Solaris 10 System Administration Part I
My Solaris 10 System Administration Part I notes.
Credits
My main source of information came from Oracle System Administration of Solaris 10 Part I from Oracle University (excellent training) & Solaris 10 man pages.
Solaris 10 OS Directory Hierarchy
File systems
Unix File System (UFS) is the default file system
Directory starts with root directory (/)
Solaris 10 OS includes alternate file system called zettabyte file system (ZFS)
Logically all directories fall below root directory (/)
Physically directories can be located on one or spread over multiple file systems
<insert graphics to show this>
Refer to filesystem man page for more information on file system organization.
$ man -s 5 filesystem
Important directories
| Directory | Notes |
| / | root of file system |
| /bin | symbolic link to /usr/bin & location for binary files of standard system commands |
| /dev | primary directory for logical device names & contents of directory are symbolic links to device files in /devices directory |
| /etc | directory holds host-specific config files & databases for system administration |
| /export | default directory for commonly shared file systems (like user home directories) |
| /home | default directory or mount point for user home directories |
| /kernel | |
| /lib | |
| /mnt | |
| /opt | |
| /platform | |
| /sbin | |
| /usr | |
| /var |
Important in-memory system directories
| /dev/fd | |
| /devices | |
| /etc/mnttab | |
| /etc/svc/volatile | |
| /proc | |
| /system/contract | |
| /system/object | |
| /tmp | directory for temporary files (cleared during boot sequence) |
| /var/run |
Subdirectories of note under /dev
| /dev/dsk | block disk devices |
| /dev/fd | file descriptors |
| /dev/md | logical volume management metadisk drives |
| /dev/pts | pseudo terminal devices |
| /dev/rdsk | raw disk devices |
| /dev/rmt | raw magnetic devices |
| /dev/term | serial devices |
Important subdirectories under /etc
| /etc/acct | config info for accounting system |
| /etc/cron.d | config info for cron utility |
| /etc/default | default info for various programs |
| /etc/inet | config files for network services |
| /etc/init.d | scripts for starting & stopping services |
| /etc/lib | |
| /etc/lp | config info for printer subsystem |
| /etc/mail | config info for mail subsystem |
| /etc/nfs | config file for NFS server logging |
| /etc/opt | config info for optional packages |
| /etc/rc#.d | legacy scripts that are executed when entering or leaving a specific run level |
| /etc/security | controls files for Role Based Access Control & security privileges |
| /etc/skel | default shell initialization files for new users |
| /etc/svc | Service Management Facility database & log files |
Important subdirectories of /usr
| /usr/bin | standard system commands |
| /usr/ccs | C-compilation programs & libraries |
| /usr/demo | demo programs & data |
| /usr/dt | Java Desktop System (JDS) software directory or mount point |
| /usr/include | Header files |
| /usr/jdk | directory contains Java technology programs & libraries |
| /usr/kernel | loadable kernel modules not generally required during boot process |
| /usr/lib | architecture-dependent databases, libraries, & binaries that are not invoked directly by user |
| /usr/opt | config info for optional packages |
| /usr/sbin | sys admin coomands |
| /usr/spool | symbolic link to /var/spool directory |
Important subdirectories of /var
| /var/adm | log files for syslog, system accounting, etc |
| /var/crash | crash dump storage |
| /var/spool | spool files storage |
| /var/svc | Service Management Facility control files and logs |
| /var/tmp | long term storage of temp files (survives reboot) |
File components
Generally a file name is associated with an inode & an inode provides access to data blocks.
<insert figure of relationship>
file names
File names are objects frequently used to manage files. A file must have a name that is associated with an inode.
inodes
Inodes are objects that Solaris OS uses to maintain info about a file. In general an inode contains:
- file info = file owner, permissions, & size
- pointers to data blocks associated with file content
inodes are numbered & each file system contains its own inode list
At UFS creation a new inode list is created
data blocks
data blocks are units of disk space that store data
Regular files, directories, & symbolic links make use of data blocks
Device files do not hold data therefore do not use data blocks
ZFS uses the following data structures: dnode data structure: the data structure contains pointers to data blocks znode data structure: this data structure contains info about file (owner, permissions, & size)
Dnode & znode data structures are called metadata & stored dynamically by ZFS. ZFS implements ZFS POSIX layer (ZPL) which is a primary interface for ZFS. ZPL allows commands you use with UFS to work with ZFS. ZFS emulates UFS inode number mechanism
Identifying file types
Solaris has four main file types:
| regular or ordinary files | store one or more types of data |
| directories | store one or more types of data |
| symbolic links | store one or more types of data |
| device files | does not store data |
Use ls command with -l option to distinguish different file types
The first character of each line indicates file type
<insert image of ls -l output with dictionary>
| - | regular files |
| d | directories |
| l | symbolic links |
| b | block-special device files |
| c | character-special device files |
Examples on v240:
# cd /etc # ls -l total 650 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 14 May 3 15:34 TIMEZONE -> ./default/init drwxr-xr-x 6 root other 512 May 3 16:15 X11 drwxr-xr-x 2 adm adm 512 May 3 16:19 acct -rw-r--r-- 1 root sys 253 Aug 6 2010 aggregation.conf lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 14 May 3 16:03 aliases -> ./mail/aliases drwxr-xr-x 7 root bin 512 May 3 16:11 apache drwxr-xr-x 2 root bin 512 May 3 15:54 apache2 *****output truncated*****
# pwd /devices/pci@1c,600000/scsi@2 # ls -l total 8 drwxr-xr-x 2 root sys 512 May 3 16:25 sd@0,0 brw-r----- 1 root sys 32, 0 Jul 7 13:54 sd@0,0:a crw-r----- 1 root sys 32, 0 Jul 14 16:50 sd@0,0:a,raw
directories
directories only store information on file name to inode number relationships
A directory contains data for files that are logically located within directory
Regular files
Most common file types found in Solaris are regular files. Regular files can store different types of data including ASCII text or binary data.
Symbolic links
a symbolic link is a file that points to another file & contain only one type of data
a symbolic link contains the path name of the file to which it points & the file can be located on other file systems
the size of a symbolic link always matches the number of characters in the path name it contains
Example:
after the '->' there are 19 characters & the 19 before May is the file size.
# ls -l /etc/prtvtoc lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 19 May 3 15:34 prtvtoc -> ../usr/sbin/prtvtoc
symbolic links can point to regular files, directories, other symbolic links, & device files.
symbolic links can be absolute or relative path names
ln command
ln command with -s option creates a symbolic link
<insert example of creating symbolic link>
<insert picture of relationship between link & file>
device files
device file provides access to a device
When using long listing on file the size field is populated by two numbers separated by comma
The two numbers are called major & minor device numbers
major device # identifies the specific device driver required to access device minor device # identifies specific unit of the type that the device driver controls
Long listing:
bash-3.00$ ls -l | grep pci drwxr-xr-x 4 root sys 512 May 3 16:25 pci@1c,600000 crw------- 1 root sys 109, 767 Jul 14 16:50 pci@1c,600000:devctl crw------- 1 root sys 109, 764 Jul 14 16:50 pci@1c,600000:intr crw------- 1 root sys 109, 765 Jul 14 16:50 pci@1c,600000:reg drwxr-xr-x 5 root sys 512 May 3 16:25 pci@1d,700000 crw------- 1 root sys 109, 1023 Jul 14 16:50 pci@1d,700000:devctl crw------- 1 root sys 109, 1020 Jul 14 16:50 pci@1d,700000:intr crw------- 1 root sys 109, 1021 Jul 14 16:50 pci@1d,700000:reg drwxr-xr-x 6 root sys 512 May 3 16:25 pci@1e,600000 crw------- 1 root sys 109, 511 Jul 14 16:50 pci@1e,600000:devctl crw------- 1 root sys 109, 508 Jul 14 16:50 pci@1e,600000:intr crw------- 1 root sys 109, 509 Jul 14 16:50 pci@1e,600000:reg drwxr-xr-x 4 root sys 512 May 3 16:25 pci@1f,700000 crw------- 1 root sys 109, 255 Jul 14 16:50 pci@1f,700000:devctl crw------- 1 root sys 109, 252 Jul 14 16:50 pci@1f,700000:intr crw------- 1 root sys 109, 253 Jul 14 16:50 pci@1f,700000:reg
File pci@1c,600000:devctl refers to major device # 109 & minor device # 767
You can also use the file command:
bash-3.00$ file pci@1c,600000:devctl pci@1c,600000:devctl: character special (109/767)
Use devfsadm command to create new device files
A relationship exists between device file & device it controls. Major & minor device #s contained in inode establish relationship
<image showing relationship from above example>
Verify device driver is available as kernel module:
bash-3.00# modinfo -w | grep -w scsi 22 1313a40 122a8 - 1 scsi (SCSI Bus Utility Routines) bash-3.00# modinfo -c | grep -w scsi 22 1 scsi LOADED/INSTALLED bash-3.00# modinfo -w | grep -w iscsi 96 7b600000 328c8 279 1 iscsi (Sun iSCSI Initiator v20100714-0) bash-3.00# modinfo -c | grep -w iscsi 96 1 iscsi LOADED/INSTALLED
device files are categorized as character-special [character or raw devices] or block-special devices [block devices]
device files in each category interact with devices differently
character-special device files
File type of "c" is character-special device file & data is accessed as a data stream
crw------- 1 root sys 109, 767 Jul 14 16:50 pci@1c,600000:devctl
Result of file command:
bash-3.00# file pci@1c,600000:devctl pci@1c,600000:devctl: character special (109/767)
block-special device files
File type of "b" is a block-special device file & for disk devices, block-special device files call for I/O operations based on a defined block size
Block size depends on particular device file
<example of long listing of block file>
data transferred between process & block-special device is first stored in kernel-managed memory-based cache
block devices allow random seeks to be performed [character devices do not]
hard links
hard link is association between file name & an inode
inode keeps count # of file names associated with it (hard links)
output of long listing will show link count or total # of hard links to a file
bash-3.00# ls -l mnttab -r--r--r-- 5 root root 1539 Jul 7 13:55 mnttab
/etc/mnttab file has 5 link counts or hard links [between file permissions & owner]
creating new hard links
ln command creates new hard links to regular files
$ ln file5 file6
$ ln file5 file7
$ ln file7 file8
$ ls -il
total 64868
54 -rw------- 1 paul labnet 555969 May 6 13:52 file.7z
55 -rw-r--r-- 1 paul labnet 53 May 6 13:23 file1.gz
39 -rw-r--r-- 1 paul labnet 739704 May 6 13:42 file2.gz
41 -rw-r--r-- 1 paul labnet 0 May 5 12:35 file3
50 -rw-r--r-- 1 paul labnet 3976616 May 6 13:37 file4
52 -rw-r--r-- 4 paul labnet 3976541 May 6 13:43 file5
52 -rw-r--r-- 4 paul labnet 3976541 May 6 13:43 file6
52 -rw-r--r-- 4 paul labnet 3976541 May 6 13:43 file7
52 -rw-r--r-- 4 paul labnet 3976541 May 6 13:43 file8
53 -rw-r--r-- 1 paul labnet 11934208 May 6 13:48 filetar.tar
42 drwxr-xr-x 2 paul labnet 512 May 5 12:45 subdir1
$
The ln command created files 6-8. Now files 5-8 refer to same inode [52]. Notice link count is now 4 for each of the files. You must use -i option with ls command to view inodes
Use find command with -inum option to find files with same inode
$ find . -inum 52 ./file6 ./file7 ./file5 ./file8
<insert image showing file name to inode association>
deleting hard links
delete files normally & link count will decrease automatically
$ rm file8
$ ls -li
total 57076
54 -rw------- 1 paul labnet 555969 May 6 13:52 file.7z
55 -rw-r--r-- 1 paul labnet 53 May 6 13:23 file1.gz
39 -rw-r--r-- 1 paul labnet 739704 May 6 13:42 file2.gz
41 -rw-r--r-- 1 paul labnet 0 May 5 12:35 file3
50 -rw-r--r-- 1 paul labnet 3976616 May 6 13:37 file4
52 -rw-r--r-- 3 paul labnet 3976541 May 6 13:43 file5
52 -rw-r--r-- 3 paul labnet 3976541 May 6 13:43 file6
52 -rw-r--r-- 3 paul labnet 3976541 May 6 13:43 file7
53 -rw-r--r-- 1 paul labnet 11934208 May 6 13:48 filetar.tar
42 drwxr-xr-x 2 paul labnet 512 May 5 12:45 subdir1
$
Once all files with same inode are deleted the inode will be deleted
Examples
Find files that match inode on same file system
# ls -l /etc/init.d/apache -rwxr--r-- 6 root sys 2452 Jun 23 2010 /etc/init.d/apache
/etc/init.d/apache file has a 6 link count
# ls -i /etc/init.d/apache
2955 /etc/init.d/apache
/etc/init.d/apache inode is 2955
# find /etc -inum 2955 -exec ls -i {} \;
2955 /etc/init.d/apache
2955 /etc/rc0.d/K16apache
2955 /etc/rc1.d/K16apache
2955 /etc/rc2.d/K16apache
2955 /etc/rc3.d/S50apache
2955 /etc/rcS.d/K16apache
The find command with -inum option allows you to search by inode. Now I know which files are pointing to same location as /etc/init.d/apache
Local disk devices
disk device has physical & logical components
physical disk components
See other sites for more details on physical disk components.
components include spindle, platters, heads, head actuator arm
logical disk components
sector - smallest addressable unit on a platter, one sector can hold 512 bytes of data
track - series of sectors positioned end-to-end in a circular path, # of sectors per track varies due to size of tracks
cylinder - a stack of concentric tracks
<insert pic>
a disk platter [physical component] is divided into sectors, tracks, & cylinders [logical components]
disks present a fixed number of sectors per track to the Solaris OS even though # of sectors is different per track
disk labels & partition tables
disk slices are groups of cylinders used to organize data
typically, administrators will use slices to organize data by function so a slice may store user's home directories, binaries, swap space, or system files
a beginning & ending cylinder define each slice
- of cylinders determines the size of a slice
A disk label is a defined area of disk space used to store information about disk controller, geometry, & slices
A disk label also contains a partition table which holds partition, cylinder, & slice information
Label a disk = write slice info to disk [label a disk after changes are made]
Solaris 10 supports two disk labels
- Sun Microsystems, Inc (SMI) disk label
- SPARC-based Solaris OS
- SPARC volume table of contents (VTOC) label for disks (SMI VTOC)
- supports disks <1 terabyte in size
- resides in 1st sector of disk on SPARC
- includes partition table which enables you to define 0-7 disk partitions (slices)
- slice 2 represents entire disk
- slice 2 maintains important data regarding entire disk, like total # cylinders, size of total disk
- Must be used for SPARC-based & Solaris x86/x64-based systems boot disks
- Solaris x86/x64-based systems maintain two partition tables on each disk
- 1st sector contains a fixed disk (fdisk) partition table
- 2nd sector contains partition table with slice info within Solaris fdisk partition
- fdisk partition defines up to four fdisk partitions
- extensible firmware interface (EFI) disk label
- supports disks >1 terabyte in size on 64-bit kernel
- supports virtual disk volumes
- partition table defines 0-9 disk partitions (slices)
- compatible with UFS & can create UFS >1 terabyte
- Solaris OS systems do not currently boot from disks using EFI labels
<insert some pics of physical disks>
x86/x64 partitions & slices
recommended that you use fdisk menu & format utility to create or modify fdisk partition table
2nd sector of Solaris fdisk partition contains a partition table that defines slices within Solaris fdisk partition, the label that contains this partition table is known as x84/x64 VTOC
using format utility Solaris fdisk partition can be divided into ten slices [0-9]. Slices 0-7 are used for the same purposes as SPARC SMI labels. Slice 2 represents entire disk drive. Slice 8 & 9 are used for purposes relating to x86/x64 hardware
format utility automatically creates slice 8 & 9 when x86/x64 VTOC is defined within Solaris fdisk partition. slice 8 is always required, slice 9 exists, unassigned, on SCSI or Fibre-Channel disks. format utility prevents modifying slices 8 & 9
Solaris OS systems on x86/x64 platforms create device files to support 16 slices for each disk [0-15]. format utility limits to slices 0-7. Solaris x86/x64 systems also create device files that represent four possible fdisk partitions
slice 8 is boot slice by default & contains GRUB stage1 program in sector 0, the Solaris disk label & VTOC in sectors 1 & 2, & GRUB stage2 program beginning at sector 50. Slice 8 occupies the 1st cylinder [0] of Solaris fdisk partition
IDE/SATA disk drives slice 9 is tagged alternates slice. If slice 9 is defined it occupies 2nd & 3rd cylinder [1-2] of Solaris fdisk partition & contains blocks used to store bad block info
disk naming conventions
disk device names identify a series of components that together specify a particular disk device
<insert image of naming convention>
Disk device name format: controller, target, disk (or LUN), fdisk partition, & slice that a particular disk device uses
disk device names represent full name of a slice or fdisk partition
Controller #: identifies host bus adapter (HBA), HBA controls command & data communication between system & disk unit, [system <-HBA-> disk unit], #s are assigned sequentially
Target #: identifies a unique hardware address assigned to SCSI target controller of a disk, tape, or optical drive. IDE & SATA drives typically do not use target #s (some do), Fibre-Channel attached disks may use World Wide Name (WWN) instead of a target #
Disk #: unique identifier for each disk per controller # & target # pair. also known as logical unit number (LUN)
fdisk partition #: number ranging from p0 to p4, number p0 represents whole physical disk, device names that include p# are only found on x86/x64 systems
slice #: a # ranging from s0-s7 on SPARC systems & s0-s15 on x86/x64 systems
SCSI disk device names
SCSI specification allows multiple disks to one target controller
- In some cases, SCSI disk & target controller are combined into one physical unit
- also known as embedded SCSI configuration
- disk # is always set to d0 with embedded SCSI disks
<insert pic of embedded SCSI & regular configurations>