Cymen’s Blog

Download “osol-0906-x86.iso” and mount it using loopback (mount -o loop -t iso9660 /root/osol-0906-x86.iso /tmp/MOUNT_POINT). Copy off two files required for the install. One site suggested /usr/lib/xen-solaris:

mkdir /usr/lib/xen-solaris
cp /tmp/MOUNT_POINT//mnt/tmp/platform/i86xpv/kernel/unix /usr/lib/xen-solaris/unix-0906
cp /mnt/MOUNT_POINT/boot/x86.microroot /usr/lib/xen-solaris/x86.microroot-0906


The Xen DomU configuration:

name = 'open-solaris'
memory = '512'
disk = [ 'file:/root/osol-0906-x86.iso,6:cdrom,r', 'phy:/dev/thor/open-solaris,xvda,w' ]
vif = [ '' ]

on_shutdown = 'destroy'
on_reboot = 'destroy'
on_crash = 'destroy'
extra = '/platform/i86xpv/kernel/unix - nowin -B install_media=cdrom'


Then kick off the VM:

xm create -c open-solaris.cfg


Now Open Solaris should boot up. These accounts are preconfigured:
Username: jack
Password: jack
Root password: opensolaris

The installer is GUI-only. The installer appears to kick off a vnc instance (or Xen does, haven’t looked into who/what/where but xenstore has the VNC password but the guest has the vnc process?). To get the VNC password:

xenstore-ls|grep password


To get the IP of Open Solaris:

ifconfig -a


Now you can VNC to the IP address, use the VNC password and kick off the install.

Sites referenced:

http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/index.php/OpenSolaris_Xen_domU
http://blogs.sun.com/levon/entry/opensolaris_2008_11_as_a
http://blogs.sun.com/levon/entry/opensolaris_2008_11_guest_domain