NAME

ipkg — zone brand for running a full copy of OmniOS

DESCRIPTION

The ipkg brand uses the brands(7) framework to provide an environment for running a full copy of Omnios, with independently managed software. For routine patching, ipkg zones must be upgraded separately but core packages such as the system libraries should be kept close to the version installed in the global zone.

If a package update in the global zone requires the creation of a new boot environment (BE), then each ipkg zone will also get a new BE that will be switched to when the global zone is restarted into its new BE.

When performing major version upgrades, ipkg zones must be detached first and then re-attached later; re-attach will trigger a full software update to bring the zone back into sync with the global zone.

ipkg zones are useful for some situations, but have generally been superseded by lipkg(7) zones which automatically keep core system packages synchronised with the global zone.

CONFIGURATION

Persistent network configuration (including DNS resolver information) can be configured using zonecfg(8). An example ipkg zone configured with VNIC "vnic0" using a static IP address is below:

create -t ipkg
set zonepath=/zones/testzone
set autoboot=true
add net
    set physical=vnic0
    set allowed-address=192.168.0.2/24
    set defrouter=192.168.0.1
    set global-nic=auto
end
add attr
    set name=dns-domain
    set type=string
    set value=example.com
end
add attr
    set name=resolvers
    set type=string
    set value=192.168.12.1,192.168.13.1
end

LIMITATIONS

ipkg zone boot environments are linked to the global zone boot environment under which they were created. This means that rolling back the global zone to a previous boot environment will also roll back the zone. For this reason, zone data which should be shared across boot environments should be allocated to a dedicated dataset.

SEE ALSO

brands(7), lipkg(7), privileges(7), resource_controls(7), zones(7), zfs(8), zoneadm(8), zonecfg(8)