Create a Solaris Zone Using a Here Document

Creating a new zone in Solaris takes several steps and is a laborious task, especially if several zones are to be created at once. The process can be sped up by setting up the details of the new zone in variables, then sending all of the commands into zonecfg using a here document.

The code below assumes two network interfaces, and that the zones are stored in /zones. It should be customised as required to add filesystems, memory capping etc (see Further Options, below).

First set up the zone name ($NAME), the number of cores ($CORES), the two network interfaces ($IF1 and $IF2)[1] , and IP addresses ($ADD1 and $ADD2):
NAME=amypond
CORES=2
IF1=hre228001
IF2=hre229001
ADD1=172.21.138.107
ADD2=172.21.139.107

Copy and paste the following to the command line (all in one go):
zonecfg -z $NAME <<EOF
create
set zonepath=/zones/$NAME
set autoboot=true
set bootargs="-m verbose"
add dedicated-cpu
set ncpus=$CORES
end
add net
set physical=$IF1
set address=$ADD1
end
add net
set physical=$IF2
set address=$ADD2
end
info
verify
commit
EOF
zoneadm -z $NAME install
zoneadm -z $NAME ready
zoneadm -z $NAME boot


Further Options

To add a CD-ROM, add the following lines immediately after an end command above:
add fs
set dir=/mnt
set special=/cdrom
set type=lofs
add options [ro,nodevices]
end

To mount a filesystem from the global zone, amend and add the following lines immediately after an end command above:
add inherit-pkg-dir
set dir=/opt/sfw
end

To add memory capping, amend and add the following lines immediately after an end command above:
add capped-memory
set physical=50m
set swap=100m
set locked=30m
end

Further configuration can be done via the console:
zlogin -C $NAME


[1] These can be obtained from an ifconfig -a on any of the other zones on the host. ⤴