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Creating a Solaris FLAR image

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Using the flarcreate command we can create an image of the Solaris operating system. This image can then be used to reinstall the OS on the original host or used to install the OS on other systems.

Creating FLAR image

To create the FLAR image we simply use the following command:

flarcreate -n name options <filename>

Where:

  • name - The name that you give the archive. The name you specify is the value of the content_name keyword.
  • options - For a description of options, see flar Command.
  • filename - The name of the archive file. If you do not specify a path, flarcreate saves the archive file in the current directory.

For example:

# flarcreate -n sol10 -c -S -R / -x /library /flar-images/sol10.flar
Full Flash
Checking integrity...
Integrity OK.
Running precreation scripts...
Precreation scripts done.
Creating the archive...

The options used in the above example are:

  • -n defines the name of the FLAR image sol10
  • -c compression the final image
  • -S do not include sizing information
  • -R set root directory /
  • -x exclude the specific directory /library from the image
  • /flar-images/sol10.flar store the FLAR image sol10.flar on the /flar-images directory.

NOTE: If the archive creation is successful, the flarcreate command returns an exit code of 0. If the archive creation fails, the flarcreate command returns a nonzero exit code.

Viewing FLAR info

After we have create the FLAR image, we can used the flar info command to view detail of the image. For example:

# flar info /flar-images/sol10.flar
archive_id=4e05f33114107d99d68e4219e801d778
files_archived_method=cpio
creation_date=20111104125604
creation_master=app-server
content_name=sol10
creation_node=t-2000
creation_hardware_class=sun4v
creation_platform=SUNW,Sun-Fire-T200
creation_processor=sparc
creation_release=5.10
creation_os_name=SunOS
creation_os_version=Generic_142909-17
files_compressed_method=compress
files_archived_size=5551073973
content_architectures=sun4c,sun4d,sun4m,sun4u,sun4us,sun4s
type=FULL

Viewing FLAR image contents

We can use the -l flag to check the file structure of the archive. For example:

# flar info -l /flar-images/sol10.flar
lost+found
export
export/home
    :
    :
usr/lib/cpu
usr/lib/cpu/sparcv8plus
    :
    :
devices/pseudo/wc@0:wscons
devices/pseudo/tcp6@0:tcp6
devices/pseudo/sctp6@0:sctp6
var/fm/fmd/ckpt
var/fm/fmd/rsrc
kernel/drv/st.conf
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