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Version 3.1-en Solaris 10 Container Guide - 3.1 Supplement Effective: 30/11/2009
Supplement
A. Solaris Container in OpenSolaris
A.1. OpenSolaris – general
[dd] In 2005, Sun Microsystems started OpenSolaris as an OpenSource project in order to support
and advance the developer community around Solaris (http://www.opensolaris.org/os/).
In May 2008, the first OpenSolaris operating system was completed (http://www.opensolaris.com/).
The first distribution, OpenSolaris 2008.05, was addressed to individual desktop and server users
especially in the x86 market, Web 2.0 developers and HPC-customers. With versions OpenSolaris
2008.11 and OpenSolaris 2009.06, further distributions were released that are oriented towards
advancing the Solaris kernel and the diverse Solaris technologies.
OpenSolaris 2009.06 has been available since June 2009 not only for x86 systems but also for
SPARC systems (http://www.opensolaris.com/learn/features/whats-new/200906/).
In addition to the integration of a variety of OpenSolaris projects, the OpenSolaris operating system
features many conceptual innovations compared to the Solaris 10 distribution. This includes among
other things:
• Distribution on a live CD
• Very easy graphic installation
• Introduction of an Internet-based package management system (Image Packaging System -
IPS) (http://www.opensolaris.org/os/project/pkg/)
• New package manager for installation of IPS packages
• New update mechanism for easy upgrade of the operating system
• Automated installation by using the Automatic Installer (AI)
(http://www.opensolaris.org/os/project/caiman/auto_install/)
A.1. ipkg-Branded zones
The new packaging system led to the introduction of a new zone brand that contains IPS-based
zones. With respect to their functionality and use, OpenSolaris zones are comparable to Solaris 10
zones. Likewise, the resource manager functionalities of OpenSolaris are at least identical to those of
Solaris 10 and in part enhanced. The following differences exist between the ipkg brand and the
native brand:
• ipkg zones are very small (approx. 200 MB) and contain only the most necessary packages in
their basic installation. As a result, a zone installation is very fast. Additional packages can
simply be added.
• ipkg zones are currently always whole root zones. The zonecfg feature inherit-pkg-dir is geared
towards SVR4 packages and cannot be applied to IPS packages. The possibilities of sparse-
root zones with OpenSolaris are currently (June 2009) being discussed.
• To install a zone, the system requires access to an Internet-based package repository which
is normally predefined by the global zone. During installation, however, an alternative repository
can be specified as well (e.g. zoneadm -z keetonga install -a
ipkg=http://pkg.opensolaris.com:80) that contains the packages that should
be used to create the zone. Since the http protocol is used for communication, no direct
connection to the Internet is required. Connection via a http proxy is sufficient.
• ipkg zones are independent of the packaging system of the global zone.
These are the differences at the current status (June 2009). The functionalities of OpenSolaris
continue to be in a very dynamic development process. Therefore this list will continue to change as
development progresses.
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