Appendix D Logical Domains Configuration Assistant

The Logical Domains Configuration Assistant leads you through the configuration of a logical domain by setting basic properties. It runs on chip multithreading (CMT)-based systems that are known as Sun Coolthreads Servers.

After gathering the configuration data, the Configuration Assistant creates a configuration that is suitable for booting as a logical domain. You can also use the default values selected by the Configuration Assistant to create a usable system configuration.

The Configuration Assistant is available as both a graphical user interface (GUI) and terminal-based tool, ldmconfig.

For information about the terminal-based tool, see Using the Logical Domains Configuration Assistant (ldmconfig) and the ldmconfig(1M) man page.

For information about starting the GUI tool, see Using the Logical Domains Configuration Assistant (GUI).

Using the Logical Domains Configuration Assistant (GUI)

The Logical Domains Configuration Assistant GUI is delivered as part of the Logical Domains zip bundle.

Ensure that the target system is running the Logical Domains 1.2 software and that your system is running at least version 1.6 of the Java^TM SE Runtime Environment.

To run the Configuration Assistant GUI from the command line, type the following:

$ java -jar "Configurator.jar"

This GUI tool includes on-screen documentation to help you create the configuration for your system.

Using the Logical Domains Configuration Assistant (ldmconfig)

The terminal-based Configuration Assistant, ldmconfig, works through a series of operations that correspond to user interface screens. The end result is the creation of a configuration that you can deploy to a logical domain.

The following sections describe how to install the ldmconfig command and some features of the Configuration Assistant tool.

Installing the Logical Domains Configuration Assistant

The Logical Domains Configuration Assistant is delivered as part of the SUNWldm package.

After you install the SUNWldm package, you can find the ldmconfig command in the /usr/sbin directory. The command is also installed in the /opt/SUNWldm/bin directory for legacy purposes.

Prerequisites

Before you install and run the Logical Domains Configuration Assistant, ensure that the following conditions are met:

• The target system must be running the Logical Domains 1.2 software.

• Your terminal window must be at least 80 characters wide by 24 lines long.

Limitations and Known Issues

The Logical Domains Configuration Assistant has the following limitations:

• Resizing the terminal while using ldmconfig might cause garbled output

• Support for UFS disk files as virtual disks only

• Only works with systems where no existing logical domains configurations are present

• Virtual console concentrator ports are from 5000 to 5100

• Default names that are used for guest domains, services, and devices cannot be changed

ldmconfig Features

The terminal-based Configuration Assistant, ldmconfig, works through a series of operations that correspond to user interface screens. You can navigate backward (previous) and forward (next) through these screens until you reach the final step. The final step produces the configuration. At any time you can quit the Configuration Assistant or reset the configuration to use the defaults. From the final screen, you can deploy the configuration to a logical domain.

First, the Configuration Assistant automatically inspects the system to determine the most suitable default property values based on best practices, and then shows those properties that are required to control a deployment. Note that this is not an exhaustive list. You can set other properties to further customize the configuration.

For information about the using the ldmconfig tool, see the ldmconfig(1M) man page.

You can adjust the following properties:

• Number of guest domains. Specify the number of guest domains for the application to create. The minimum is one guest domain. The maximum value is determined by the availability of VCPU resources. For example, you could create up to 60 guest domains with a single thread each on a 64-thread CMT system, and four threads reserved for the control domain. If best practices are selected, the minimum number of VCPU resources per guest domain is a single core. So, on an 8-core, 8-thread-per-core system with best practices selected, you could create up to seven guest domains with one core each. Also, one core is assigned to the control domain.

  The Configuration Assistant shows the maximum number of domains that can be configured for this system.

  The Configuration Assistant performs the following tasks to create domains:

  • For all domains.

    • Creates a virtual terminal service on ports from 5000 to 5100

    • Creates a virtual disk service

    • Creates a virtual network switch on the network adapter nominated

    • Enables the virtual terminal server daemon

  • For each domain.

    • Creates the logical domain

    • Configures VCPUs assigned to the domain

    • Configures memory assigned to the domain

    • Creates a UFS disk file to use as a virtual disk

    • Creates a virtual disk server device (vdsdev) for the disk file

    • Assigns the disk file as virtual disk vdisk0 for the domain

    • Adds a virtual network adapter attached to the virtual switch on the network adapter nominated

    • Sets the OBP property auto-boot?=true

    • Sets the OBP property boot-device=vdisk0

    • Binds the domain

    • Starts the domain

• Default network. Specify the network adapter that the new domains will use for virtual networking. The adapter must be present in the system. The Configuration Assistant highlights those adapters that are currently in use by the system as default adapters, and those that have active link status (cabled adapters).

• Virtual disk size. Create virtual disks for each of the new domains. These virtual disks are created based on the disk files that are located in the local file systems. This property controls the size of each virtual disk in Gbytes. The minimum size, 8 Gbytes, is based on the approximate size required to contain a Solaris 10 OS, and the maximum size is 100 Gbytes.

  If the Configuration Assistant cannot find file systems that have adequate space to contain the disk files for all domains, an error screen is shown. In this case, you might need to do the following before rerunning the application:

  • Reduce the size of the virtual disks

  • Reduce the number of domains

  • Add more higher-capacity file systems

• Virtual disk directory. Specify a file system that has sufficient capacity on which to store the files to be created as virtual disks for the new domains. The directory is based on the number of domains that are selected and the size of the virtual disks. The value must be recalculated and destination directories selected any time that these property values are changed. The Configuration Assistant presents you with a list of file systems that have sufficient space. After you specify the file system name, the Configuration Assistant creates a directory in this file system called /ldoms/disks in which to create the disk images.

• Best practice. Specify whether to use best practice for property values.

  • When the value is yes, the Configuration Assistant uses best practice for several configuration property values. It forces the minimum of one core per domain, including the system domains. As a result, this limits the maximum number of guest domains to the total number of cores present in the system minus one core for the system domains. For example, in the case of a two-socket SPARC Enterprise® T5140 with eight cores each, the maximum number of guest domains is 15 plus the system domain.

  • When the value is no, the Configuration Assistant permits the creation of domains that have a minimum of one thread, but maintain at least four threads for the system domain.

Next, the Configuration Assistant summarizes the deployment configuration to be created, which includes the following information:

• Number of domains

• CPU assigned to each guest domain

• Memory assigned to each guest domain

• Size and location of the virtual disks

• Network adapter to be used for virtual network services for guest domains

• Amount of CPU and memory to be used by the system for services

• If a valid Solaris OS DVD was identified, it will be used to create a shared virtual CD-ROM device to permit guest domains to install the Solaris OS

Finally, the Configuration Assistant configures the system to create the specified Logical Domains deployment. It also describes the actions to be taken and shows the commands to be run to configure the system. This information can assist you in learning how to use the ldm commands that are needed to configure the system.

Do not interact with this configuration step and do not interrupt this process as it might result in a partially configured system.

After the commands have been completed successfully, reboot the system for the changes to take effect.