I want to create a blank smart machine in SmartOS, not a KVM VM, and install from ISO.
Is this possible? Most docs I can find is about setting up VMs in KVM. I want to install an OS such as Illumos in a native zone within SmartOS. I do NOT want KVM to provide the virtualisation layer. I can do this blindfolded.
It may well be that it’s not supported what I’m hoping to do. Perhaps I really only can create a native zone using a preset template. But wouldn’t it be nice to have Illumos or OpenIndiana in native zone?
I have of course tried to copy an ISO to an existing smartmachines root, and boot it and guess what it didn’t boot of the iso.
vmadm boot 9faeef49-aa24-4f24-b08b-eb6cec6d6ccc order=cd,once cdrom=/sol-11_1-text-x86.iso,ide (scsi,virtio make no difference)For all I can tell, the only way to get a zone VM in SmartOS is to use a template.
Is this even possible?
Answer
The way to provide generic virtualization (i.e. running something like Illumos or OpenIndiana) on top of SmartOS is to use KVM, per the documentation you were already referred to on your previous question.
Zones, like the FreeBSD Jails that inspired them, are NOT generic virtualization: they are a special “sub instance” of the core operating system, effectively a super-chroot-on-steroids. They are created and managed differently, as is described in the documentation. This process requires a pre-built (or custom-created) image on SmartOS, per their documentation.
A Zone is not “bare metal virtualization”: The zones share a common kernel with the hypervisor system. Because of this only SmartOS can run inside of a SmartOS zone (just like only FreeBSD can run inside a FreeBSD jail, and only Solaris can run inside a Solaris zone).
You may be able to get closely-related operating systems to function within a zone, but it would be unwise to attempt this in production, and certainly not supportable by the SmartOS team or any sane sysadmin.
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : jepper , Answer Author : Community
