a  > separate /var for each zone, which
causes issues
>>> when the zone is  > installed. They believe that a separate /var
is
>>> still good practice.
>>> If your mount options are different for /var and /, you will need
>>> a separate filesystem.  In our case, we use `setuid=off''
and
>>> `devices=off'' on /var for security reasons.  We do the
same thing
>>> for home directories and /tmp .
>>>
>>>       
>> For zones?
>>     
>
> Sure, if you require different mount options in the zones.
>
>   
I looked into this and found that, using ufs,  you can indeed set up
the zone''s /var directory as a separate file system.  I  don''t
know about
how LiveUpgrade works with that configuration (I didn''t try it). 
But I was at least able to get the zone to install and boot.

But with zfs, I couldn''t even get a zone with a separate /var
dataset to install, let alone be manageable with LiveUpgrade.
I configured the zone like so:

# zonecfg -z z4
z4: No such zone configured
Use ''create'' to begin configuring a new zone.
zonecfg:z4> create
zonecfg:z4> set zonepath=/zfszones/z4
zonecfg:z4> add fs
zonecfg:z4:fs> set dir=/var
zonecfg:z4:fs> set special=rpool/ROOT/s10x_u6wos_07b/zfszones/z4/var
zonecfg:z4:fs> set type=zfs
zonecfg:z4:fs> end
zonecfg:z4> exit

I then get this result from trying to install the zone:

prancer# zoneadm -z z4 install
Preparing to install zone <z4>.
ERROR: No such file or directory: cannot mount </zfszones/z4/root/var> 
in non-global zone to install: the source block device or directory 
<rpool/ROOT/s10x_u6wos_07b/zfszones/z1/var> cannot be accessed
ERROR: cannot setup zone <z4> inherited and configured file systems
ERROR: cannot setup zone <z4> file systems inherited and configured from 
the global zone
ERROR: cannot create zone boot environment <z4>

I don''t fully  understand the failures here.  I suspect that there are
problems both in the zfs code and zones code.  It SHOULD work though.
The fact that it doesn''t seems like a bug.

In the meantime, I guess we have to conclude that a separate /var
in a non-global zone is not supported on zfs.  A separate /var in
the global zone is supported  however, even when the root is zfs.

Lori



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On Mon, Dec 01, 2008 at 04:45:16PM -0700, Lori Alt
wrote:
>    On 11/27/08 17:18, Gary Mills wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 11:19:14AM +1300, Ian Collins wrote:
> On Fri 28/11/08 10:53 , Gary Mills [1]mills at cc.umanitoba.ca sent:
> On Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 07:39:43AM +1100, Edward Irvine wrote:
> 
> I''m currently working with an organisation who
> want use ZFS for their  > full zones. Storage is SAN attached, and they
> also want to create a  > separate /var for each zone, which causes
issues
> when the zone is  > installed. They believe that a separate /var is
> still good practice.
> If your mount options are different for /var and /, you will need
> a separate filesystem.  In our case, we use `setuid=off'' and
> `devices=off'' on /var for security reasons.  We do the same thing
> for home directories and /tmp .
> 
> For zones?
> 
> Sure, if you require different mount options in the zones.
> 
>    I looked into this and found that, using ufs,  you can indeed set up
>    the zone''s /var directory as a separate file system.  I 
don''t know
>    about
>    how LiveUpgrade works with that configuration (I didn''t try
it).
>    But I was at least able to get the zone to install and boot.
>    But with zfs, I couldn''t even get a zone with a separate /var
>    dataset to install, let alone be manageable with LiveUpgrade.
>    I configured the zone like so:
>    # zonecfg -z z4
>    z4: No such zone configured
>    Use ''create'' to begin configuring a new zone.
>    zonecfg:z4> create
>    zonecfg:z4> set zonepath=/zfszones/z4
>    zonecfg:z4> add fs
>    zonecfg:z4:fs> set dir=/var
>    zonecfg:z4:fs> set special=rpool/ROOT/s10x_u6wos_07b/zfszones/z4/var
>    zonecfg:z4:fs> set type=zfs
>    zonecfg:z4:fs> end
>    zonecfg:z4> exit
>    I then get this result from trying to install the zone:
>    prancer# zoneadm -z z4 install
>    Preparing to install zone <z4>.
>    ERROR: No such file or directory: cannot mount
</zfszones/z4/root/var>
You might have to pre-create this filesystem. `special'' may not be
needed at all.
>    in non-global zone to install: the source block device or directory
>    <rpool/ROOT/s10x_u6wos_07b/zfszones/z1/var> cannot be accessed
>    ERROR: cannot setup zone <z4> inherited and configured file
systems
>    ERROR: cannot setup zone <z4> file systems inherited and
configured
>    from the global zone
>    ERROR: cannot create zone boot environment <z4>
>    I don''t fully  understand the failures here.  I suspect that
there are
>    problems both in the zfs code and zones code.  It SHOULD work though.
>    The fact that it doesn''t seems like a bug.
>    In the meantime, I guess we have to conclude that a separate /var
>    in a non-global zone is not supported on zfs.  A separate /var in
>    the global zone is supported  however, even when the root is zfs.
I haven''t tried ZFS zone roots myself, but I do have a few comments.
ZFS filesystems are cheap because they don''t require separate disk
slices.  As well, they are attribute boundaries.  Those are necessary
or convenient in some case.

-- 
-Gary Mills-    -Unix Support-    -U of M Academic Computing and Networking-

On 12/02/08 09:00, Gary Mills wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 01, 2008 at 04:45:16PM -0700, Lori Alt wrote:
>   
>>    On 11/27/08 17:18, Gary Mills wrote:
>> On Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 11:19:14AM +1300, Ian Collins wrote:
>> On Fri 28/11/08 10:53 , Gary Mills [1]mills at cc.umanitoba.ca sent:
>> On Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 07:39:43AM +1100, Edward Irvine wrote:
>>
>> I''m currently working with an organisation who
>> want use ZFS for their  > full zones. Storage is SAN attached, and
they
>> also want to create a  > separate /var for each zone, which causes
issues
>> when the zone is  > installed. They believe that a separate /var is
>> still good practice.
>> If your mount options are different for /var and /, you will need
>> a separate filesystem.  In our case, we use `setuid=off'' and
>> `devices=off'' on /var for security reasons.  We do the same
thing
>> for home directories and /tmp .
>>
>> For zones?
>>
>> Sure, if you require different mount options in the zones.
>>
>>    I looked into this and found that, using ufs,  you can indeed set up
>>    the zone''s /var directory as a separate file system.  I 
don''t know
>>    about
>>    how LiveUpgrade works with that configuration (I didn''t try
it).
>>    But I was at least able to get the zone to install and boot.
>>    But with zfs, I couldn''t even get a zone with a separate
/var
>>    dataset to install, let alone be manageable with LiveUpgrade.
>>    I configured the zone like so:
>>    # zonecfg -z z4
>>    z4: No such zone configured
>>    Use ''create'' to begin configuring a new zone.
>>    zonecfg:z4> create
>>    zonecfg:z4> set zonepath=/zfszones/z4
>>    zonecfg:z4> add fs
>>    zonecfg:z4:fs> set dir=/var
>>    zonecfg:z4:fs> set
special=rpool/ROOT/s10x_u6wos_07b/zfszones/z4/var
>>    zonecfg:z4:fs> set type=zfs
>>    zonecfg:z4:fs> end
>>    zonecfg:z4> exit
>>    I then get this result from trying to install the zone:
>>    prancer# zoneadm -z z4 install
>>    Preparing to install zone <z4>.
>>    ERROR: No such file or directory: cannot mount
</zfszones/z4/root/var>
>>     
>
> You might have to pre-create this filesystem. `special'' may not be
> needed at all.
>   
I did pre-create the file system.  Also, I tried omitting "special"
and
zonecfg complains. 

I think that there might need to be some changes
to zonecfg and the zone installation code to get separate
/var datasets in non-global zones to work.

Lori
>   
>>    in non-global zone to install: the source block device or directory
>>    <rpool/ROOT/s10x_u6wos_07b/zfszones/z1/var> cannot be accessed
>>    ERROR: cannot setup zone <z4> inherited and configured file
systems
>>    ERROR: cannot setup zone <z4> file systems inherited and
configured
>>    from the global zone
>>    ERROR: cannot create zone boot environment <z4>
>>    I don''t fully  understand the failures here.  I suspect
that there are
>>    problems both in the zfs code and zones code.  It SHOULD work
though.
>>    The fact that it doesn''t seems like a bug.
>>    In the meantime, I guess we have to conclude that a separate /var
>>    in a non-global zone is not supported on zfs.  A separate /var in
>>    the global zone is supported  however, even when the root is zfs.
>>     
>
> I haven''t tried ZFS zone roots myself, but I do have a few
comments.
> ZFS filesystems are cheap because they don''t require separate disk
> slices.  As well, they are attribute boundaries.  Those are necessary
> or convenient in some case.
>
>   
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On Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 11:17 AM, Lori Alt <Lori.Alt at sun.com>
wrote:
> I did pre-create the file system.  Also, I tried omitting
"special" and
> zonecfg complains.
>
> I think that there might need to be some changes
> to zonecfg and the zone installation code to get separate
> /var datasets in non-global zones to work.
You could probably do something like:

zfs create rpool/zones/$zone
zfs create rpool/zones/$zone/var

zonecfg -z $zone
add fs
  set dir=/var
  set special=/zones/$zone/var
  set type=lofs
  end
...

zoneadm -z $zone install

zonecfg -z $zone
remove fs dir=/var

zfs set mountpoint=/zones/$zone/root/var rpool/zones/$zone/var

-- 
Mike Gerdts
mgerdts.blogspot.com

----- Original Message -----
From: Lori Alt <Lori.Alt at Sun.COM>
Date: Tuesday, December 2, 2008 11:19 am
Subject: Re: [zfs-discuss] Separate /var
To: Gary Mills <mills at cc.umanitoba.ca>
Cc: zfs-discuss at opensolaris.org
> On 12/02/08 09:00, Gary Mills wrote:
> > On Mon, Dec 01, 2008 at 04:45:16PM -0700, Lori Alt wrote:
> >   
> >>    On 11/27/08 17:18, Gary Mills wrote:
> >> On Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 11:19:14AM +1300, Ian Collins wrote:
> >> On Fri 28/11/08 10:53 , Gary Mills [1]mills at cc.umanitoba.ca
sent:
> >> On Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 07:39:43AM +1100, Edward Irvine wrote:
> >>
> >> I''m currently working with an organisation who
> >> want use ZFS for their  > full zones. Storage is SAN attached,
and
> they
> >> also want to create a  > separate /var for each zone, which
causes
> issues
> >> when the zone is  > installed. They believe that a separate
/var is
> >> still good practice.
> >> If your mount options are different for /var and /, you will need
> >> a separate filesystem.  In our case, we use `setuid=off''
and
> >> `devices=off'' on /var for security reasons.  We do the
same thing
> >> for home directories and /tmp .
> >>
> >> For zones?
> >>
> >> Sure, if you require different mount options in the zones.
> >>
> >>    I looked into this and found that, using ufs,  you can indeed 
> set up
> >>    the zone''s /var directory as a separate file system. 
I  don''t know
> >>    about
> >>    how LiveUpgrade works with that configuration (I
didn''t try it).
> >>    But I was at least able to get the zone to install and boot.
> >>    But with zfs, I couldn''t even get a zone with a
separate /var
> >>    dataset to install, let alone be manageable with LiveUpgrade.
> >>    I configured the zone like so:
> >>    # zonecfg -z z4
> >>    z4: No such zone configured
> >>    Use ''create'' to begin configuring a new zone.
> >>    zonecfg:z4> create
> >>    zonecfg:z4> set zonepath=/zfszones/z4
> >>    zonecfg:z4> add fs
> >>    zonecfg:z4:fs> set dir=/var
> >>    zonecfg:z4:fs> set
special=rpool/ROOT/s10x_u6wos_07b/zfszones/z4/var
> >>    zonecfg:z4:fs> set type=zfs
> >>    zonecfg:z4:fs> end
> >>    zonecfg:z4> exit
> >>    I then get this result from trying to install the zone:
> >>    prancer# zoneadm -z z4 install
> >>    Preparing to install zone <z4>.
> >>    ERROR: No such file or directory: cannot mount
</zfszones/z4/root/var>

I think you''re running into the problem of defining the var as the
filesystem that already exists under the zone root.  We had issues with that, so
any time I''ve been doing filesystems, I don''t push in zfs
datasets, I create a zfs filesystem in the global zone and mount that directory
into the zone with lofs.  For example, I''ve got a pool zdisk with a
filesystem down the path -
zdisk/zones/zvars/(zonename)

which mounts itself to -
/zdisk/zones/zvars/(zonename)

It''s a ZFS filesystem with quota and reservation setup, and I just do
an lofs to it via these lines in the /etc/zones/(zonename).xml file -

  <filesystem special="/zdisk/zones/zvars/(zonename)"
directory="/var" type="lofs">
    <fsoption name="nodevices"/>
  </filesystem>

I think that''s the equivalent of the following zonecfg lines -

zonecfg:z4> add fs
zonecfg:z4:fs> set dir=/var
zonecfg:z4:fs> set special=/zdisk/zones/zvars/z4/var
zonecfg:z4:fs> set type=lofs
zonecfg:z4:fs> end

I think to put the zfs into the zone, you need to do an add dataset, instead of
an add fs.  I tried that once and didn''t like the results though
completely.  The dataset was controllable inside the zone (which is what I
wanted at the time), but it wasn''t controllably from the global zone
anymore.  And I couldn''t access it from the global zone easily to get
the backup software to pick it up.

Doing it this way means you have to manage the zfs datasets from the global
zone, but that''s not really an issue here.

So, create the separate filesystems you want in the global zone (without
stacking them under the zoneroot - separate directory somewhere), setup the zfs
stuff you want, then lofs it into the local zone.  I''ve had that
install successfully before.

Hope that''s helpful in some way!


> >>     
> >
> > You might have to pre-create this filesystem. `special'' may
not be
> > needed at all.
> >   
> I did pre-create the file system.  Also, I tried omitting
"special" and
> zonecfg complains. 
> 
> I think that there might need to be some changes
> to zonecfg and the zone installation code to get separate
> /var datasets in non-global zones to work.
> 
> Lori
> >   
> >>    in non-global zone to install: the source block device or
directory
> >>    <rpool/ROOT/s10x_u6wos_07b/zfszones/z1/var> cannot be
accessed
> >>    ERROR: cannot setup zone <z4> inherited and configured
file systems
> >>    ERROR: cannot setup zone <z4> file systems inherited and
configured
> >>    from the global zone
> >>    ERROR: cannot create zone boot environment <z4>
> >>    I don''t fully  understand the failures here.  I
suspect that
> there are
> >>    problems both in the zfs code and zones code.  It SHOULD work
though.
> >>    The fact that it doesn''t seems like a bug.
> >>    In the meantime, I guess we have to conclude that a separate
/var
> >>    in a non-global zone is not supported on zfs.  A separate /var
in
> >>    the global zone is supported  however, even when the root is
zfs.
> >>     
> >
> > I haven''t tried ZFS zone roots myself, but I do have a few
comments.
> > ZFS filesystems are cheap because they don''t require separate
disk
> > slices.  As well, they are attribute boundaries.  Those are necessary
> > or convenient in some case.
> >
> >   
> 
> _______________________________________________
> zfs-discuss mailing list
> zfs-discuss at opensolaris.org
> mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discuss

On 12/02/08 10:24, Mike Gerdts wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 11:17 AM, Lori Alt <Lori.Alt at sun.com>
wrote:
>   
>> I did pre-create the file system.  Also, I tried omitting
"special" and
>> zonecfg complains.
>>
>> I think that there might need to be some changes
>> to zonecfg and the zone installation code to get separate
>> /var datasets in non-global zones to work.
>>     
>
> You could probably do something like:
>
> zfs create rpool/zones/$zone
> zfs create rpool/zones/$zone/var
>
> zonecfg -z $zone
> add fs
>   set dir=/var
>   set special=/zones/$zone/var
>   set type=lofs
>   end
> ...
>
> zoneadm -z $zone install
>
>   
I follow you up to here.  But why do the next steps?
> zonecfg -z $zone
> remove fs dir=/var
>
> zfs set mountpoint=/zones/$zone/root/var rpool/zones/$zone/var
>
>   
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On 12/02/08 11:04, Brian Wilson wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Lori Alt <Lori.Alt at Sun.COM>
> Date: Tuesday, December 2, 2008 11:19 am
> Subject: Re: [zfs-discuss] Separate /var
> To: Gary Mills <mills at cc.umanitoba.ca>
> Cc: zfs-discuss at opensolaris.org
>
>   
>> On 12/02/08 09:00, Gary Mills wrote:
>>     
>>> On Mon, Dec 01, 2008 at 04:45:16PM -0700, Lori Alt wrote:
>>>   
>>>       
>>>>    On 11/27/08 17:18, Gary Mills wrote:
>>>> On Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 11:19:14AM +1300, Ian Collins wrote:
>>>> On Fri 28/11/08 10:53 , Gary Mills [1]mills at cc.umanitoba.ca
sent:
>>>> On Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 07:39:43AM +1100, Edward Irvine wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I''m currently working with an organisation who
>>>> want use ZFS for their  > full zones. Storage is SAN
attached, and
>>>>         
>> they
>>     
>>>> also want to create a  > separate /var for each zone, which
causes
>>>>         
>> issues
>>     
>>>> when the zone is  > installed. They believe that a separate
/var is
>>>> still good practice.
>>>> If your mount options are different for /var and /, you will
need
>>>> a separate filesystem.  In our case, we use
`setuid=off'' and
>>>> `devices=off'' on /var for security reasons.  We do the
same thing
>>>> for home directories and /tmp .
>>>>
>>>> For zones?
>>>>
>>>> Sure, if you require different mount options in the zones.
>>>>
>>>>    I looked into this and found that, using ufs,  you can
indeed
>>>>         
>> set up
>>     
>>>>    the zone''s /var directory as a separate file
system.  I  don''t know
>>>>    about
>>>>    how LiveUpgrade works with that configuration (I
didn''t try it).
>>>>    But I was at least able to get the zone to install and boot.
>>>>    But with zfs, I couldn''t even get a zone with a
separate /var
>>>>    dataset to install, let alone be manageable with
LiveUpgrade.
>>>>    I configured the zone like so:
>>>>    # zonecfg -z z4
>>>>    z4: No such zone configured
>>>>    Use ''create'' to begin configuring a new
zone.
>>>>    zonecfg:z4> create
>>>>    zonecfg:z4> set zonepath=/zfszones/z4
>>>>    zonecfg:z4> add fs
>>>>    zonecfg:z4:fs> set dir=/var
>>>>    zonecfg:z4:fs> set
special=rpool/ROOT/s10x_u6wos_07b/zfszones/z4/var
>>>>    zonecfg:z4:fs> set type=zfs
>>>>    zonecfg:z4:fs> end
>>>>    zonecfg:z4> exit
>>>>    I then get this result from trying to install the zone:
>>>>    prancer# zoneadm -z z4 install
>>>>    Preparing to install zone <z4>.
>>>>    ERROR: No such file or directory: cannot mount
</zfszones/z4/root/var>
>>>>         
>
>
> I think you''re running into the problem of defining the var as the
filesystem that already exists under the zone root.  We had issues with that, so
any time I''ve been doing filesystems, I don''t push in zfs
datasets, I create a zfs filesystem in the global zone and mount that directory
into the zone with lofs.  For example, I''ve got a pool zdisk with a
filesystem down the path -
> zdisk/zones/zvars/(zonename)
>
> which mounts itself to -
> /zdisk/zones/zvars/(zonename)
>
> It''s a ZFS filesystem with quota and reservation setup, and I just
do an lofs to it via these lines in the /etc/zones/(zonename).xml file -
>
>   <filesystem special="/zdisk/zones/zvars/(zonename)"
directory="/var" type="lofs">
>     <fsoption name="nodevices"/>
>   </filesystem>
>
> I think that''s the equivalent of the following zonecfg lines -
>
> zonecfg:z4> add fs
> zonecfg:z4:fs> set dir=/var
> zonecfg:z4:fs> set special=/zdisk/zones/zvars/z4/var
> zonecfg:z4:fs> set type=lofs
> zonecfg:z4:fs> end
>
> I think to put the zfs into the zone, you need to do an add dataset,
instead of an add fs.  I tried that once and didn''t like the results
though completely.  The dataset was controllable inside the zone (which is what
I wanted at the time), but it wasn''t controllably from the global zone
anymore.  And I couldn''t access it from the global zone easily to get
the backup software to pick it up.
>
> Doing it this way means you have to manage the zfs datasets from the global
zone, but that''s not really an issue here.
>   
So I tried your suggestion and it appears to work, at
least initially (I have a feeling that it will cause
problems later if I want to clone the BE using LiveUpgrade,
but first things first.)

> So, create the separate filesystems you want in the global zone (without
stacking them under the zoneroot - separate directory somewhere
Why does it have to be in a separate directory?

lori
>  setup the zfs stuff you want, then lofs it into the local zone. 
I''ve had that install successfully before.
>
> Hope that''s helpful in some way!
>
>   
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On Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 6:13 PM, Lori Alt <Lori.Alt at sun.com>
wrote:
> On 12/02/08 10:24, Mike Gerdts wrote:
> I follow you up to here.  But why do the next steps?
>
> > zonecfg -z $zone
> > remove fs dir=/var
> >
> > zfs set mountpoint=/zones/$zone/root/var rpool/zones/$zone/var
It''s not strictly required to perform this last set of commands, but
the lofs mount point is not really needed.  Longer term it will likely
look cleaner (e.g. to live upgrade) to not have this lofs mount.  That
is, I suspect that live upgrade is more likely to look at /var in the
zone and say "ahhh, that is a zfs file system - I known how to deal
with that" than it is for it to say "ahhh, that is a lofs file system
to some other zfs file system in the global zone - I know how to deal
with that."

-- 
Mike Gerdts
mgerdts.blogspot.com

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I have ZFS root/boot in my environment, and I am interested in
separating /var in a independent dataset. How can I do it. I can use
Live Upgrade, if needed.

- --
Jesus Cea Avion                         _/_/      _/_/_/        _/_/_/
jcea at jcea.es - jcea.es     _/_/    _/_/  _/_/    _/_/  _/_/
jabber / xmpp:jcea at jabber.org         _/_/    _/_/          _/_/_/_/_/
.                              _/_/  _/_/    _/_/          _/_/  _/_/
"Things are not so easy"      _/_/  _/_/    _/_/  _/_/    _/_/  _/_/
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"El amor es poner tu felicidad en la felicidad de otro" - Leibniz
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Jesus Cea wrote:
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
> I have ZFS root/boot in my environment, and I am interested in
> separating /var in a independent dataset. How can I do it. I can use
> Live Upgrade, if needed.
>
>   
It''s an install option.
> - --
>   
The correct sig. delimiter is "-- "

-- 
Ian.

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Ian Collins wrote:
>> I have ZFS root/boot in my environment, and I am interested in
>> separating /var in a independent dataset. How can I do it. I can use
>> Live Upgrade, if needed.
> It''s an install option.
But I am not installing, but doing a Live Upgrade. The machine is in
production; I can not do a reinstall. I can mess with configuration
files an create datasets and such by hand.
>> - --
> The correct sig. delimiter is "-- "
I know. The issue is PGP/GNUPG/Enigmail integration.

- --
Jesus Cea Avion                         _/_/      _/_/_/        _/_/_/
jcea at jcea.es - jcea.es     _/_/    _/_/  _/_/    _/_/  _/_/
jabber / xmpp:jcea at jabber.org         _/_/    _/_/          _/_/_/_/_/
.                              _/_/  _/_/    _/_/          _/_/  _/_/
"Things are not so easy"      _/_/  _/_/    _/_/  _/_/    _/_/  _/_/
"My name is Dump, Core Dump"   _/_/_/        _/_/_/      _/_/  _/_/
"El amor es poner tu felicidad en la felicidad de otro" - Leibniz
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On 12/10/08 12:15, Jesus Cea wrote:
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
> Ian Collins wrote:
>   
>>> I have ZFS root/boot in my environment, and I am interested in
>>> separating /var in a independent dataset. How can I do it. I can
use
>>> Live Upgrade, if needed.
>>>       
>> It''s an install option.
>>     
>
> But I am not installing, but doing a Live Upgrade. The machine is in
> production; I can not do a reinstall. I can mess with configuration
> files an create datasets and such by hand.
>   
OK, here''s some mail I sent to someone last week in response to
a similar question:
> The separate /var directory is supported as an option
> of an initial install, but right now, there''s no way to
> get it automatically as a result of a migration from
> a ufs BE to a zfs BE.  However, you can still make it
> happen:
>
> You might possibly want to boot from the failsafe
> archive while doing this, but doing it while booted
> from the BE I was modifying just worked for me:
>
> Assuming that your BE name is myBE, you should
> be able to do the following:
>
> # zfs create -o canmount=noauto pool/ROOT/myBE/var
> # zfs set mountpoint=/mnt pool/ROOT/myBE/var
> # zfs mount pool/ROOT/myBE/var   # this assumes you have an empty 
> directory /mnt
> # cd /var
> # find . |  cpio -pmud /mnt
> # zfs unmount pool/ROOT/myBE/var
> # zfs inherit mountpoint pool/ROOT/myBE/var
>
> Now reboot.
>
> If that all works, you might want to then boot off the
> failsafe archive, mount pool/ROOT/myBE to a
> temporary mount point, and then delete the old
> /var directory under that mount point (just to get
> rid of the old one so that it doesn''t cause confusion
> later). 
The instructions above are intended for use when booted
from the BE you''re trying to modify, but you could also
do something similar after you''ve created a new BE,
but before you boot from it.

LiveUpgrade should probably support doing something
like this, but then, LiveUpgrade should probably support a lot
of things.

Lori
>   
>>> - --
>>>       
>> The correct sig. delimiter is "-- "
>>     
>
> I know. The issue is PGP/GNUPG/Enigmail integration.
>
> - --
> Jesus Cea Avion                         _/_/      _/_/_/        _/_/_/
> jcea at jcea.es - jcea.es     _/_/    _/_/  _/_/    _/_/  _/_/
> jabber / xmpp:jcea at jabber.org         _/_/    _/_/          _/_/_/_/_/
> .                              _/_/  _/_/    _/_/          _/_/  _/_/
> "Things are not so easy"      _/_/  _/_/    _/_/  _/_/    _/_/ 
_/_/
> "My name is Dump, Core Dump"   _/_/_/        _/_/_/      _/_/ 
_/_/
> "El amor es poner tu felicidad en la felicidad de otro" - Leibniz
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> Version: GnuPG v1.4.8 (GNU/Linux)
> Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - enigmail.mozdev.org
>
> iQCVAwUBSUAVTplgi5GaxT1NAQINdwP+I3rz5NJPu7pvQ7yJ5TPg1oxjs/5pHnz/
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