Create LACP aggregates in Solaris 10

Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) allows multiple network interfaces to work together to increase bandwidth and redundancy. LACP is simlar to IPMP (IP Multipathing) however IPMP is wasteful with IP addresses and can cause problems with ssh remote execution. Whereas LACP only requires one IP address, you need to ensure that your switches support LACP. In this example we are using the IP-hashing method, so ensure that your switch is setup for IP-hashing/Layer 3 hashing.

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begin_script to mirror two drives on a Netra T2000

This is a quick script to configure mirroring of two drives in a Netra T2000 under Solaris. You may need to alter the device settings for your system, but once you have a script like this that works, it can save lots of time when rolling out multiple servers and serves as a mental backup for the future when you need to repeat the configuration.

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Solaris: Delete ZFS slices from a disk

You know ZFS, it is really cool, you can have tons of filesystems in a zpool, you can create raidz/mirror/stripes with just one command, it has compression, quotas and every other cool feature that you can thought about.
But what happens if you have to move a ZFS disk to a Solaris 8/9 system?

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Solaris: create ssh keys for quick server logins

To make access to both servers easier, I created keys for ssh, so I can shell server to server with no password. Following the steps in this Tech-Recipe will make it possible to login to one system from another painless.

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Simple Directory Server 5.2 Master Replication

This Tech-Recipe provides a simple way to replicate LDAP servers. Do your homework to ensure that this is going to give you all that you need to protect your LDAP world. I just wanted to get folks started in the right direction.

God bless! -scott.

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Solaris 10 Directory Server Installation

This Tech-Recipe details an installation of Directory Server 5.2 p4 from Sun Microsystems into a Solaris 10 whole-root zone. Good DS installation instructions are VERY difficult to find. Also covered are configuring systems as local LDAP clients and using the directory server to store automount maps for automatically mounting user home directories. This, I hope, introduces just the step-by-step and assumes that you have a bit of technical knowledge about such matters …

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ZFS: Ten reasons to reformat your hard drives

The much anticipated release of the new ZFS filesystem in Solaris 10 will revolutionize the way system administrators (and executives) think about and work with filesystems. Breaking free of the traditional volume or partition architecture, ZFS combines scalability and flexibility while providing a simple command interface. Coined by Sun as the “last word in filesystems,” ZFS is already being ported to several Linux distributions and Mac OSX. Designed to have at least a 30 year shelf life, this filesystem will make waves with its upcoming release in Solaris 10. We’ve been playing with ZFS for several months and have written some recipes about its basic administration. Here are ten reasons why you’ll want to reformat all of your systems and use ZFS.

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ZFS: Create a writable clone of a filesystem

A ZFS clone is a writable copy of a snapshot of a filesystem. Phew. It’s much simpler than that sounded. While a filesystem snapshot is read-only, a writable version can be created through cloning. Just like snapshots, clones are very quick to create and use no additional space when they are created.

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