How to Clone zones in Solaris 10

How to clone a zone

1. Login as a super user

# su root

2. Look how many zones are install on the system

# zoneadm list -vc
ID NAME             STATUS     PATH                      BRAND    IP
0 global           running    /                              native   shared
2 zone1            running    /zones/zone1           native   shared

3. Now we need to clone the zone ‘zone1’

# zoneadm -z zone1 halt

# zoneadm list -vc
ID NAME             STATUS     PATH                       BRAND    IP
0 global           running    /                              native   shared
– zone1            installed  /zones/zone1            native   shared

We can see from above command that zone has been halted.

4. Now next step is to export the source of zone1 to a new file say suppose master.

# zonecfg -z zone1 export -f /zones/master

Look at the  master file

# cd /zones

# more master
create -b
set zonepath=/zones/zone1
set autoboot=true
set ip-type=shared
add inherit-pkg-dir
set dir=/lib
end
add inherit-pkg-dir
set dir=/platform
end
add inherit-pkg-dir
set dir=/sbin
end
add inherit-pkg-dir
set dir=/usr
end
add net
set address=192.168.9.173
set physical=eri0
end

In this we need to change some configuration like IPaddress and the path name of the zone.

# vi master

create -b
set zonepath=/zones/master
set autoboot=true
set ip-type=shared
add inherit-pkg-dir
set dir=/lib
end
add inherit-pkg-dir
set dir=/platform
end
add inherit-pkg-dir
set dir=/sbin
end
add inherit-pkg-dir
set dir=/usr
end
add net
set address=192.168.9.174
set physical=eri0
end

We edited the master file , change the path and ipaddress.

5. Now create the new zone zone2 using master file

# zonecfg -z zone2 -f /zones/master

Clone the zone1 to zone2

6. Install the new zone ‘zone2’ using zone1

# zoneadm -z zone2 clone zone1
Cloning zonepath /zones/zone1…
# zoneadm list -vc
ID NAME             STATUS     PATH                     BRAND    IP
0 global           running    /                              native   shared
– zone1            installed  /zones/zone1            native   shared
– zone2            installed  /zones/zone2            native   shared

7. Next step is to boot zone1 and zone2

# zoneadm -z zone1 boot

# zoneadm -z zone2 boot

# zoneadm list -vc
ID NAME             STATUS     PATH                      BRAND    IP
0 global           running    /                              native   shared
4 zone1            running    /zones/zone1           native   shared
5 zone2            running    /zones/zone2           native   shared